Mary Beecher Longyear (1851-1931) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and died in Brookline, Massachusetts. By 1860 her family was living in Erie, Pennsylvania, and by 1870 they had moved to Bedford, Michigan. After attending Albion College in Albion, Michigan, she worked as a schoolteacher for about ten years. In 1879 she married John Munro Longyear, 1850-1922, in Battle Creek, Michigan, and they settled in Marquette, Michigan. The couple had seven children. Through several successful business ventures in the timber and mining industries, Longyear's husband amassed a fortune over his career, and upon his passing in 1922, he was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the United States.
Longyear became interested in Christian Science in the early 1890s. She joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 30, 1894. Several of her family members also joined the church, including her sisters Caroline Beecher Silva (b. Beecher) and Abby Beecher Abbott (b. Beecher) (her twin), her daughters Abby Beecher Roberts (b. Longyear), Helen L. Paul (b. Longyear), and Judith Longyear Lyeth (b. Longyear), and her sons Howard M. Longyear and John "Jack" Munroe Longyear, Jr. Abbott also became a practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal. While wintering in Dresden, Germany, in 1896 and 1897, Longyear helped organize gatherings to read the Christian Science Bible Lessons and gave talks on Christian Science. Upon her return to the United States, she arranged for and funded the effort to send Christian Science practitioner and teacher Francis Thurber Seal to Germany to grow the Christian Science movement there from 1897 until 1906.
In 1900, with Eddy's permission, Longyear displayed and distributed Christian Science literature at the Paris Exposition, which was enthusiastically received. Longyear earned her C.S.B. degree in 1903 after taking the Normal class from Eddy's student Edward A. Kimball under the auspices of the Board of Education. When the Longyear family relocated to Brookline, Massachusetts, in the early 1900s, they also opted to deconstruct and move their 65-room, sandstone mansion from Marquette to Brookline piece by piece. This feat took four years and approximately 190 freight cars to accomplish and was widely reported upon by the national newspapers of the day. When reconstructed in Brookline, the mansion had nearly 100 rooms and later became the original home of the Longyear Museum.
In her later years, Longyear was motivated to safeguard Eddy's legacy as well as that of other Christian Science pioneers. Accordingly, she began what eventually became a vast collection of portraits, documents, and artifacts pertaining to Eddy and other early Christian Science workers. She also acquired four of Eddy's former residences. In 1923 she established the Longyear Foundation, whose primary purpose became to operate the Longyear Museum, which houses her collection of documents and artifacts, and to preserve Eddy's historical homes. Longyear's other philanthropic contributions included funding the development of the Braille system, printing the Bible in Braille, founding the Endowment for Biblical Research, and donating the land and providing funding for the Christian Science Benevolent Association in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Longyear authored several books, including The Law of a Household (1908), Far Countries as Seen by a Boy (1916), Gathered Verses of Many Years (1921), The Genealogy and Life of Asa Gilbert Eddy (1922), Hear, O Israel! (1922), and The History of a House (1925), and was a member of the Boston Authors' Club. She also had several articles and poems published in the Christian Science Sentinel, and she taught Sunday school in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts for many years.
See more letters.
Mary Beecher Longyear (1851-1931) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and died in Brookline, Massachusetts. By 1860 her family was living in Erie, Pennsylvania, and by 1870 they had moved to Bedford, Michigan. After attending Albion College in Albion, Michigan, she worked as a schoolteacher for about ten years. In 1879 she married John Munro Longyear, 1850-1922, in Battle Creek, Michigan, and they settled in Marquette, Michigan. The couple had seven children. Through several successful business ventures in the timber and mining industries, Longyear's husband amassed a fortune over his career, and upon his passing in 1922, he was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the United States.
Longyear became interested in Christian Science in the early 1890s. She joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 30, 1894. Several of her family members also joined the church, including her sisters Caroline Beecher Silva (b. Beecher) and Abby Beecher Abbott (b. Beecher) (her twin), her daughters Abby Beecher Roberts (b. Longyear), Helen L. Paul (b. Longyear), and Judith Longyear Lyeth (b. Longyear), and her sons Howard M. Longyear and John "Jack" Munroe Longyear, Jr. Abbott also became a practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal. While wintering in Dresden, Germany, in 1896 and 1897, Longyear helped organize gatherings to read the Christian Science Bible Lessons and gave talks on Christian Science. Upon her return to the United States, she arranged for and funded the effort to send Christian Science practitioner and teacher Francis Thurber Seal to Germany to grow the Christian Science movement there from 1897 until 1906.
In 1900, with Eddy's permission, Longyear displayed and distributed Christian Science literature at the Paris Exposition, which was enthusiastically received. Longyear earned her C.S.B. degree in 1903 after taking the Normal class from Eddy's student Edward A. Kimball under the auspices of the Board of Education. When the Longyear family relocated to Brookline, Massachusetts, in the early 1900s, they also opted to deconstruct and move their 65-room, sandstone mansion from Marquette to Brookline piece by piece. This feat took four years and approximately 190 freight cars to accomplish and was widely reported upon by the national newspapers of the day. When reconstructed in Brookline, the mansion had nearly 100 rooms and later became the original home of the Longyear Museum.
In her later years, Longyear was motivated to safeguard Eddy's legacy as well as that of other Christian Science pioneers. Accordingly, she began what eventually became a vast collection of portraits, documents, and artifacts pertaining to Eddy and other early Christian Science workers. She also acquired four of Eddy's former residences. In 1923 she established the Longyear Foundation, whose primary purpose became to operate the Longyear Museum, which houses her collection of documents and artifacts, and to preserve Eddy's historical homes. Longyear's other philanthropic contributions included funding the development of the Braille system, printing the Bible in Braille, founding the Endowment for Biblical Research, and donating the land and providing funding for the Christian Science Benevolent Association in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Longyear authored several books, including The Law of a Household (1908), Far Countries as Seen by a Boy (1916), Gathered Verses of Many Years (1921), The Genealogy and Life of Asa Gilbert Eddy (1922), Hear, O Israel! (1922), and The History of a House (1925), and was a member of the Boston Authors' Club. She also had several articles and poems published in the Christian Science Sentinel, and she taught Sunday school in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts for many years.
See more letters.