Daughter of Daniel Beeby and Elizabeth Taylor, she was born in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England and spent her childhood years there. When she was 9 years old, she emigrated with her family from Elstow to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, boarding the ship Fame which left from the port of Liverpool and arrived at Philadelphia on June 23, 1832. She spent her teen years in Philadelphia, where the family lived for several years. By 1840, the family settled in Thornbury township, near Cheney, Pennsylvania. Her father had built a log home on their homestead and was making his living as a farmer. The Beeby homestead was at 203 Locksley Road, near the A. M. E. Church on Cheney Road. Mary and her family attended the Stonybank Methodist Episcopal (M. E.) Church in nearby Glen Mills. The family lived only about a mile from the Cheney Shops, where they could go to a general store, blacksmith's shop, wheelwright's shop, post office, and train station when needed. Mary's sister Elizabeth was married to Cheney's wheelwright, William Maison.

Mary's mother Elizabeth died in 1841, when Mary was 18 years of age. Mary never married and is not listed in the 1850 census with the rest of the Beeby family. By 1850, her father had married his second wife, Lucretia Mills. Her younger brothers, Daniel and Vernon, were the only Beeby children living on the family homestead in 1850. Where Mary was and what her occupation was in 1850 is unknown.

Mary only lived to be 32 years of age. She died in 1855 and was buried at the Stonybank M. E. Church (now Stonybank Community Church), next to her mother Elizabeth.

Sources:

Federal Works Project Administration (WPA) Cemetery List survey of Delaware County, PA Cemeteries, 1936. Transcribed by Bob Frick.

Cemetery Records, Stonybank Community Church, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.

NJ and Pa. Church & Town Records: Grave No. 49