Mary lulu McTeer

Mary Lulu McTeer was born on January 13, 1862, at the McTeer family homestead near Hopewell, Oregon. She was the third child of Robert McTeer and Sarah Jane Odell McTeer.

Mary’s short life left few traces in the historical record, as she was born and died before statewide vital records were routinely kept in Oregon. Her birth came only ten months after the death of her older sister, Ella, who died at the age of two. Mary died on December 1, 1873, just six weeks shy of her eleventh birthday. 

According to the Odell Cemetery file, compiled from several Daughters of the American Revolution surveys beginning in 1940 and held by the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, Mary’s cause of death was listed as diphtheria. However, no official documentation has yet been found to confirm. Diphtheria was a common cause of childhood deaths at the time, so it is very possible this was indeed what lead to Mary’s passing.

Of the four McTeer children, two died in childhood and one in early adulthood. Only Mary’s sister, Sarah, survived to adulthood and went on to have a family of her own.

Tombstone inscription:

MARY LULU
Daughter of
ROBERT & SARAH MCTEER
BORN
Jan. 13 1863
DIED
Dec. 1 1872

Death Date Discrepancy

Mary Lulu’s headstone reads that she was born in the year 1863, but multiple sources list her as being born in 1862.