She was Mary Margaret McMahon, but her family nicknamed her “Tiny” because of her small frame (often shortened to just “Tine”). She married Joseph Mattimore at Holy Family Church in 1925. Of her 23 grandchildren, she only knew the first six — all aged three and under — before her death in 1957. She had just turned 63 when she died. Here is the story of our Grandmother Mattimore, whom we never knew.

She was born in 1894 in Ellicottville, New York, to Daniel P. McMahon and his wife Rose (neé Hanley) McMahon. She was the third of seven children: Kathleen, Jane, Mary and Gertrude were born in Ellicottville; John was born in Hamburg; Julia and Daniel Jr. were born in Buffalo (her father’s business in Ellicottville was liquidated in 1897, when the family then moved to Hamburg, and then to Buffalo three years later).

There was another important person in the household when young Mary was growing up. Miss Mary Donovan had come from Co. Cork, Ireland, at the age of 16 or 17 to be employed as housekeeper in the home of her McMahon grandparents. Miss Donovan, who would have been in her early 30s when Mary was born, remained with Mary’s family through the moves to Hamburg and Buffalo, retiring sometime around 1930. She was considered one of the family, and after spending nearly 70 years of her life with the McMahons, she considered them her family as well. Miss Donovan died in 1944 and is buried in Ellicottville alongside the McMahon family there.

Mary’s father was employed by Buffalo Natural Gas Fuel Co. (later Iroquois Gas Corp, then National Fuel Gas Co.) from 1897 until retirement 1929. In Hamburg, the family lived on Hawkins Avenue; in Buffalo, first on Triangle Street (now South Park Avenue), then at 94 Spaulding Street, then 37 Kenefick Avenue, then 28 Redjacket Parkway and lastly at 64 Kenefick.

The McMahon family was one of the original few families that formed Holy Family Parish — the second parish established in South Buffalo to serve the growing Irish Catholic population. Mother Rose McMahon was the organist there for several years (it was said she had a beautiful soprano singing voice as well).

Mary attended public School No. 28 on Abbott Road in Buffalo through 8th grade, when she was the honored recipient of the prestigious Jesse Ketchum Award. For 150 years now, Jesse Ketchum medals have been awarded to eighth grade students with the highest grade point average in the Buffalo City School District. This award honors the legacy of Jesse Ketchum, a notable figure in Buffalo history, who is credited with donating land and buildings to establish the first teacher training center in Buffalo. It was quite an achievement for Mary, and the entire McMahon family was extremely proud of her for it. I believe this would have been around 1907. Below is a class graduation photo from School No. 28. Mary is the first one on the left, 3rd row up from bottom. The one with the huge dark bow in her hair! I recently found a family history sheet that my mom filled out where she made sure to indicate that her mother had won the Jesse Ketchum Award.

Our grandmother then went on to Hutchinson Central High School and then to Buffalo State Normal School (now Buffalo State College). At some point, she was a teacher, but I don’t know when or for how long. This information comes from one of my Uncle Richard’s essay’s about the family. I do know that she was a trained stenographer, and was the secretary for Mr. Donner at a small mill called Donner Steel. It was through that job that she met Joseph Mattimore.

Joe Mattimore graduated from Canisius High School about 1916, which was just a few years after his dad Henry Mattimore died in Panama. So Joe was forced to go to work following graduation. He worked at Lackawanna Steel as a furnace helper. He was quickly promoted to a recorder’s job (someone who kept track of alloy additions to the steel, the tonnages produced, etc.). A friend of his went to work for a smaller mill, Donner Steel, and asked Joe to join him as a clerk in the office. While there, he took correspondence classes in accounting and began to move up the ladder in the accounting department. Soon Mr. Donner heard of this ambitious young clerk and offered him the job of chief accountant for his ore mine in Hibbing, Minnesota. By this time, Joe had become romantically interested in Mr. Donner’s secretary, Mary McMahon.

Mr. Donner agreed to have Joe work for 1-1/2 to 2 years in Minnesota, after which time he would return to Buffalo. In reading Uncle Richard’s essays, I learned that Joe played professional baseball for the minor league farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers while in Hibbing. Something I never knew! Joe saved his money in Hibbing, and upon his return, was able to marry his sweetheart, Mary. (Ultimately Joe became chief accountant for Donner Steel, and when Mr. Donner sold his company to the newly formed Republic Steel in 1930 he became the district accountant for the Republic Steel plant in Buffalo.)

After their marriage in 1925, Joe and Mary Mattimore settled into their home on 17 Mesmer Avenue before moving to 53 Macamley Street and later 65 Macamley. Joe’s Aunt Kate lived with them from the very beginning. It couldn’t have been easy to start off their married life with Aunt Kate along with them. But as the young couple started their own family, I’m sure it was a blessing to have the extra help in the household. First came Joe, Jr., followed by my mom, Mary, then Richard, Daniel and Henry.

Our grandmother’s domain was the clothing, food, furniture and day-to-day business of running the household; she made all decisions regarding what they ate, wore and she got the kids off to school, lessons, and all activities. As a former school teacher, nothing was as important to Mary as how her children did in school. She reviewed homework with them every night, and she always helped them prepare for exams.

The expanding family in a small house meant sacrifices. Aunt Kate had one of the coveted bedrooms, of course. When the children were older, it was Joe and his boys sleeping in the attic room, and Mary with daughter Mary (“Sis”) sharing the other bedroom. They had a single telephone, in the dining room, so conversations were often overheard (the boys were known to sneak down to the corner pay phone to avoid being overheard). Our grandmother always longed for a better house. They lived in a somewhat run-down neighborhood close to the steel plant where Joe worked. Mary talked of moving to St. Thomas’ Parish where one of her sisters lived and which was one or two steps up the Irish Catholic social ladder from their own parish. But Joe didn’t see the need to move just for a better house, so it was never meant to be.

The religious significance was always the center of Christmas, Easter and other holiday traditions. Both parents were involved in numerous organizations at Holy Family, and were actively engaged in the parish community. If Mary had had her way, probably all of her sons would have become priests.

When it came to politics, well, there wasn’t much talk of it. My mother used to tell us that every election cycle, her Pa would say “Come on Ma, let’s go cancel each other’s votes.” One voted Republican and the other Democratic. And that was that. If they had disagreements, it was never in front of the kids. They presented a united front; there was no way to attempt to play one off of the other. Their word was law.

I remember my mom telling us that her mother fibbed about her age. That was surprising to me. My mom wasn’t sure why, and just shrugged when I asked about it. Our grandmother’s obituary indicated she was 61 when she died. Her death certificate lists her date of birth as May 5, 1896, which would make her 61. But the birth records for New York State indicate she was born in Ellicottville on May 5, 1894. So there it is. She was 63.

Mary Mattimore was taken ill fairly suddenly. She was sent to Mercy Hospital where she underwent exploratory surgery on March 12, 1957. As my mom told the story, the doctors opened her up and saw that she was riddled with cancer. They closed her up quickly without being able to do much for her. My mom didn’t think doctors were even sure where the cancer had originated because it had spread so much. The death certificate (below) lists cause of death as carcinoma of the sigmoid colon, with duration of 2 years (probably a guess). She never left the hospital. She died on May 27, 1957. Back then, I guess it wasn’t unusual to have a hospital stay that lengthy. My sister Marie, who was only a few months old at the time, remembers hearing that my mom would take her with her every day to visit her mom in the hospital.

When you think of all that Mary lived through in her 63 years, it is pretty remarkable. When she was eight years old, the Wright brothers made their first powered flight. At age 22, the U.S. entered World War I. Two years later came the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. During the prime of her life from ages 35 to 45, while raising five children, the family lived through the Great Depression. That was followed by World War II.

At the time of her death, my cousins Anne and Beth were just 3 and 2, the oldest of the grand kids at that point. So, unfortunately, no one was old enough to really know our grandmother. If there is any consolation, we all knew Mary’s younger sister well — our beloved great Aunt Julia — as she filled in as surrogate grandmother to us after our grandmother died. But we are blessed to have had Joe and Mary Mattimore as the ones raising our own parents. The values, beliefs and attitude of hard work that they cherished were instilled into our parents, passed down to all of us in the next generation, and are hopefully continuing to trickle down to the later generations.

Thanks to cousin Beth for expressing interest in learning more about our grandmother, which prodded me to dig up old family notes and photos so I could post this blog. I would love to know if others have additional stories to share.

To my Harry Mattimore cousins — I would be happy to write about your grandmother Jane “Jennie” Long at some point, but would need some help with family stories and photos. I have access to some information from your 2nd cousin Karen (neé Schmidt) Czajka, who has a pretty good history of your grandmother’s family. But if you know of passed along stories and/or have photos, please let me know (rozanne.hakala@gmail.com).

A blessed Thanksgiving to all of our Mattimore families!

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