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- There were hard times in those days in Illinois. Hearing reports of the beautiful country called Iowa, Mary and George gathered cattle, loaded the wagon, and hitched the oxen. Then with their two sons, John and James, Mary's sister Rebeckah B. and her husband William H. Virden and their children, along with Mary and Rebeckah's brother, John Solomon Melrose, started for Iowa. In Mary's own words: 'We came from Egypt, Illinois. Our parents were induced to come there in an early day by the glowing accounts of much corn. What induced us to come to Iowa? First, things were so bad in Illinois, there was scarcely any good money and people could scarcely live. We thought if we went west we could do better. Second, it was sickly there. Very few children lived to grow up. We heard grand accounts of Iowa.' During the trip, Rebeckah became ill and her family stopped near Cedar Rapids. The others continued on, reaching the site they called 'Prairie Rapids', later named Waterloo, on 18 July 1845.
The first year was difficult with the death of their son, James, but they had great faith in God and believed He had led them to this site. The Hanna log cabin was used as Church and courthouse as the need arose.
Mary was small, but strong-willed. She was the first white woman settler in Black Hawk County and co-founder of Waterloo, Iowa. Because of her diligent work in developing "her town", she is known as "Mother of Waterloo." She was one of the founders of the First Methodist Church in Waterloo. The Waterloo chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is named the Mary Melrose Chapter in her memory.
Mary Hanna was extremely patriotic. During the 1856 Fremont presidential campaign, the American flag was torn down and trampled in the mud. Finding it, Mary washed and pressed it, then had the staff repaired and the flag returned to it, where it hung on election day. Later she was told of great cheering for "the woman who washed the flag."
Mary was equally proud of her children. John was a civil war veteran and later a judge in Blackwell, Texas. Emily was educated at Upper Iowa University. George Jr. also attended Upper Iowa University, founded the town of LuVerne, Iowa and was a banker there. R. Wesley farmed and was later in the hardware business in LuVerne. Philip entered the Diplomatic Service in 1889, serving in Venezuela and Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He was later Consul-General in Monterrey, Mexico from 1899 to 1919. Mary "Mollie" was educated at the Seminary in Evanstown, Illinois. Edith married a minister, travelled and returned to Waterloo.
George Hanna, Sr. died in Waterloo 12 December 1890. Mary lived on to enjoy her children and her Waterloo until 6 November 1912 when she died at the age of 91. The announcement of a stroke of paralysis Mary Melrose Hanna had on 10 October 1912 appeared on page one of the Waterloo Evening Courier, but her obituary was crowded off the first page by the news of the election of Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States.
Decendants of George W. and Mary Melrose Hanna still living in the Waterloo area are Clayton Tiller and Shirley Tiller Kirkle (author of this history), grandchildren of Mollie Hanna Tiller.
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1821 - 1912 (91 years)
