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A Rose for Sharon

    For many years now, I have posted the single pink rose image to my social media on August 19th and June 4th. Those who know me well know it is in honor of my little sister, Sharon, who died in 1994. Her birth date and her death date. That has been the extent of my communication about my sister or her life since. Thirty-two years is a long time to hold onto words. I have considered writing about her. It doesn't matter how deep my feelings are for her or how much I cherish her memory, the words don't come easily, if at all. Words feel cheap and wrong. It's hard to even describe why. Maybe it is because she was our family's: Our sister, our cousin, our niece, our daughter. We knew her best, so no one else should have the right to know about her like we did. Maybe that's why I hold onto my words. But I realize that if I don't tell her story, who will?  I have spent hour upon hour researching my long-gone ancestors, yet I haven't written about my own sister. ...
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Mary Josephine Baker, about 1929.1
  

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge


January 5, 2022:   Paternal Grandmother - Mary Josephine Baker (1911-1981)

 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

I love this photo of Grandma Gilbride as a young lady. I had never seen this photo until this summer, when my cousin lent me her collection of family photos to scan. 

The original is black and white and quite darkened with age, with a silvery tint to it. Luckily, there are many tools available today to restore old photos very easily, and a Facebook acquaintance slightly colorized it and made it easier to see the details, above.

Original scan of photo with HP Scan.2
 

Scanned with Photomyne phone app.3

Grandma's full name was Mary Josephine Baker, but I didn't know about the "Mary" until I was an adult. Her baptismal certificate notes it, and her marriage license lists her as "Mary J. Baker."4

That she was generally known by her middle name might come from the German tradition of baptizing children with two first names: the first a saint's name—typically Anna or Maria for a baby girl—and then a secular name. Following baptism, the second name is the one the child is usually known by. Or it could be she just preferred her middle name!5

What really surprised me was that in many of the photos she is labelled as "Jo." Such a sweet, breezy, youthful name. While she always struck me as reserved as an adult, and in other photos of her in her youth she looks quite shy, the name Jo evokes a girl who could be coaxed into mischief and fun, a girl who was up for an adventure with her siblings or friends—someone I might have chosen as a friend.

Based on the photo above and the charming name of Jo, I can see how she captured Grandpa's heart back in the day.

BONUS photos of Mary Josephine Baker:

Edward Baker (Grandma's brother), Jo and unknown friend.6


Big brother Edward Baker and little Josephine, about 1913.7 


NOTES

1 Photo of Mary Josephine Baker, unknown photographer, about 1929, location unknown; private collection of R. Firestone [address for private use], 2022. Digital image colorized by  R. Wright, 7 July 2021, GAADR, Facebook.

2 Ibid. Scan by N. Casey using HP Scan, 2021.

3 Mary Josephine Baker photo. abt. 1929. Scan by N. Casey using Photomyne phone app, 4 Jan. 2022.

4 For baptism: St. Edward's Church, Cleveland, Ohio, Certificate of Baptism for Mary Josephine Baker, (7 May 1911), prepared 1 June 1973. Private collection of R. Firestone [address for private use], 2022. Copied from original church register; date of birth 7 May 1911, date of baptism 4 June 1911. For marriage: Cuyahoga County, Oh., Marriage Records 1934 Jan. - 1934 Oct., p. 416, license 20080 issued 7 Sept. 1934, marriage of Joseph J. Gilbride and Mary J. Baker; digital image, "Cuyahoga County, Ohio, U.S., Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1876/images/32365_225762-01037 : accessed 5 Jan. 2021); citing Cuyahoga County Archives, Cleveland.

5 FamilySearch Wiki, (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Germany_Personal_Names : accessed 5 Jan. 2022). "Germany Personal Names," rev. 19:54, 17 August 2021. "When baptized, children were usually given two or more given names. Which name they actually went by can vary by location and time period. In many areas, however, it was common for the child to be called by the second name." 

6 Photo of Edward Baker, Mary Josephine Baker and unidentified man, unknown photographer, about 1929, location unknown; private collection of R. Firestone [address for private use], 2022. 

7 Photo of Edward Baker and Mary Josephine Baker, unknown photographer, about 1913, location unknown; private collection of R. Firestone [address for private use], 2022. Colorized by N. Casey using Photomyne app, 2022.


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