Wedding Wednesday: Mystery Bride

Wedding Wednesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that asks family historians to create a post in which the main focus is wedding photos, announcements, and invitations.

Isn’t this bride lovely?  My dad was given this photo many years ago because he was especially close to his maternal grandmother.  So we’ve always thought this was Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s wedding portrait.

But that can’t be.

Mary Theresa married her first husband John Joseph Killeen in 1893.  He died in 1905.  Brides in 1893 would have dressed like this:

Image from Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AStateLibQld_1_89108_Double_wedding_ca._1893.jpg

She married her second husband John Fleming Walsh (my great grandfather) in 1906.  He died in 1918. A bride in 1906 would have dressed like this:

Image from Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AStateLibQld_1_182067_Bob_and_Nell_White.jpg

However, this beautiful bridal gown, veil, and opulent bouquet reflect the fashion of the 1920s. 

So who was this bride? 

The most obvious guess would be one of Mary Theresa’s daughters.  As I study the young faces of my grandaunts, I see no resemblance to this bride. 

Left to right:  Helen, Mae, Margee

What do you think?

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Census Sunday: Margaret Killeen Sprott

Whenever we talk about my dad’s aunts, “the sisters,” we usually mean Lillie, Mae, and Helen.  But there was another sister:  Margaret Mary Killeen Sprott.  I have no memory of her.  I’m sure I must have seen her at some point in my childhood, but if she ever came to a family gathering during my teen or adult years, I don’t know it. The only picture of her that I’m aware of is one in Helen Parker’s scrapbook.

captioned "Miss Margaret"
from Helen Parker's scrapbook

So I was especially glad to find her in the 1940 census.  It wasn’t easy.  I couldn’t find her at all on Ancestry, but found her right away using the FamilySearch index.  I studied the handwriting to try to figure out how some Ancestry indexer might have misinterpreted it. 

The spelling looks obvious to me.  However, after many attempts using weird spellings, I found her listed as SprAtt.  That’s so funny because her husband Otto was known by his nickname Jack, Jack Sprott.  But “Jack Spratt” just slips off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Click to enlarge

In 1940, Jack (42) and Margaret (39) owned their home worth $4000 on Sixth Street in the Kempsville area of Princess Anne County in Virginia.  This is the same house they lived in in 1935. Judging by the 1930 census, they bought the house sometime between 1930 and 1935 because they had been renting a house on Atlans Avenue in Norfolk.  Jack was from South Carolina and had completed one year of college.  He worked as a traffic manager for a trucking firm, earning $2700 in 1939, which equates to roughly $44,575 today.  Margaret completed two years of high school and was busy as a homemaker and mother to two boys.

Their son William J. “Billy” at age 9 had completed three years of school while his younger brother Joseph Barry was in his first year of school at age 6.

When the Sprotts lived in Kempsville, it was an unincorporated town.  It didn't become part of the city of Virginia Beach until 1963.  I don’t know if the Sprotts’ home on Sixth Street is the same street that leads to the oceanfront today, if it goes by some other name, or if it’s a street that no longer exists.  However, Daddy often spoke about summers as a boy, riding the cable car to the beach to visit with his Sprott cousins.  

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Irish Eyes

Since March is ending, I’ll conclude my focus on my Irish family with a selection of photos.

click on image to enlarge

1. Top left - possibly Mae Holland with her second baby Evelyn ("Ebbie")
2. Bottom left - Mac Killeen and Cousin Nell
3. Center - Helen Killeen Parker (about age 17)
4. Top right - Margaret Killeen Sprott
5. Bottom right - Lillie Killeen holding possibly Mae's first baby John

click on image to enlarge

1. Top left - unknown
2. Bottom left - possibly Theresa "Tate" Walsh Murray
3. Center - Julia Walsh Slade
4. Top right - Walsh girls (not sure which ones but possibly Cat and Tate) and probably Mae's baby
5. Bottom right - Catherine Walsh Barany

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: More Killeens

Tombstone Tuesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers which asks bloggers to create a post including an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors; it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor.

Last Tuesday I posted the tombstones of three of the Killeens, my Granny Slade’s half-sisters.  Today I present her other half-siblings, Mac and Margaret.  Mac is buried in the Walsh family plot in St. Paul's Catholic Cemetery in Portsmouth, Virginia, while Margaret is buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.

From Findagrave.com
photo by Maggie

Matthew George Killeen

8 May 1895 New York, New York -  7 Mar 1969 Portsmouth, Virginia

From Findagrave.com
photo by SWF

Margaret Mary Killeen Sprott

21 Apr 1901 New York, New York – 31 May 1978 Norfolk, Virginia

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.