“About 5.15 p. m. Dr. Nelson, Mother Mahaffie, & Miss Giger officiated at the birth of my baby boy.”
Mary Frances “Mollie” Williams Mahaffie was the mother of Charles D. Mahaffie, Sr. She was Missouri-born and from a pioneering family that, like the Mahaffies, moved westward every generation or two.
Mollie was a smart, strong woman, well-suited to homesteading in the American prairies. The diary she kept—we have one that spans January 1883 to March 1886, is a laconic accounting of what mattered to a farming family in Kansas and later Oklahoma. Mainly: the weather, errands to town, who visited, who was ailing or on the mend.
On this particular day, December 5th, 1884, in Olathe, Kansas, just west of Kansas City, there was, along with those, this note: “About 5.15 p. m. Dr. Nelson, Mother Mahaffie, & Miss Giger officiated at the birth of my baby boy.”
But that day’s entry, of course, included the other usual things. “A cold wet day. I was sick all day. Geo home. Will better.” She noted the birth of her boy, and then the terse further detail, “Rose did not go to party.”
All this took place on their farm outside Olathe, Kansas, where the Mahaffies were a notable family. George B. “Doc” Mahaffie was Charlie’s father and Mollie’s husband. His parents had built the first stage coach stop on the Santa Fe Trail, and operated a big farm in Olathe.
There was already then or before long a street named for them in the town. It is still named Mahaffie Street today, as is an Olathe elementary school. That stage coach stop, built by James Beatty Mahaffie and Lucinda Henderson Mahaffie, is now a Johnson County, Kansas historic site, visited routinely by school field trips.
Mollie’s family were also well-known Olathe residents. Her mother Sallie Peacock Williams Schermerhorn, and stepfather, Ted Schermerhorn, were large-scale farmers and prominent members of the Johnson County community.
How Doc got his nickname
According Charlie’s cousin Art Julien, Doc, as a toddler was roly poly like one of the local doctors, so they nicknamed him “Doc”. The name stuck and was used all his life, sometimes as “Dock” and sometimes he was even referred to as Dr. Mahaffie. He’d surely claim to be able to doctor a horse or a mule or a steer, but never a human.
From this pioneering community came Charles D. Mahaffie, Sr., Charlie, as he was known until much later, when he became a senior Federal official.
His was a farming, homesteading childhood, filled with farm chores, riding horses, assessing cattle, raising grain, and discussing the weather.
But the Mahaffies were also hard-focused on education. Mollie had taught school in Olathe before her marriage. Charles and his brothers and sister didn’t only chop wood and tend to farm chores, they got educated.
This is one of a series of posts that explore the life of Charles D. Mahaffie, Sr. through family memories and items from a family archive. Charles was the author’s grandfather. He left a remarkable collection of papers, photos, and mementos which offer a lens through which to explore his life and legacies. For the full collection, click here.
