Mary Ann Laird Campbell

Buried in Saint Patrick CemeteryFrom The Daily Notes -- August 29, 1911 BATTLE OF LIFE WAS HARD FOR MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

Mrs. Neil Laird and her daughter Anna, who were killed in the Canonsburg theater disaster, were natives of this city. The entire family has been wiped out in a tragic manner.

Several years ago the body of the father and husband was found floating in the city reservoir here, and it was claimed at that time that he had committed suicide. He was a pottery kilnsman.

A year or more after his death two children of the family were burned to death, when their home was on fire on College street here.

Following these deaths, Mrs. Laird and her daughter went to Canonsburg, where it is said both obtained work in the Canonsburg pottery. The battle of life had been hard for the mother, but she fought bravely even after her husband and two sons were dead.

From The Daily Notes -- August 29, 1911 HEARSES BEAR BODIES OF MOTHER AND HER DAUGHTER

At 7:45 two hearses, one of them a “little white” one, followed by several cabs, turned out of Jefferson avenue into Pike street, the horses feet clanking sharply on the damp brick as they moved at almost a trot St. Patrick’s church.

The hearses contained the bodies of Mrs. Mary Ann Laird Campbell and her daughter Annie Laird.

From The Daily Notes -- August 29, 1911 MANY FUNERAL COTEGES WEND THEIR WAY TO THE CEMETERIES

High mass was held this morning at 8 o’clock at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic church by the Rev. Father James H. Gilmore of Washington, assistant pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of Washington, for Mary Ann Laird Campbell, aged 45, and her daughter, Annie, aged 8 years. Father Gilmore said that all should be prepared for death and that the greatest kindness the friends could do was to pray for the souls of those who had perished. After the service the burial of the mother and daughter was made in St. Patrick’s cemetery, north of town.

From The Daily Notes -- August 29, 1911 FUNERAL OF MOST OF THE VICTIMS TUESDAY

Mrs. Mary Ann Laird Campbell and her daughter, Annie Laird, will buried in one grave at the Catholic cemetery after services at St. Patrick’s at 8 o’clock Tuesday morning. There will be high mass.

From The New York Times -- August 30, 1911 PALLBEARERS FALL AT LIGHTNING STROKE

Double services were held over the bodies of Mrs. Mary Laird Campbell and her eight-year-old daughter in St. Patrick’s Church. With their death, the entire family was wiped out after a series of tragedies. Three years ago the father was drowned in the reservoir of the waterworks at Liverpool, Ohio and a year later two children were burned to death in the fire which destroyed the family home.

From The Washington Observer -- August 30, 1911 LOWERING CLOUDS HOVER NEAR STRICKEN TOWN

At 8 o'clock a double funeral was conducted from St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church when the obsequities of Mrs. Mary Laird Campbell, aged 46, and her daughter, Helen Laird, age six, were held. The Rev. Father Thomas Zacharski, of St. Thomas church, read the blessing service for the dead while a solemn requiem high mass was recited by Rev. Father James H. Gilmore, of the Immaculate Conception church of Washington. Father Gilmore also made the funeral address. Four eight-year-old playmates of Helen Laird were pallbearers. They were garbed in white with wreathes of white flowers in their hair. Mother and daughter were buried in the same grave in the catholic cemetery.