Hill, Mary Theresa Mehegan , 1846-1921.

Mary Theresa Mehegan was born in New York City July 1, 1846, the daughter of recent Irish immigrants. Mary’s father, Timothy Mehegan, moved the family to St. Anthony in the newly organized Minnesota Territory in 1850. They quickly moved to St. Paul where Mr. Mehegan worked tailoring clothes and selling real estate until his death on Christmas Eve, 1854. Mary and her sister Eliza attended St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Paul and Mary worked as a waitress at the Merchant’s Hotel where she met James J. Hill in the early 1860s.

The couple became engaged in June 1864, but before the marriage Mary attended finishing school at St. Mary’s Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, paid for by James. There she learned French, history, music, calisthenics, and needlework.

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