Mary Norton Trask died in Silver City in 1884 after a short illness, at the age of 23 years. Her obituary reports the deceased was well known in Silver City, where she was raised and blossomed into womanhood. Her amiability and winning ways when a girl; her motherly affection and wifely virtues, when a woman, endeared her to all who knew her. In her, beauty, grace, and all that goes to make woman lovely, were combined. The golden thread that bound her to loving ones on Earth have been severed, and her spirit has ascended to the Creator, where it will be joined by those of her three little darlings who are now motherless but know not why. In addition to the three children, the deceased leaves a husband, James, an assayer, mother, two brothers and a sister, Mrs. Jacob Mussell, to mourn her loss.
Census records show that Mary was living in Silver in 1870 with her widowed mother and four siblings. In the 1880 Census she was 18 years old, married to John, and had a one year old son Clarence, and a one month old son James F.