Mary Beecher ^{1 2}

   FamilySearch ID: LX36-T5G.

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Relatives To Research: It appears likely that father William Beecher (1816-1897) did not have 2 daughters named Mary, and that Mary born in 1865 is actually his daughter Mary Jemima Beecher born earlier. Here are the facts:

Mary born in 1865 did have a death certificate naming her parents as William Beecher and Isabell Alexander.

Mary, born in 1865, never appears as a child in her father's census in 1870 or 1880 when she would be 5 or 15 years old.

Mary, born in 1865, is never mentioned as a child in the 1895 will of her father, William Beecher, which left most of his possessions to his daughter Mary Jemima Beecher who married John Henry Bridge, and her sister Emma Louis Nicholson, and mentions their brothers and some grandchildren, but not a second Mary.

Mary Jemima Beecher's 1900 census has her born in Jan 1854, however, Mary Jemima does appear in her father's 1850 census as age 3 and 1860 census as age 12, so an 1847-48 birth, not 1854.

Mary Jemima's husband John Henry Bridge was committed to a mental hospital according to his 1910 census, but in the 1902 and 1904 Pittsburgh City Directory Mary Jemima is listed as a "widow" living with her brother Samuel Beecher.

No further census or other records can be found after 1904 for Mary Jemima, although we know she was alive in June 1923 listed as a survivor in her sister Emma's obituary. Therefore, it seems she married a second time.

No earlier records are found for Mary born 1865 before her 1910 census living as the wife of William Gordon.

This evidence suggests that Mary Jemima Beecher is actually the person who married William J. Gordon as her second husband, and there was not a second Mary Beecher born in 1865 since she was never mentioned in her father's census or will.

Since William J. Gordon (1861-1934) was 10+ years younger than Mary Jemima, when she first met him she may have told him she was younger than she was, which was easy to do in a time when there were no Social Security registrations, driver's licenses or other forms of ID.

It is possible William Gordon made a mistake about her birth year and/or age when he gave that information as the death certificate informant, leading us to think there is a second younger Mary.
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2. Census in 1910 in Richland Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. ³ The 1910 census recorded William J. Gordon, road contractor 48, living with wife Mary, 47, born 1863. They were married for 30 years and she had birthed 2 children by 1910, both alive that year. They and their parents were born in Pennsylvania.

3. Census in 1920 in Hopewell Township, Beaver, PA. ⁴ The 1920 census recorded in Temple Hollow, stock manager for P. M. Moore, 66, living with wife Mary J., 57, born 1863. He and his father were born in Missouri and his mother in Maryland. Mary and her parents were born in Pennsylvania.

4. Census in 1930 in Hopewell Township, Beaver, PA. ⁵ The 1930 census recorded William J. Gordon, liveryman, 69, living with wife Mary, 69, born 1861. They and their parents were born in Pennsylvania.

5. Cause of Death: organic heart disease, myocardosis, 4 Oct 1933, Aliquippa, Beaver, PA. ¹

6. Residence: Temple Heights St., Aliquippa, PA on 4 Oct 1933 in Aliquippa, Beaver, PA. ¹

Mary married William J. Gordon, son of Montgomery Gordon and Eliza Jane Wilson. (William J. Gordon was born on 16 Dec 1861 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA,^{6 7} died on 28 Apr 1934 in Aliquippa, Beaver, PA ^{6 7} and was buried on 30 Apr 1934 in Aliquippa: Woodlawn Cemetery, Beaver, PA ^{6 7}.)