Mary GRAFFAM

Born

November 18 1911 , Portland, Maine, USA

Died

27 May 1971 , Portland, Maine, USA

Age: 59
Cause of Death: Cancer

Parents & Family of Mary GRAFFAM

Explore parents, grandparents, spouses, children, and the family connections surrounding Mary GRAFFAM.

Parents

Melvin Delmont GRAFFAM Ida PERRY

Grandparents

Explore grandparents

Spouse & Children

View family relationships1 recorded relationship(s)

Family Tree

Open family tree View pedigree chart

Born: November 18 1911 in Portland, Maine, USA

Father: Melvin Delmont GRAFFAM

Mother: Ida PERRY

Spouse(s)/Partner(s) and Child(ren):

Mary married Rene Malcom PELLETIER 6 August 1934 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA . The couple had (at least) 1 child.
Rene Malcom PELLETIER was born 31 March 1899 in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. Rene Malcom died 2 October 1963 in Portland, Maine, USA (Deering). Rene Malcom was the child of Pantaleon PELLETIER and Alexandrine MICHAUD.

Mary GRAFFAM died 27 May 1971 in Portland, Maine, USA .
Details of the family tree of Mary appear below.

WORK & OCCUPATION

Occupation

Recorded occupation: house wife

Everyday Chronicles: Life of the Average American Woman in the Mid-1900s

Spouse & Children of Mary GRAFFAM

Hide Family & Children

Mary GRAFFAM married

Rene Malcom PELLETIER
Marriage date: 6 August 1934
Marriage place: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
Rene Malcom PELLETIER was the child of Pantaleon PELLETIER and Alexandrine MICHAUD

Children of Rene Malcom PELLETIER and Mary GRAFFAM

Living

Born: ,
Died: ,

Add Life Event

Have another record or photo?
Add a life event, census record, military record, obituary, achievement, or photograph for Mary GRAFFAM.

Life & Records

Photos, life events, and historical records for Mary GRAFFAM.

Hide Life & Records

Postcards and Memories of Portland, Maine, USA (Deering)

How to read this timeline
Records about Mary GRAFFAM and family appear alongside historical events from the same years. Each item is labeled so you can quickly tell family records from historical context.

Birth — 1911
November 18 1911
Portland, Maine, USA

1912 - April 15 - Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic

1913 - The assembly line is invented (Henry Ford, United States)

The bra is invented (Mary Phelps Jacob, United States)

1913 - Woodrow Wilson becomes President of the United States

1913 - October 31 – The Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across the United States, is dedicated

1915 - January 25 - First United States coast-to-coast long-distance telephone call

1917 - March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.

1917 - April 6 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany

1918 - March 19 – The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time

1919 - June 4 – Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification

1920 - January 17 - Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution

1921 - Warren G. Harding becomes President of the United States

1921 - Charles Strite of Minnesota patents the pop-up toaster.

1923 to 1927 - Television is invented (Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (Russia), Philo Taylor Farnsworth (United States))

1923 - Calvin Coolidge becomes President of the United States

1927 - The aerosol can is invented (Erik Rotheim, Norway)

1927 - April 7 – Bell Telephone Co. transmits an image of Herbert Hoover (then the Secretary of Commerce), which becomes the first successful long distance demonstration of television

1928 - Sliced bread (bread slicing machine) is invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder (United States)

1929 - Herbert Hoover becomes President of the United States

1929 - October 29 - Black Tuesday - Stock market crash - The Great Depression Begins - It lasted until 1941 (WW2)

1930 - Scotch tape is invented (Richard Drew (3M), United States)

In 1930, on February 18, Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, marking a significant milestone in the study of our solar system.

1931 - The paper towel is invented (Arthur Scott, United States)

1931 - March 3 – The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.

1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President of the United States

1933 - December 5 – The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, repealing Prohibition

1934 - The metal beverage can is invented (American Can Co., United States)

1934 Marriage / Partner
Mary GRAFFAM and Rene Malcom PELLETIER 6 August 1934, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA (Strawbery Banke)

She was 22 years old.

1935 - The snowmobile was invented by Joseph Bombardier (Quebec, Canada)

1935 - August 14 – United States President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law

1938 - The ballpoint pen is invented (Lazlo Biro, Hungary)

1938-1944 - Sunscreen is invented (Franz Greiter, Switzerland and Benjamin Green, United States)

1938 - October 27 - Du Pont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: nylon.

1940 - April - 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1941 - December 8 - (the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor) United States declares war on Japan (WW2)

1944 - D-Day, which occurred on June 6, 1944, was a pivotal World War II operation where Allied forces launched a massive invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France. Known as Operation Overlord, it involved over 156,000 troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other Allied nations. The operation aimed to liberate Western Europe from Nazi German control. The landings marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, leading to the eventual Allied victory in Europe.

1945 - The atomic bomb is invented (J. Robert Oppenheimer, et al., United States)

The microwave oven was invented accidentally in 1945 by Percy Spencer, a Raytheon engineer. While testing a magnetron, he noticed microwaves melted a candy bar in his pocket. Experimenting further, he discovered microwaves could cook food quickly. Raytheon patented the process, and by 1947, they built the first commercial microwave oven, called the 'Radarange.' Initially used in commercial settings, microwaves becomes affordable for home use by the 1960s and 1970s, revolutionizing cooking.

1945 - Harry S. Truman becomes President of the United States

1945 - On September 2, 1945, World War II officially ended with the formal surrender of Japan. The surrender ceremony took place aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, where Japanese officials signed the Instrument of Surrender in the presence of Allied representatives, including General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz.

1948 - Velcro is invented (George de Mestral, Switzerland)

1950 - June 25 - Korean War begins when North Korean forces invade South Korea.

1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President of the United States

1953 - On July 27, 1953, the Korean War ended with the signing of an armistice agreement at Panmunjom. This ceasefire halted the conflict between North Korea, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, backed by United Nations forces primarily from the United States. The agreement established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) near the 38th parallel, effectively maintaining the pre-war boundary and creating a buffer zone between the two Koreas.

1961 - John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States

1961 - Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense 13-day standoff in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. coast. The crisis is considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. It began when American spy planes discovered the missiles, leading to a U.S. naval blockade of Cuba and intense negotiations. The crisis ended when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba and secretly agreeing to remove American missiles from Turkey.

1963 - I Have a Dream Speech - Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963.