Mahala Augusta Hovey was born in 1836 in New York. Her husband, William Hiram Dykeman, a veteran of the Civil War, died at the age of 65 or 66 on March 5, 1897. The cause of William's death has yet to be determined. Mahala's death, however, which occurred just ten months later, was a dreadful and tragic story printed in the newspapers of Tioga County as follows:
"FATALLY BURNED. Mrs. William Dykeman's Clothing Caught on Fire Saturday Afternoon and She Died in Four Hours. Candor. Jan. 24. - (Special.) - Two or three little girls who were playing in front of Mrs. William Dykeman's residence Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock, gave an alarm that something was wrong inside the house and the neighbors who responded found that Mrs. Dykeman had been very seriously burned. It was supposed that her clothing caught on fire from her pipe, as she was in the habit of smoking. All was done that could be to relieve her but at 7 p.m. she died from the effects of her injuries. She is the widow of William Dykeman who died last year and is survived by four sons, three of whom reside here and one in the west. The funeral was held at 10 a.m. today at her late residence." - Owego Daily Record, Mon., Jan. 24, 1898.
A similar article printed in the Owego County Record on Thursday, Jan. 27, 1898, shown below, gives the names of her surviving sons: Theron Dykeman, Charles Dykeman, and Arthur Dykeman "reside here" and Burt Dykeman, "in the west".
Mahala rests with her husband in Maple Grove Cemetery in Candor.
Sources:
Owego Daily Record, Tioga County, New York, Mon., Jan. 24, 1898.
Owego County Record, Tioga County, New York, Thurs., Jan. 27, 1898.
New York Death Index, William H. Dykeman, Mar. 5, 1897, Candor, NY, Certificate #09738.
Findagrave Memorial #106139184
Civil War Pension Index; The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; NAI Title: General Index to Civil War and Later Pension Files, ca. 1949 - ca. 1949; NAI Number: 563268; Record Group Title: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773 - 2007