Mary Lindsay Heaton

Originally from Virginia, Mary Lindsay Harper met her first husband, Albert Thompson Skinner of Mexico, NY during the civil war. They were married in 1866 and had four children together in Alexandria, Virginia before they relocated to Hoosick Falls when he took a position in the offices of the Walter A. Wood Company. They built a home at 33 Abbott Street, and two more children followed. Following Mr. Skinner's untimely death at age 41, she remarried Willis Edgar Heaton [1861-1930], a lawyer originally from Cicero, New York and who became a surrogate judge.

Mary Lindsay Harper was the eldest daughter of John Newton Harper [1823-1907] and Sarah Frances Andrews [1826-1911], both from early Virginia families. Because of her deep Southern roots, Mrs. Skinner Heaton became a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.