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Mary Todd (Jennings) Shipley was born on Dec. 20, 1862, near Ursina, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of John R. and Martha (Knight) Jennings Sr.  She appears to have been named after the nation's First Lady at the time, Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln.

In about 1880, when she was age 18, Mary married Charles "Walter" Shipley (1851-1927), the son of Levi and Catherine (Linderman) Shipley. He was 11 years older than his bride.

Walter worked as a farmer and also as a blacksmith for the H.C. Frick Coke Co. They lived at a town that today no longer exists -- Victoria, Fayette County, PA. Situated on a flatland along the Youghiogheny River, Victoria is now part of Ohiopyle State Park, which has been preserved for the public to enjoy. 

The Shipleys had 10 children -- Ellen Shipley, Lucretia "Ruth" Dawson McGee, Alverda Maude Yeagley, Charles Alvin Shipley, Albert Clarence Shipley, Norman Floyd Shipley, Robert Clement Shipley, Edna Odelia Shipley, Harrison Raymond "Harry" Shipley and Otto Lee Shipley. Sadly, their eldest child Ellen died at the tender age of six weeks in 1878, and one other child passed away during the parents' lifetime.

In the year 1900 the family lived in the borough of Ohiopyle, Fayette County. Also in their household lived Mary's brother, John, who at age 27 was widowed. 

Seen at right, the Western Maryland Railroad depot in Ohiopyle.

Walter and Mary separated sometime before 1910. At the time, he was a foreman on a railroad "work train." He went to Newell, Fayette County, to live with his brother in law, Robert E. Lee Jennings. 

By 1910, when the federal census was taken, the Shipleys apparently had reconciled, and were living together in or near Victoria, where Walter was a farmer. That year, their children Clarence, Odelia, Harry and Otto were residing in the household, along with seven year old granddaughter Charlotta Shipley. The census indicates that they owned their own farm. 

When the federal census again was enumerated in 1920, Walter and Mary were living together near Ohiopyle. In their dwelling that year were 22-yar-old son Harry and 17-year-old granddaughter Charlotte. The record shows that Walter and Harry were farmers. Living nearby were the families of Andrew Shipley, Jefferson Shipley, Leroy Shipley and Lewis Shipley, but their connection to Walter is not yet known.

Walter died on April 15, 1927 in either Stewart Township, Fayette County, or in Monessen, Westmoreland County, PA. He was age 76. He is buried in the Addison Cemetery in Somerset County. 

In the 1930s, laborers with the Works Progress Administration recorded all the burials at Addison Cemetery, and prepared a long typed list of the names and dates. Today, this list is available online on the Somerset County GenWeb Archives, with the page containing the reference to Walter found on page 3. Distant cousins of Mary's, Joseph and Nancy (Stuck) Minard, also rest in this ancient burying ground dating to before the Civil War. 

Mary outlived Walter by almost two decades. When she was 77, her children held a reunion in her honor at Victoria, in mid-July 1939. The Connellsville Daily Courier ran a lengthy article reporting the details:

The event was attended by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, representing four generations. Children present were as follows: Charles Shipley and family of McKeesport, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Shipley and family of Newell, Mrs. Alverda Yeagley and son, Wendell, Odelia Shipley and Robert Shipley, all of Confluence, Harry Shipley and daughter, Alma Jean, at home. Grandchildren were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jewart and sons of Glassport, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Little of Johnstown, Miss Bettie Shipley of Barnesville, Ohio. Visitors included Mr. and Mrs. William Herwick of Stewarton, Mrs. Curtis Rugg, George Rugg, and daughter, Hilda, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hall of Mill Run, and Lester Shipley of Bidwell. The youngest person present was Phyllis Shipley, 18 months. A dinner was served by Mrs. Alverda Yeagley. Her aides were Miss Odelia Shipley, Mrs. Thomas Jewart and Mrs. Jacob Little. The day was spent in swimming, biking and playing games. Music was by Harry Shipley and Robert Shipley of Bidwell. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hall and Hilda Rugg of Mill Run sang.

At the age of 83, Mary passed away on March 23, 1945, at her home in Bidwell. She was laid to rest beside her husband at Addison. The Connellsville Daily Courier ran a brief obituary, saying she was survived by 23 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. 

Eventually buried in the grave plot would be sons Harry, Floyd and Clarence Shipley and daughter Odelia Shipley. We are grateful to volunteers with the Old Petersburg/Addison Historical Society for sharing the Shipley burial information. 

The Shipleys' plot of graves at Addison Cemetery

~ Son Lucretia Ruth Dawson ~

Daughter Lucretia Ruth Shipley (1882- ? ) was born in January 1882. 

She married (?) Dawson. Nothing more is known.

~ Daughter Alverda Maude Yeaghley ~

Daughter Alverda Maude Shipley (1884-1961) was born in January 1884. She married Charles Yeaghley (or "Yeagley"). 

They resided in Confluence and had one son, Wendell E. Beaghley. 

Alverda passed away at the age of 77 on Jan. 30, 1961, and was laid to rest in the Addison Cemetery.

~ Son Charles Alvin Shipley ~

Son Charles Alvin Shipley (1886-1971) was born on March 29, 1886. He was of medium height and build, with blue eyes and brown hair.

He was married five times. His first bride was Corinne B. (?) (? - ? ). Another of his spouses was Edith Elizabeth Brady. In all, he had five sons and three daughters -- Charles Walker Shipley, James Shipley, Virginia Mounts, Alvin Jennings Shipley, Donald Maurice Shipley, Chloe Ann Rzepniak, Daniel Wayne Shipley and Janet Arlene Shank.

When Charles furnished personal information to the federal government in 1918, while registering for the World War I military draft, he and Corinne made their home at 420 Marshall Street in McKeesport, near Pittsburgh. His employment at that time was as a shearman's helper at the Woods Mill of American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, part of United States Steel Corporation, in McKeesport. 

Charles resided in Connellsville in 1945 and in McKeesport, near Pittsburgh, circa 1961. 

Charles died in February 1971 and was buried in Restland Memorial Park in Monroeville, in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Edith outlived him by two decades. She passed away in November 1991.

~ Son Albert "Clarence" Shipley ~

Son Albert "Clarence" Shipley (1888-1985) was born on May 13, 1888. He married Melissa Fortney (1890-1935). 

They lived at Newell, Fayette County. They had four children -- Mary Catherine Little, Albert Harrison Shipley, Alverda Krivacek and Phyllis Goldstein. 

Sadly, Melissa passed away at the age of 45 on Feb. 22, 1935, and married daughter Mary Catherine Little died young in 1967. 

Clarence outlived his first wife by a half-century. He later married Mary Howell and was employed for many years by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad at Newell. Clarence died at the age of 97 on Feb. 26, 1985, and was laid to rest at Addison.

~ Son Norman "Floyd" Shipley ~

Son Norman "Floyd" Shipley (1890-1964) was born on Oct. 9, 1890, at Victoria, Fayette County, PA. He was of medium height and build, with brown eyes and dark hair. 

Floyd obtained employment with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and moved to Pittsburgh in the 1910s, where he held the position of railroad foreman. In 1918, when he filled out a World War I military draft registration card, he made his home at 3022 Carson Street on Pittsburgh's South Side. He was not married at the time.

He died in 1964, at the age of 74, and is interred at Addison Cemetery in Somerset County, PA.

~ Son Robert Clement Shipley Sr. ~

Son Robert Clement Shipley Sr. (1892-1985) was born on Sept. 30, 1892 in Victoria, Fayette County, PA. He was of medium height and build, with brown eyes and brown hair. 

Robert married Georgiana Kern ( ? - ? ) and had four children -- Robert Clement Shipley Jr., Charles E. Shipley, Margaret "Peg" Armbrust and Bettie Edwards. 

Said the Beaver County (PA) Times, he "was a resident of Hendrysburg, Ohio, prior to moving to the Beaver Falls area, where he resided most of his life. He was a watchman for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, Pittsburgh, 40 years, retiring in 1959, and a member of the First Baptist Church, Beaver Falls.

Circa 1918, when he was age 26, Robert registered for the U.S. military draft during World War I. At the time, he was employed as a brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Connellsville, Fayette County.

He lived at Beaver Falls, Beaver County from 1961 to his death in 1985. He passed away at home at the age of 93 on Oct. 14, 1985. He was laid to rest in Grandview Cemetery in Big Beaver Borough. At the time, said the Times, he was survived by four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

• Son Charles E. Shipley married Bernice A. Altsman (1923-2010) in about 1948. She was the daughter of James William and Nora Bell (Denhart) Altsman. They resided in White Township, near Beaver Falls, PA, and had no children. Said the Beaver County Times, Bernice "was the secretary to the personnel manager of Armstrong World Industries at the Beaver Falls plant for 41 years. [She] was the oldest member of the First Baptist Church, Beaver Falls, with over 70 years of service." Bernice passed away at age 87 on June 27, 2010, at the Beaver Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, after suffering a stroke earlier in the year. She was laid to rest in Grandview Cemetery in Big Beaver Borough.

~ Daughter Edna "Odelia" ("Deedee") Shipley ~

Daughter Edna Odelia "Deedee" Shipley (1894-1968) was born in September 1894. Sheapparently never married. 

In May 1947, Odelia is known to have been seriously ill and a patient at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, and was "slightly improving" later in the month. 

She passed away in 1968, and rests for eternity beside her parents and siblings at Addison Cemetery.

~ Son Harrison Rayman "Harry" Shipley ~

Son Harrison Rayman "Harry" Shipley (1897-1991) was born on March 18, 1897 at Victoria, Fayette County, PA. As an adult, he had grey eyes and light brown hair, and carried the nickname "Hardrock."

