The River Running
"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Mary Frances Hearn and Stanley Pitkin Christopher
Mary Frances Hearn was born 21 Oct 1878 in Jersey City and baptized 03 Feb 1879 at St Joseph's Catholic Church, the daughter of Bridget Augusta Heath and Edwin Ross Hearn.
By 1883, the family had moved either to Passaic City, Passaic County, or to Bergen County immediately across the Passaic River. In the 1885 New Jersey State Census they were enumerated in Rutherford, Union Township, Bergen County. Bridget Augusta Heath Hearn died in 1888 three days after Mary Frances' tenth birthday. By 1894 the Hearns had left New Jersey for New York City, where they lived at 158 West 77th Street.
Edwin Ross Hearn Sr died in Los Angeles 11 Mar 1899. His will, written 05 Nov 1898, was interesting. He named his brothers Frank J Hearne and William J Hearne as executors. (He spelled his own surname once with an -e at the end and once with.) To his son "Edwin R Hearne" (Jr), he left 50 shares of the capital stock of the Riverside Iron Works in Wheeling, West Virginia. He then divided the remainder of his estate among his four daughters, Elizabeth A Hearne, Mary Frances Hearne, Anna Theresa Hearne and Lillie Lee Hearne. They were to the receive the "rents, issues and income" from the estate, paid out in quarterly payments, for ten years after their father's death. After ten years, they were to receive the corpus of the estate.
I can't find any of Bridget Augusta and Edwin's four daughters in the 1900 US Census. They may have been travelling in Europe. According to the issue of the Sag Harbor L.I. Corrector published 18 Jan 1902, Elizabeth's sister Annie Theresa met Rudolph John Heise in Berlin in 1900. Mary Frances may have been one of the "Misses Hearn" who occupied the "Lilly Pond Cottage" at Sag Harbor, Long Island, in the summer of 1901, chaperoned by "Mrs. Dr. Smith." The reference is to the widow of Dr James W Smith, the cottage's owner, not to the sisters' aunt Mary Hearne Smith. However, according to Mary Frances' obituary (Kansas City Times, 14 May 1960), she did spend some time in 1901 visiting her aunt in Kansas City, Missouri. It was there that she met her future husband, Stanley Pitkin Christopher.
Stanley Pitkin Christopher was born in Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Missouri, 22 Jan 1876. His parents were Ada Stanley and Benjamin Campbell Christopher, a grain broker who founded B C Christopher and Company. The family seems to have moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, by 1880.
According to Stanley's obituary in The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi (Volume 62, Number 1, November 1941, p. 87), the family business was not his first choice of a career:
Brother Christopher entered the grain business somewhat reluctantly at a salary of $5 a week. The choice was more his father's than his own; he had spent a year as assistant to the superintendent of a coffee plantation in Southern Mexico, and had visions of a career as a Central American mahogany planter when his father suggested that he return to Kansas City.
Mary Frances and Stanley were married in Manhattan 16 Jan 1902. The New York Herald published 17 Jan 1902 reported that the wedding had been held at the bride's home at 160 West 77th Street and that the newly married couple had left for Kansas City afterwards.
Mary Frances and Stanley had three children, all born in Kansas City:
They seem to have left the children home when they took time off for a trip to Europe in 1908 or 1909. They arrived back in NYC 26 Mar 1909 aboard the SS Adriatic, which had sailed from Southampton 17 Mar 1909.
Not quite seven weeks later, on 19 May 1909, Mary Frances' sister Elizabeth Augusta bore her only son Dwight E Hollister Jr in Kansas City. Elizabeth and her husband Dwight were living in Wyoming at the time, but Elizabeth seems to have a felt that sister's support would be worth the trip.
The 1910 US Census found Mary Frances, Stanley and their two oldest children at their home at 4408 Warwick Boulevard in Kansas City. Stanley was working as grain broker for his father's company. The 1920, 1930 and 1940 census returns were similar, marked only by gradual departure of the children.
Edwina married Charles Colden Searles 28 Jun 1924. By 1926 when their first child was born, they were living in Evanston, Cook County, Illinois.
In 1927 Mary Frances' sister Elizabeth returned to Kanasas City for a sadder reason. The Kansas City Star reported 30 Mar 1927 that Mary Frances had left for Cody, Wyoming, to visit her sister. Then eight days later the Star reported that Mary Frances would be arriving home from Cody the next day - and that her sister had accompanied her. Elizabeth died of chronic nephritis - the same condition that killed their father - in Kansas City 17 Apr 1927.
Stanley Jr accompanied his mother on a trip to Europe in 1929. They arrived back in Quebec 18 Sep 1929 aboard the Duchess of Richmond out of Southampton. At the time of the 1930 US Census, Stanley was living with his parents and working as an office clerk for B C Christopher and Co. He married Lucia Doris Jones 25 Dec 1931.
Hearne married Madeleine Margery Smith 22 Feb 1936.
Lucia and Stanley Jr divorced sometime between October 1938 and September 1939, after which Stanley Jr married Irene Farlow in Topeka, KS, on 04 Sep 1939. The new couple headed west, but their marriage was short-lived. On 02 Jan 1940 Stanley suffered a brain aneurysm. He died in Los Angeles 16 Jan 1940. Mary Frances is listed as the informant on his death certificate, suggesting that she traveled to LA to spend her son's last days with him.
By the time of the 1940 US Census, Mary Frances and Stanley were living on their own. Stanley died 23 Jul 1941 at his farm near Stanley, Kansas (The Shield of Phi Kappa Psi, Volume 62, Number 1, November 1941, p. 87).
It appears that at some point after Stanley's death, Mary Frances sold the family home at 4408 Warwick Boulevard and moved to 1215 West 59th Street. Her daughter Edwina, who had been divorced at some time during the late 1930s, moved in with Mary, possibly bringing her two sons. 1215 West 59th Street is the address given for both Mary Frances and Edwina on Edwina's death certificate. She died 04 Apr 1946 of ovarian cancer. She's buried in Mount Washington Cemetery in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Mary Frances died 13 May 1960 at the age of 81 - quite an age considering that her mother died at her mother died at 37, her father at 58 and her four siblings at 34, 43, 48 and 50. Both Mary Frances and Stanley are buried in Mount Washington Cemetery, Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Mary Frances' obituary published in the Kansas City Times 14 May 1960 includes the information that besides her son Hearne, she was survived by eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. These would be: