Mary Ann (Lattimer) Freitas

When Mary Ann Lattimer was born on 6 December 1853, in Buffalo, New York, her father, John, was 26, and her mother, Jane, was 33. She was the third oldest of seven children. Mary Ann's father was born in England and her mother was born in Clones, Monaghan, Ireland.  

Mary Ann's father was one of the first to settle on the seawall strip of Buffalo, Erie, New York in 1844.  By the early 1900s, this piece of land was known as the seawall strip ~ the land of the 'squatters' or 'beachers.' Eventually the city of Buffalo 'acquired' the land in order to give it to the railroad.

In 1916 Mary Ann testified before the city commission of how her parents made a home for their family.  When describing the railroad actions in bullying her family and neighbors, Mary Ann had this to say:  "Imagine a silly woman brought a pail of tar into the kitchen and left it on the stove.  It caught fire and burned up the house.  It was a great while later that a big blow took the barn completely away."  Mary Ann was given $3,000 for her seawall home.

At the age of 14 years old, Mary Ann married John P. Freitas on 23 December 1867 in her hometown of Buffalo, Erie, New York at Grace Episcopal Church. John was 22 years old at the time of their marriage. Mary Ann lived with her parents during the first six months of her marriage. They had twelve children with nine of her children living through adulthood. She told of her husband being paid in gold, never banked it and could hardly hold it in her large apron. She would give food to the needy and at her "wake" so many people told of the good she did.

Mary Ann died on 26 January 1937, in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 83, and was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery.