Mary
Belle (Minerd)
Beggs Walls
(1866-1939)
Mary Belle (Minerd) Beggs Walls was born on July 15, 1866 at Broadford, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Devan) Minerd. She was the first of the family's large brood of children born after her father returned from the Civil War.
On July 18, 1882, at the tender age of 16, Mary Belle married William J. Beggs Sr. (1862- ? ). Four days later, her brother Huston D. Minerd married Mollie Kissinger.
Mary Belle and William had seven children – Robert C. Beggs, David Ewing Beggs, William J. Beggs Jr., George A. Beggs, Caroline Belle Perry Schurecht, Pearl Altman and Anna Mahoney.
The
Beggses lived in Dunbar, Fayette County at the time of birth
of several of their children. It’s thought that William was a railroader, and
may have belonged to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, an early union-type
organization. Mary Belle is known to have been a member of the Ladies' Auxiliary to the
Trainmen, Lorette Chapter. When the federal census was taken in 1900, William's
occupation was stated as "Engineer."
Mary Belle was a member of the Hopwood Methodist Church, where her brother Rev. David E. Minerd was pastor for a time. She was active there as a volunteer and Sunday School member.
By 1910, the Beggses had moved to Uniontown, Fayette County, with their home on Jefferson Street. His employment was stated as stationery engineer.
William’s fate is unknown. He is believed to have died during the 1910s.
By 1920, Mary Belle had married Samuel Benton Walls (1874-1938), a widower from Uniontown, and she inherited five step-children -- Pearl Kelly, Nellie May Minerd, Arthur B. Walls, Mary Elizabeth Miller and Margaret Rose Fogle. Samuel’s first wife had been Rose Ann McCardle (1874-1909).
(Stepdaughter Nellie May Walls married Henry Minerd, of Uniontown, who was a distant cousin of Mary Belle’s.)
The 1920 census shows Samuel and Mary Belle living on Farragut Street in Uniontown with her daughter Pearl and his children Arthur, Elizabeth and Margaret. His employment is shown as press man in the Herald newspaper office.
Samuel was a four-decade press operator and "one of the veteran pressmen in this district," said the Uniontown Morning Herald, working for a long time for Fayette Publishing Company, which issued the Uniontown News Standard. Samuel also was “a lover of nature and gathers many flowers and interesting specimens on his rolls,” and once presented his employer with “a beautiful bouquet of wild honeysuckles."
In the late summer of 1925, Samuel and Mary Belle, along with her sons Robert C. and William J. Beggs and their families, drove to Washington DC for a visit with daughter Caroline Schurecht. The Morning Herald reported that they returned safetly from the motor trip.
By 1930, with the grip of the Great Depression taking its toll on the Uniontown economy, Samuel worked as a guard at a local prison camp.
Samuel died on Jan. 17, 1938, in Uniontown
Hospital (seen here in a rare old postcard view). Samuel's funeral was handled by the Minerd Funeral Home of Uniontown,
founded by Mary Belle's nephew, Edward E.
Minerd.
On Oct. 4, 1939, at age 73, Mary Belle died at her home in Hopwood, less than two years after her husband’s passing. The funeral was held at the Hopwood Methodist Church, officiated by Rev. J.D. Stillwagon. At the time of her death, she was survived by 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Stepdaughter Margaret Walls was employed by Auslander's on Beeson Boulevard in Uniontown prior to marriage. She wed Harry Fogle in March 1927. They set up housekeeping in Akron, Summit County, OH, where he worked for the Portage Hardware Company.
Copyright © 2000-2001, 2003, 2006, 2008 Mark A. Miner