Grandmother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan's Photographs

 I always loved this photo of my grandmother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan (1902-1992)

52 Ancestors: Week 2: Favourite Photograph

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks was created by Amy Johnson Crow and is a series of weekly prompts to inspire genealogists and family historians to think and write about an ancestor and then share it online.

I have been participating in Amy's 52 Ancestors challenge since 2014, so I thought I would look back and revisit some of my previous posts about photographs.

In 2015, I posted  52 Ancestors No. 14: A Favourite Photo: My Grandparent's 1929 Wedding 

In 2014, I wrote a LOT about photographs:

• 52 Ancestors #2 Family Photograph Mysteries: this post was about a photograph of my oldest ancestor, my great-great-great grandmother. It would take the help of distant cousins Vicky Hess and others to sort this one out.
• 52 Ancestors #20: 1916 Holy Name Society (Wallaceburg, Ontario) This was a photograph with hundreds of men and I was sure that my great grandfather William Henry Coughlin (1872-1952) was there somewhere. This was a lesson about always checking the BACK of the photographs.
•  52 Ancestors #43: The Photographic Camera and a Photograph Album That post was about my grandmother Rhea Fern (Coughlin) Moynahan's (1902-1992) photo album that is is filled with pages and pages of nameless faces. This was a lesson about always checking writing names on the back of your photos in pencil.
• 52 Ancestors #42: Trick or Treating  which featured a photo of my grandmother Rhea Fern (Coughlin) Moynahan's (1902-1992)(found in the album mentioned above) dressed up for Halowe'en

Suffice to say that I have MANY, many favourite photographs and to narrow it down to just one favourite is quite literally impossible.

Today, I want to share one photograph that I have framed and always featured on a bookshelf near my favourite chair. It is a photograph of me, my great-grandmother Mary Elizabeth (Broderick) Moynahan (1869-1960) and my dear cousin Lorri. I love this photo because it is a photograph of the only great-grandparent alive when I was born and her hugging me and my dear cousin Lorri!

Sadly, all of my other great- grandmothers had passed at least a decade before I was born.

• Mary Elizabeth Broderick (1869-1960)
• Elizabeth Annal (1884-1953)
• Effie Alberta Tomlin (1885-1947)
• Florence Mary Curd (1886-1915)

 And, in terms of all my great-grandfathers, they too had all passed long before I was born.

• John Moynahan (1866-1933)
• William Henry Coughlin (1872-1952)
• Charles Creighton (1884-1911)
• John Moreland (1882-1940)

Here are the images of some of my great-grandparents whom I never met (Except for Mary Elizabeth (Broderick) Moynahan)

And here is the photograph of the only great-grandparent that I was blessed to meet.

Mary Elizabeth (Broderick) Moynahan (1869-1960)

Left to Right: Me, Mary Elizabeth (Broderick) Moynahan (1869-1960), and my cousin Lorri (Moynahan)

Mary is ninety-one years old in this photograph. In all other photograpghs of her, she was a big woman, "hale and hearty" as they would say, just like her mother before her (Mary Hussey 1841-1913) 

In this picture she is at her most frail but still strong enough to squeeze and hold me at the waist and hold my cousin Lorri on her lap.

The photograph was taken on her porch at 539 Campbell Ave., Windsor Ontario.

I have to say that I have had a life-long love of paisley and I can't help but wonder what Mary's beautiful paisley dress would have looked like in colour.

Researching the Broderick branches of my family tree has been incredibly exciting and rewarding, especially learning about Mary's father Martin Broderick (1831-1915) in the Fenian raids and her mother Mary Hussey's (1841-1913) promise to leave Ireland and meet her love in the Americas.

Oh how I wish I could have asked great-grandmother Broderick SO may questions about her life and her family. But I was just a wee little girl and so incredibly lucky to have received her love and hugs.

Previous Blog Posts on

The Brodericks of Essex County, Ontario

• 52 Ancestors #1: Sarah Daisy Broderick
• 52 Ancestors #28: Detective Leo William Broderick  
• 52 Ancestors #32 : RCAF: Leo Joseph Martin Broderick (1919-1943) 
• 52 Ancestors #40: My GG Mary (Broderick) Moynahan  
• 52 Ancestors No. 7: My Oral History Interview with Bernard Broderick  
• 52 Ancestors No. 8: Christian Brother: Bernard Broderick  
• 52 Ancestors No.17: The Broderick "Crayon Portraits"  
• 52 Ancestors No. 34: Brother Berchmans F.S.C. - A "True Son of De La Salle" 
• 52 Ancestors No. 35: Still Searching for WW II PoW Stories  
• 52 Ancestors No. 38: WWII Service Files of Canadian War Dead, 1939-1947  
• 52 Ancestors No. 40: 100 Years After His Death - Finding Martin Broderick's photo  
• 52 Ancestors No.41: Nurse Agnes (Broderick) Casey  
• 52 Ancestors No. 49: Last Will and Testament of Martin Broderick (1831-1915)  
• 52 Ancestors No. 50: Martin Broderick's Fenian Medal  
• 52 Ancestors No. 51: The Broderick-Murray Wedding  
• 52 Ancestors No. 52: The Broderick-Knapp Family Photographs  
• On This Day: May 12 
• List 279: Fenian Raid Volunteer Bounty Claim  
• Leo Joseph Martin Broderick (1919-1943) Update: CWGC Releases New Records  
• Every November 11 - I Remember Them 
• Bachelors, Spinsters, Priests and Nuns 
• Broderick 
• March 24th - Turning of the Page: Leo Joseph Martin Broderick (1919-1943) 

52 Ancestors No. 25: My Mystery "Homestead Veranda" Photograph

This is my twenty-first of 52 blog posts for the 2015 edition of the 52 Ancestors challenge. I have been blogging my family history for the #52Ancestors challenge since it began in 2014.

#52Ancestors asks bloggers to "have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor. 

This week's theme is "The Old Homestead" and I have chosen this beautiful mystery photograph that was in my grandmother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan's photo collection.

I have not yet identified the ancestors in this photo but I feel fairly confident in saying it is a home located somewhere in Essex county, Ontario.

It is not in the best of condition and shows a woman and two young girls sitting on a lovely veranda and a young boy sitting on his bike in what is most likely Windsor or Wallaceburg, Ontario. Or perhaps Detroit?

The mystery woman with two young girls.

A young boy on a bike.

The woman is holding a newspaper on her lap.

This young girl is holdinga doll.

This young girl has a kitten on her lap.

It would be wonderful if any cousins recognized this family and could help me identify these ancestors. Or if there are photography and/or fashion experts who might be able to help me identify a date.

Until then, this is a treasured photograph of a lovely family on the beautiful veranda of their home