Mary M. Schenk graduated in the FIRST CLASS of the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in 1904.
The 1910 Federal Census of Pittsburgh indicates that Mary M. Schenk was born in West Virginia.
Mary M. Schenk, born in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia in February 1870, was the daughter of Peter and Maria "Mary" Anna Schenk, both born in Germany (Bavaria and Hessen, respectively).
At the time of the 1870 Federal Census of Wheeling, Peter and Mary, both 40, were the parents of Peter, Henry, Frank, Lewis [Louis] and Mary, a baby.
In 1880, Peter and Mary Schenk resided at 18th Street in Wheeling, with sons, Peter, Jr., Frank and Louis, and daughter, Mary, age 10. Mr. Schenk was a stove moulder.
Peter Schenk [spelled Schenck on death record], the father, age 67, died September 14, 1896. His wife, Maria Anna Schenk, in her 70th year, died on March 10, 1900. The funeral was at their home on 18th Street. Peter and Maria are buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling.
Still on 18th Street in 1900, Mary, age 30, was residing with her brother, Louis Schenk, age 32. - Louis was Louis Joseph Schenk, born December 16, 1867; he died June 23, 1924 in Bellaire, Belmont County, Ohio, and he is buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling.
In the 1910 census of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Mary M. Schenk was a hospital nurse, age 38, boarding at the home of Daniel and Ellen McCarthy, at Irving Place, Pittsburgh. Two of the McCarthy daughters, Mary A. and Nell, were also hospital nurses. Mary McCarthy also graduated in the first class at the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing.
The Pittsburgh City Directory, 1912, lists both Mary Schenk and Mary McCarthy as nurses, residing at 201 Lehigh Avenue.
Nothing further was found about Mary M. Schenk and her nursing career in Pittsburgh. Apparently, she left Pittsburgh and at some point was was committed to the Ohio State Hospital, Columbus. She died there on May 14, 1914 of exhaustion related to acute mania. She was 44. She is buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Wheeling.
Compiled by Linda Cunningham Fluharty, 2016.
