Born in Queenbeyan, NSW in 1884.
Baptised in Kiama, NSW on 31 October 1887.
Married Arthur Conrad Beecher in Narrandera, NSW in 1905. Children:
- Arthur William Henry Beecher
- Isobel Mary Beecher
Died in Narrandera 20 July 1915. Buried in Narrandera cemetery.
Photo taken in around 1905. Click here for more photos of May Beecher (nee Laurence) and her family.
May was born at Queenbeyan while her parents, William and Mary Jane Laurence (nee Kersley), were travelling from Melbourne to Kiama in New South Wales. She was baptised with her sister Mary Jane at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church at Kiama on 31 October 1887. When she was ten years old, May travelled with her family from Kiama to their newly acquired bush block at South Yalgolgrin near Barellan in central New South Wales. While there she and her sisters were responsible for helping their mother and looking after the farm animals.
May married Arthur Conrad Beecher at Narrandera in 1905. Arthur parents were Henry and Isobella Beecher. His siblings were Bertha (1877-1887), Henry (1879-1963), William Henry (1883-1966), Ada M. (1887-) and Richard George Beecher (1889-1950). Bertha and Henry were born at Adelong, the remainder at Narrandera. After their marriage Arthur and May went to live at Bee Farm (see photos). The couple had two children: Arthur William Henry (born at Narrandera in 1909) and Isobel Mary Catherine Beecher (Narrandera, 1912). In 1915 May went into hosptital to have her teeth out and, much to the shock of her family, died there on 20 July probably of blood poisoning. After May's death, her sister Catherine went to live at the Beecher's homestead at Rosedale to help look after May's children.
Arthur Conrad Beecher re-married in 1917, to Florence Irene Milvain, a Sandigo neighbour. Mary-Anne Lattimore tells us that they and Arthur's first two children lived at Rosedale and had three further children: Florence Mary, Edith Irene and Conrad Hugh Beecher. Arthur snr died in 1931. He and Florence are buried in the Narrandera cemetery. Mary-Anne continues that after his father's death Arthur jnr ('Artie') 'bought a farm at Colinroobie and raised his family there'. Artie's sister, Isobel, married David Maxwell Weeks at Narrandera in 1936. The photo below, which was provided by Ralph Weeks, is of their wedding and shows, from left to right: Florence Mary Beecher (later Cattanach), Hugh Milvain, Roy Milvain, Isobel, David Maxwell Weeks, Edith Irene Beecher (later Beaman) and Laurie Cheeseman (Isobel's cousin and my father).
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