NECROLOGY. 439 



MRS. MARY E. MUDGE. 



Bv J. T. WiLLAED, 



'\,rARY E. A. BECKFORD was born in Baltimore, Md., March 

 ■^^-^ 17, 1820. Her parents had moved there from Lynn, Mass., to 

 which they returned a few months after their daughter's birth. Thus, 

 though born in the South, her associations and education were those 

 of New England. Her father died while she was yet an infant, but 

 she was tenderly reared by her mother, who gave her the best possible 

 education the town aflPorded in both public and private schools. 

 While studying in Lynn Academy she gained her first real interest in 

 botany and the other natural sciences. She was acquainted with Ben- 

 jamin F. Mudge from girlhood, and, with their common tastes and 

 interest in science, it was but natural that their friendship should 

 culminate in marriage in 1846. They lived in Lynn until 1860, then 

 removed to Kentucky, where a year was pleasantly passed, when they 

 sought a new home at Quindaro, now a suburb of Kansas City, Kan. 

 They made their final home at Manhattan, where, in 1865, her hus- 

 band was elected professor of natural science and higher mathematics 

 in the Kansas State Agricultural College. She lost his genial com- 

 panionship by death November 21, 1879. She ever remained loyal to 

 his work and memory. After Professor Mudge's death she and her 

 daughter, Eusebia, made their home together, residing in Manhattan 

 until November, 1900, when they removed to Kansas City, Mo. Some 

 time previous her daughter had married Mr. Frank L. Irish, an attor- 

 ney, whose business interests caused their removal mentioned. Mrs. 

 Mudge died July 18, 1904. She was elected an associate member of 

 the Academy of Science in 1897. 



To those who knew Mrs. Mudge, she will always seem to be the 

 embodiment of serene tranquillity ; affectionate, cultivated, and chari- 

 table, she was deeply beloved by all who knew her. She was fond of 

 reading, and maintained her interest in the progress of the world to 

 the very last. At the age of eighty-three, with most painstaking care 

 as to facts and researches, she wrote an account of the archeological 

 researches of Prof. J. V. Brower, which was published in volume VII 

 of his memoirs entitled "Kansas." She also wrote for volume I, 

 entitled "Quivera," the researches of Prof. B. F. Mudge. She con- 

 tributed many papers on scientific subjects for the domestic science 

 club of Manhattan, of which she was a member. She also gave 

 much aid in church work. Within the last six weeks of her life she 

 made a collection of the wild flowers found on a farm where she was 