In 1918, when registering for the military draft during World War I, the 21-year-old Harry lived at home in Victoria. Later, he resided at Ohiopyle and at Confluence, Somerset County. He had at least one daughter, Alma Jean Shipley. 

Circa 1971, Harry made his home in Ventura, CA. He returned to Somerset County, and lived in Confluence in 1985. He died at age 94 in 1991 and is buried in the family plot at Addison.

~ Son Otto Lee Shipley ~

Son Otto Lee Shipley (1899-1971) was born either in September 1898 or on Jan. 22, 1899, in Victoria, Fayette County. He was of medium height and build, with brown eyes and black hair. When World War I broke out, Otto was living at home in Victoria and working with his father in farming. 

Otto married Edna Matilda Kirschner (1903-1989), seen here, sometime in the late 1910s. In the waning days of August 1919, said the Connellsville Daily Courier, the newlyweds were:

... tendered a very enjoyable surprise party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Shipley at Victoria. Music was rendered by Hall & Kemp's orchestra and the Martial band, the latter playing while lunch was being served. The following were present: Mr. and Mrs. C. Walter Shipley, Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Shipley, Harry Shipley, Charlotte Shipley, Irvin Shipley, Misses Celestia, Beatrice and Goldie Linderman, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Williams and sons, Opal and Earle, Emerson Kemp, Lee Hall, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hohman and children, Sherman and Ada, Martin, Robert, Thomas and Brack Shipley, Russell Kemp, Eugene Harold and Edgar Jennings, Miss Irma Graver, McClelland Linderman, Walter Cunningham, Foster Morrison, Albert Moon and Francis Moon.

The Shipleys relocated in 1920 to West Mayfield, Beaver County, PA, where he was a section foreman in the Beaver Falls-College office of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad. Otto's obituary in the Beaver County Times said "He had been an outstanding West Mayfield borough administrator, served as first mayor of West Mayfield, four terms as burgess and also was a former justice of the peace. For many years he served on West Mayfield Borough Council and was a former president of council." Edna served as "president and member of the West Mayfield School Board for many years," said the Times. 

Otto and Edna had five children -- Ruth Todd Shaffer, Robert Lee Shipley, Virginia S. Shipley, Vivian Gloria Shipley and Richard Vernon Shipley. 

Otto died at the age of 72 on Nov. 17, 1971. He was laid to rest in Sylvania Hills Memorial Park in Daugherty Township near Rochester, PA. Edna outlived him by 18 years. She moved to Sparta, WI and died there in her home at the age of 86 on March 13, 1989. Her remains were returned to Beaver County for burial beside Otto. At her death, she had five grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

• Daughter Ruth Todd Shipley (1920-1998) married Woodrow Lyle Shaffer, but the marriage ended in divorce. She then married Harry Nicely McGee, with that marriage also ending in divorce. Ruth married her third husband Lester Gossard ( ? -1984), and following his death in 1984, she remarried Harry McGee. They made their home in Darlington, Beaver County, PA in 1971 and Lake City, FL in 1989.
• Son Robert Lee Shipley (1921-1951), seen here, was an Air Force sergeant and radio operator who was killed during the Korean War. On Dec. 9, 1951, during what should have been an otherwise routine flight, his airplane, a C-119, "fell into the Japanese sea between Honshu and Kynshu Islands,"said the Beaver Falls News Tribune. "The last letter his family received from him was written on the boat on Thanksgiving Day." His remains were returned to Beaver County in January 1952 for burial at Sylvania Hills Memorial Park. Robert left a widow and a young daughter, who were living in Chicago at the time. Among other places, his name appeared in a special Korean War memorial page in the June 25, 2000 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Daughter Virginia Shipley (1923-2003) married Samuel Gillingham. They had one daughter, Dolores Dawn Miller. After the marriage ended in divorce, Virginia wed Francis Carl "Squire" Isabella. She resided in West Mayfield , Beaver County, , where she "was a life member of the Fort Pitt Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America," said the Beaver County Times. "Prior to her retirement she was employed as a supervisor for AT&T for 39 years. She was hard working and devoted to AT&T. She enjoyed roller-skating, gardening, boating, shopping and bingo." She died at age 79 at The Medical Center of Beaver, PA on July 29, 2003. She rests for eternity at Sylvania Hills Memorial Park.
• Daughter Vivian Gloria Shipley (1926- ? ) married Michael Terley ( ? -1995) and lived in Inglewood, CA. Later, they returned to West Mayfield. Michael died in 1995. Her fate is unknown.
• Son Richard Vernon Shipley (1930-1991) lived in Darlington, Beaver County, PA circa 1971 and Sparta, WI in 1989. He passed away at the age of 61 on Nov. 30, 1991.

Copyright © 2000-2003, 2006-2009 Mark A. Miner