Elizabeth Beckett (1842-1907)

She was born in Montreal and according to her obituary she was the daughter of Sir Walter Beckett and Mrs Mary Flood. Sometime after marrying her husband, Dr Morey, they moved to New York City where she assisted him in his dental practice. They rented the historic Beekman mansion, Mount Pleasant, "for pure love of its antiquity" and went to great lengths, spending their own money, to restore it to its original splendor. Sadly, it was demolished in 1874 and soon afterwards they bought a house on Coney Island. Mrs Morey soon clashed with Coney Island's crime lord, the corrupt John "The Boss" McKane. She refused to be cowered by him and fought him through the law courts for several years, depleting much of her fortune in the process. 

After Dr Morey died in 1895, she married a wealthy lumber merchant and landowner, Mr Hobby of Hobby's Park on Coney Island. When he died, McKane sought to dispossess her of Hobby's Park but when the agent came she greeted him with a revolver in one hand and a large knife in the other... shortly afterwards the courts ruled that Mrs Hobby was the undisputed owner. A few years later, she left of her own accord and having spent in her fortune in legal fees lived in a tumble-down shack on West 1st Street, New York. Standing up to McKane had also damaged her mental health. She was looked upon as an eccentric and was often arrested for violating health regulations by keeping cows, pigs and poultry. She saw the arrests as persecution and once released continued in her habits. She once stood on her feet for 36-hours in jail because the sofa supplied for her was "not soft enough". The once, "hearty, hospitable and good-willed" chatelaine of Mount Pleasant died in poverty in July, 1907. She was survived by two daughters, Mrs Pine and Mrs Hayes.