Mary Lovica Connelly was born the 27th of March, 1845 (might be 1847) in Olena, Huron County, Ohio, the daughter of Robert and Martha (Mead) Connelly. Martha died when Mary was about seven or eight years old. Her father left and married again having another son, Marvin. Mary lived with her Aunt Ann Eliza (Mead) and Uncle Jude Van Deusen, who lived in Fitchville, Huron County, Ohio. Her uncle was a tyrant so when older she moved in with her half brother, Ephriam D. Conley. Life was not too happy for Mary at either place. (According to Mary's grandaughter, Mary Connelly was of American Indian ancestry. When an adult she received information about claiming money from the U.S. government because she was Indian, supposedly part Cherokee. She would have nothing to do with it. I have found no proof of this.)

When about twenty Mary traveled to Kendall County, Illinois at the urging of her father. He and his new family lived there. She married John Dever the 28th of August, 1866. Mary Hofer, granddaughter of Mary says,

"John Dever was twenty years older than my grandmother. She came to Missouri (incorrect, now known to be Kendall County, Illinois) to marry him when her father wrote and told her he had found a good husband for her. Her father would give her a dowry if she came to Missouri and married him. He was a cobbler and boot maker. She had a very good life with him. She always had the best of everything (the first fruits and vegetables of the season).

Grandma was always very fanatical about this flower business. She spent all her time in her yard. She wasn't ever much for keeping up the house or keeping the kids clean. Grandma used to tell me, "Put the young'un in a box and keep up your yard. That's what I did." Mom (Grace) didn't walk until she was three years old. Mom said the grease used to be so thick on her pillow slip you could scrape it off with your thumb nail. She'd be sent to school in the same grimy dress. She'd beg her mother for a clean dress but she'd say, "That's all right just run along."

Her father liked it rather neat. He used to come home from work and he'd be tired. Grandma (Mary) would be working out in the yard. She'd say, "Oh, my goodness! She didn't realize the time of day." Dinner wasn't started yet. Work wasn't done. The beds weren't made. This was the only time he showed his impatience. He'd get disgusted and put on his coat and hat and go off and buy his dinner. He wasn't abusive. He loved his two children. He always thought of them and brought them gifts. He was interested in them and was kind."

John and Mary had two children, a son, Elmer J., born the 26th of March, 1867 in Illinois and a daughter, Grace Ella, born the 14th of July, 1870 (might be 1872) in Missouri. In about 1882 at the age of 54, John died of stomach cancer. The doctors said it was from holding the boot against his stomach.

Mary was a woman with some strange ideas and poor judgment. Once John died, life became very hard for the family. She took in boarders to try and make ends meet. She then married William Francis Langdon, one of her boarders, the 29th of September, 1883 in Springfield, Greene County, Missouri. He was born the 5th of April, 1851 in Brooklyn, New York to William Langdon and Katherine Haynes. Will didn't work much of the time. All he did was sit around and read or chase women. He was extremely vain and dyed his hair. He wouldn't look for a job. Mary used to say the only reason she married him was for a home but that wasn't true since he owed her five months rent and had no job when they got married.

Grace hated him because he was always trying to make a pass at her. They were so poor they had no stove for cooking; they used the fireplace. They all slept on straw pallets in the same room. Grace would wake up with Will on her pallet bothering her. Mary had a double standard for men and women. She over-looked everything Will did. She thought a man couldn't help himself.

When Grace was twelve she started working away from home as a house servant. She brought her money home on Sunday and gave it to her mother. Mary would take the money and buy an expensive roast. Will and the family ate like kings for a day or two and then starved the rest of the week. She just didn't know how to manage.

Will and Mary Dever Langdon had three daughters, all born in Missouri: Martha Sylvia (Mattie) born the 20th of January, 1886 in Douglas County, Carrie born in Douglas County, and Mamie. Sometime after the girls were born the Dever-Langdon family moved to Colorado. Here, Will worked for a time as a penitentiary guard.

In 1915 Will sent Mary to southern California to live with Grace and her family. Except for a trip back to Colorado in December of 1915 to bury Will Langdon, she lived with Grace until her death in 1934.

Will was killed by robbers the 10th of December, 1915 near the old Pueblo smelter, while he worked as a railroad detective on the railroad in Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado, USA. He was shot in the head and chest. Mary received $500 and a lifetime pass on the railroad as compensation for Will's death in the line of duty. She later also received $30 dollars a month as a widow of a Veteran of the Spanish American War. Will had supposedly been with Roosevelt's Rough Riders. He is buried in the Mt. View Cemetery in Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado.

Mary moved with Grace's family from San Diego to L.A. and then to the San Francisco Bay Area where they finally settled on Bay View Avenue in what was then Stege, but is now El Cerrito. Mary Langdon believed "The good Lord put Gracie on the earth to take care of her." She spent her time in amongst her flowers.

Mary Langdon died August 24, 1934 in Richmond, Contra Costa, California at the age of 89. She was buried the 27th of August, 1934 in Section Adult I, Grave 21, tier 3 Sunsetview Cemetery, El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California.

Compiled and written by Susan Kimess Burgess in 1991 and corrected in Nov. 2005.