Maria Fitzsimons (Eve) Bones

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Quick Facts

Biography

Maria Fitzsimons Eve was the ninth child born to Oswell Eve and Aphra Ann Pritchard. Her family called her Barney. Her sister described her as “tall, well formed and proud in her bearing and much more ambitious than the rest of us…[she] had thick chestnut hair a yard long and large blue eyes.”

On 8 April 1818 she married John Bones at the Eve home, Forrest Hall. Her cousin Mary Roma Eve married James C. Campbell the same day and place. It was reported that in “former times it was said that Eve was converted out of a bone, but the Rev. Mr. Joice has found a method of reconverting Eve into Bones.”

She spent her winters in Augusta and her summers at the Cottage and when there we were “all as merry as children.” When Maria’s sister, Henrietta (Eve) Longstreet, moved to the country for her husband’s work, John and Maria kept Henrietta’s daughter, Hannah, in Augusta so she could continue her schooling.

Maria became ill in the spring of 1833. By June, she had become so weak, she required assistance to stand, but was able to ride her horse daily. As June wore on she was “perfectly resigned to her fate.” She was cared for by her sister Sarah. Maria died of consumption 3 July 1833, passing “joyfully from suffering to glory.”