“Mary Ware”
First let’s say that Mary Ware is an enigma. Annie Fellows Johnston claimed that Mary and all the Ware’s were purely fictional characters. We found nothing in particular so far to dispute that for the early Mary Ware character, though we have our doubts since the other Ware characters seem to match up closely to other members of Annie Fellows Johnston’s own family. Maybe Mary Ware is taken from the third child in her marriage, Rena, who passed away already in1899, since the other siblings, her stepson John and stepdaughter Mary, are clearly inspirations for Jack and Joyce Ware. (This possibly makes Annie Fellows Johnston herself Mrs. Ware at least insofar as retelling her observations and hardships during her travels through Arizona and Texas)
We can say with certainty, however that the Mary Ware of Riverville in Part II of Mary Ware’s Promised Land(published 1912) was anything but fictional. That story is a faithful recounting of the work Annie’s sister, Albion Fellows Bacon, and her landmark work in housing reform for the poor.
We’ll have more on this later. For now you can read a little more about Albion on her Wikipedia website.