196                     HISTORY OF CLAY COUXTY

    Mrs. Mary C. Ferguson died December 3, 19O7, at the family home
at Healdsburg, California, aged 94 years, 1 month. and 15 days. Mary
C. Cooprider was born October 18, 1813, in Harrison county, Indiana,
coming to the territory of Clay county before its organization. She was
the daughter of John Cooprider and sister of Rev. Elias Cooprider. On
the 15th day of November, 1834, she married William W. Ferguson, at
the Cooprider homestead in Harrison township. In 1849, with their
seven children, they started on the overland trip to California. a long
and hazardous journey, the family suffering from deprivations and
exposures incident to the wilderness and wastes which they encountered,
barely escaping starvation. Three more children were born to them
after their settling in the Golden State, making a household of ten
children, seven of whom survived their mother, all of whom, ranging
in age from fifty to seventy-five years, surrounded the bed-side at the
time of her death, a most remarkable incident.
    Mrs. Polly (Mary) Lankford, widow of Lankford, mother’
of the wife of Rev. Elias Cooprider, who died at the age of 97 years,
was the oldest woman in the history of the south end of the county, as
remembered by the oldest surviving pioneers.
    Miss Elizabeth Eaglesfield, daughter of William Eaglesfield,
deceased, was the first and only woman admitted to the practice of the
law in this county. She now resides at Grand Rapids. Michigan.
    At the supplementary Clay County Farmers’ Institute, held at Clay
City, in the month of December. 1908, the premium offered for the
best loaf of bread, in the contest for the county at large. was awarded
to Miss Jessie Willen, daughter of C. A. Willen, Harrison township.