town, later attending the academy at Cherryfield, Me., as well as that at East Machias. In 1863 she was graduated from the Bridgewater Normal School, and afterward she studied French, German, and painting under private instructors. She was a member of Professor Agassiz's school at Penikese during the two years of its existence. She subsequently took the full Chautauqua course, and at Radcliffe College in the year 1897 she took a special course in English composition. She is still a student, and, except when the press of duties forbids, is never long away from her books. In the Farmington State Normal School she is remembered as a conscientious and enthusiastic instructor, one whose personal interest in her pupils extended beyond the walls of the class-room.
The marriage of Miss Helen Coffin and Mr. Daniel Beedy took place in 1875 at Castine, Me. For a number of years Mr. Beedy was one of the more prominent citizens of Farm- ington, where they made their home, and where since Mr. Beedy's death, in 1889, Mrs. Beedy, when not travelling abroad, has continued to reside.
Mrs. Beedy has been president of the Franklin County W. C. T. H. ever since its organization. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, has been officially connected with the State Suffrage Club and the State Federation of Clubs, and has served as president of the National Dorothea Dix Memorial Association since its inauguration in 1899. But her duties as president are but a small part of her work along this line. She has written, spoken, and travelled, arranged fairs, interested people to contribute; and has appeared in Congress to plead specially for an appropriation toward erecting a monument to the memory of Miss Dix.
A comprehensive volume, entitled "Mothers of Maine," bears Mrs. Beedy's name upon the title-page. The compilation of facts was a long but delightful task to her, and so well did she succeed in her work that this history of remarkable Maine women covers a period of more than two centuries.
Thus author, educator, lecturer, philanthropist, may all be written after Mrs. Beedys name. And to such as know her there will come to mind unwritten achievements of daily life which stand for true courage and integrity.
Note.—As this article was about to go to press, we received the news of Mrs. Beedy’s death, which occurred June 14, 1904.
MARY CLARA WARE KIRBY.—The Ware family, to which Mrs. Kirby belongs, has been represented in Massachusetts nearly two hundred and fifty years. Its founder in this country was Robert Ware, who came from Devon, England, in 1664. He was given a grant of land in Dedham, and two years later was made "freeman." A man of importance in the community, the second largest tax-payer in the town, and a member of the artillery company, he was a good neighbor, a kind husband and father. He died in 1698. His will, drawn the year previous, shows more than usual justice and though tfulness toward the wife he was leaving to the care of his children. The breadth of vision and mental strength of this their first American ancestor seem to have been transmitted in large degree to his descendants. In 1775 Joseph Ware, a great-grandson of the immigrant, was one of the soldiers in Arnold's famous expedition against Quebec, and won promotion for his bravery. His Journal of the Expedition (published in 1884 by Joseph Ware, of Needham, a great-grandson) is historically valuable, containing among other data a complete list of the Americans killed, wounded, and taken prisoners on the fateful day of December 31, 1775.
Unitarian for generations in their religious preferences, the Wares have numbered in their ranks many distinguished clergymen and scholars. Ralph Ware, a great-grandson of the Revolutionary hero and the father of the subject of this sketch, was of the liberal school of thought, and when he married Mary Jordan, the daughter of an English Universalist clergyman, it is small wonder that in their home all matters of advanced thought and scientific research should have been given impartial consideration.
