Geer, Mary Malvina Southard

Mary Malvina Southard was the daughter of W. O. Southard and his wife, S. C. Southard, of Jonesville, S.C. She was attending Greenville Female College (later Greenville Woman's College) in 1907, when she met Solomon Haddon Geer, the son of a hotelier from Belton, S.C. Geer was a sophomore at Furman University. Their relationship continued through Geer's years at Furman and his attendance at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., 1909-1913. They were married in June 1913. Solomon Haddon Geer subsequently served on various naval vessels and participated in the occupation of Veracruz, Mexico, by United States troops in 1914. He was then transferred to duty in the Pacific, serving on a survey ship in the Philippines after the outbreak of World War I. He may have contracted tuberculosis in 1917. He returned to the United States in 1918 and was estranged from his wife. He died in 1935.

From the guide to the Mary Malvina Southard Geer Papers (#5005), 1906-1936, (Southern Historical Collection)

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