Mary Aglionby Johnson

Notes:

Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) - Friday, May 25, 2001
Mary Johnson Jerman died May 22, 2001, at Westminster-Canterbury, her residence for the last 15 years. She was born in 1892 at Crescent, W.Va., the daughter of Mary Leavell and Captain William Ransom Johnson of Chesterfield, Va. Captain Johnson was an engineer on General Lee's staff. Mrs. Jerman was seven when her mother died and she moved to Richmond to live with friends, then with her father at the Jefferson Hotel. In 1918 she married William Borden Jerman of Raleigh, N.C. At the time of his death in 1941, he was vice president of the former Virginia Trust Company. Mrs. Jerman was graduated from Miss Jennie Ellett's School, now St. Catherine's School, and she attended Sweet Briar College. She was a charter member of the Junior League of Richmond, a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Tuckahoe Garden Club, The Woman's Club and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Mrs. Jerman had three older brothers, William, Pegram and Francis Johnson. She is survived by three daughters, Mary Leavell Tompkins, Frances J. Brown and Julia J. Neal; grandchildren, Christopher R. Tompkins Jr., Mary T. Miller, Edith C. Gillis, Julia N. Rose, Marie Neal, Frances N. Smyth, David Neal; eight great-grandchildren. Mrs. Jerman was predeceased by her grandson, John R. Chapman Jr. A memorial service will be held 12 noon Saturday, May 26, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Catherine's School Foundation, St. Paul's Church or Westminster-Canterbury Fellowship Fund.

MARY J. JERMAN DIES AT 108
Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) - Thursday, May 24, 2001
A sunny disposition and a talent for firing off one-liners like a teen-ager: Mary Johnson Jerman followed a simple life's code that kept her kicking throughout all of her 108 years.

"It's great to be the birthday girl," Mrs. Jerman told The Times-Dispatch in 1998 during her 106th birthday party at Westminster-Canterbury where she had lived since 1986. But then "everything makes me happy," she said.

Mrs. Jerman died Tuesday. Born in 1892 in Crescent, W.Va., she lived nearly all her life in Richmond.

Her father served as an engineer under Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. Mrs. Jerman's daughter, Mary Leavell Tompkins of Richmond, said the Confederate general had a pew at St. Paul's Episcopal Church across from her family's pew. Lee died in 1870.

As a young girl, Mrs. Jerman boarded in the same Richmond home as Miss Jennie Ellett, whose girls' school became St. Catherine's School. "Naturally, she attended the school," Tompkins said, speculating that her mother was among the first and, certainly, the oldest alumna.

But history was hardly her subject. Rather than dwelling on the past, Mrs. Jerman preferred ribbing visitors and staff at Westminster-Canterbury.

At her 103rd birthday, Mrs. Jerman was asked by her daughter how she felt. Tompkins recalled her mother's deadpan answer: "It's better than three-hundred-and-one."

Another relative asked only recently if she knew when her birthday was. She answered correctly and without pause. The relative then asked a second question: "Do you know when you were born?"

"No!" she shot back. "I was too little."

Mrs. Jerman's remarkable age was always of only passing consequence to her, her daughter said. "She was just good company," Tompkins said. "She was content."

Mrs. Jerman would have turned 109 in July.

In addition to Tompkins, Mrs. Jerman's survivors include two other daughters, Frances J. Brown of Maryland, and Julia J. Neal of Richmond.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Saturday at noon.

Mary married William Borden Jerman 23 Sep 1918. William was born 6 Sep 1889, Raleigh, North Carolina; died 2 Oct 1941, Richmond, Virginia; was buried , Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

1. Mary Leavell Jerman was born 1 Sep 1920, Richmond, Virginia; died 13 Apr 2016, Richmond, Virginia; was buried , Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
2. Living
3. Julia Borden Jerman was born 31 May 1924, Richmond, Virginia; died 9 Aug 2022, Richmond, Virginia.

William married Mary Aglionby Leavell 28 Oct 1885, CharlesTown, West Virginia. Mary (daughter of Rev. William Thomas Leavell and Anne Elizabeth Yates) was born 1851, Spotsylvania County, Virginia; died 10 Mar 1900, Crescent, West Virginia ; was buried , Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

William married Anne Elizabeth Yates 18 Nov 1847, Jefferson County, West Virginia. Anne (daughter of John Yates and Julia Lovell) was born 15 Jul 1815, Spotsylvania County, Virginia; died 13 Apr 1858; was buried , Zion Episcopal Churchyard, Jefferson County, West Virginia. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Married:
Name: Wm T Leavell
Spouse's Name: Anne Yates
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 1847
Event Place: Jefferson, West Virginia, United States
Affiliate Repository Type: County Records

GS Film number: 829872 , Digital Folder Number: 4130812 , Image Number: 00024

Burwell married Anne Goulder Spindle 1 Dec 1803, Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Anne was born 30 Jul 1785, Spotsylvania County, Virginia; died 9 Jul 1849, Spotsylvania County, Virginia; was buried , Leavell Family Cemetery Spotsylvania County, Virginia. [Group Sheet]

John married Julia Lovell. Julia died 1866. [Group Sheet]