Margaret Sophia Hess and her 2 husbands, Joe Mason and John Ridenour

Margaret Sophia Hess, born in 1871, grew up in the Gerrardstown district.

Her father, Bailey Hess, was a Civil War soldier on the Confederate side with the 67th Regiment, Virginia Militia.

Her mother, Martha Brown, was descended from the Gagebys, an Irish family that settled in Pennsylvania before coming to Berkeley County in the early 1800s.

Margaret married in 1890 at age 19 to Joe Mason, a 41-year-old widow.

Margaret Hess in younger years; second photo may be Margaret with her first husband, Joe Mason, and one of their sons

Joe’s first wife, Lucy Minghini Mason, had died a year earlier in Jones Spring, days after giving birth to …