He was born to Irish immigrants in Renovo, Pennsylvania. He came to Buffalo as a young man working the trade of a boilermaker. Among his seven siblings, he had a sister who was a nun and a brother who was a professional baseball player. His wife Mary died at 27 from tuberculosis. Through his two children, Harry and Joseph, he left a legacy of generations that carry on. He was our great grandfather Henry B. Mattimore, and here is some of his story….
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If you read my last post, you know the story of our great grandmother, Mary O’Rourke Mattimore, and how she died young from tuberculosis in Arizona in 1901. This follow-up is the story of the search for her burial site in Tucson. Son Harry Mattimore was almost six when his mother died — old enough to remember, and likely be somewhat haunted by her death. So it’s no surprise that many decades later Harry journeyed west in search of his mother’s grave. He never found it. In 2015 I learned why.
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Mary Ellen (O’Rourke) Mattimore, mother of Harry and Joseph, died tragically young. She was 27 when death took her near Tucson, Arizona in 1901. Her husband Henry Mattimore was left a widow with two young boys, Harry, then almost six, and Joe just three. How did Mary die? What was she doing in Tucson so far from Buffalo? Read on for her story…
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