Fearless Females, March 4: The Gammon-McKee Wedding

Yesterday I posted about Carrie Bernice McKee, the great-grandmother after whom I was named. Today I'm going to write about her wedding. She married my great-grandfather James Mathias Gammon on November 6, 1921.

On their wedding day, on the porch:

Their wedding was at her father's house, 1815 Westmoreland Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. It was a gorgeous, huge Craftsman that still stands.

Fearless Females, March 3: Carrie McKee

Today's prompt:

Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

I do actually share a name with an ancestor, but it isn't my first name. My father's father's mother was Carrie Bernice McKee. She was born in Wayne City, Illinois on June 24, 1887, after four older brothers. Her father Albert Finley McKee Senior was from Chagrin Falls, Ohio and her mother Sarah Helen Smart was from Newmarket, New Hampshire. The family moved around a lot but eventually Carrie moved to Los Angeles, where she met and married my great-grandfather James Mathias Gammon on November 9, 1921 at her father's house. They were both 34 years old. They had two sons: my grandfather Howard and my great-uncle Newton (who died in 2005).

Carrie and James died in the early 1970s, over a decade before my older brother was born. My mother never even met her, but my parents decided to name both my brother and I after her because she was such an intelligent and powerful woman in the Gammon family. My brother's middle name is McKee and mine is Carrie.

In about a month I will be going down to Maryland to meet the descendants of one of Carrie's brothers. She was the last of the McKee siblings to pass away (she outlived them all by at least 29 years) and when she did, my branch of the family lost touch with the others. It has been a particular joy of my research to rediscover these relatives. I was always very interested in Carrie because I was named after her, and she's always meant a lot to me.

For more photos of Carrie, check out her tag (CBM) on my Flickr photostream.

As a bonus, here are some of the extra-special female names in my family tree: Aralinda, Armilda/Artmilda, Auleen, Calantha, Coloma, Docia, Elender, Erman, Fairy, Firm, Junale, Marilda, Philonise, Philura, Treulie, Wilmartha, Zelina, Zilpha, and Zoa.

Do you have any of these names in your family tree? Have you even heard of them before? I've excluded any that are more modern than my grandparents.

Photos of Couples, 1852-1974

So this isn't a terribly substantial post, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. The semester is coming to an end and I find myself incredibly busy, so this is the relatively simple project that is getting tackled this month. I put together all the photos of couples in my family tree. Many are aunts and uncles or cousins, but several are my direct ancestors. They are arranged in chronological order.

Mary Elizabeth Redding & Russell Howard McKee

married on October 13, 1852

James Wilkinson Gammon & Armilda Eliza Myers

married on November 19, 1852 in Monroe, IA

Isaac Newton Morrison & Lydia Josephine Gammon

married in December 1879 in Centerville, IA

Anna Mary Seufer & Newton Franklin Gammon

married on February 14, 1880 in Decatur County, IA

Katharine Rebecca Wilson & John Overington

married on November 5, 1889 in Philadelphia, PA

William Overington, Jr. & Claudia Wetherill Fries

married on November 16, 1903 in Philadelphia, PA

 

Walter Smart McKee & Willie May Maxson

Albert Clate Gammon & Abigail Ruth Lester

married on January 1, 1907 in Ringgold County, IA

James Mathias Gammon & Carrie Bernice McKee

married on November 9, 1921 in Los Angeles, CA

Edgar Percival Jones and Claudia Overington

Howard McKee Gammon & Claudia Overington Newman

married on June 3, 1944 in Roswell, NM

Gisele & Walter Leonard McKee

  

Jack Leroy Upper & Claudia Overington Reid

married in 1950

Shirley Bubadias & Victor Carl Fetzer

married on August 2, 1953 in Neptune, NJ

Jim Gammon & Wanda Starnes

married on November 25, 1974 in Bel Air, MD (shown)

and on July 16, 1983 in Belmar, NJ

Helen Marea McKee

I've been having a good time going through family photos and posting some up here, so I thought I'd continue with that. Today I'm going to present some pictures of my grandfather's cousin Helen McKee. First, here is the family tree:

It's got a bit more information than usual but I figured I'd try doing it this way. I'd like to point out that I don't know the maiden name of Stillman's wife Mary Ramona, hence "LNU" - last name unknown.

Helen never married or had children. I don't know much about her other than that she spent her old age writing poetry to her cat - we have a whole book of it.

Anyway, let's move on to the photos! Some of them also have her younger brother Walter in them.

The Women Before

These are the women of my father's side of the family.

1st Left: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth Love (Yarnall) Burns
1st Center: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth Caroline Wetherill (Earl) Riddle
1st Right: 4x-great-grandmother Elizabeth (Harding) Overington
2nd Left: 3x-great grandmother Armilda Eliza (Myers) Gammon
2nd Center: 3x-great grandmother Jenny R. (Burns) Overington
2nd Right: 2x-great-grandmother Anna Mary (Seufer) Gammon Bird
3rd Left: 2x-great-grandmother Claudia Wetherill (Fries) Overington
3rd Center: 2x-great-grandmother Sarah Helen (Smart) McKee
3rd Right: Great-grandmother Claudia "Poppy" (Overington) Newman Jones
4th Left: Great-grandmother Carrie Bernice (McKee) Gammon
4th Center: Grandmother Claudia Overington (Newman) Gammon
4th Right: Me!

Missing, because I don't have any pictures of them, are:

3x: Christina (Leopold) Seufer, Sally (Swain) McKee, Sarah H. (Pearson) Smart, Malina R. (Hawkins) Newman, Mary Margaret (Durbin) Whitfill, and Mary Earl (Riddle) Fries

2x: Rebecca Jane (Whitfill) Newman

The Short Life of Sylvia Ann McKee

Sylvia Ann McKee, the favorite sister of my great-great-grandfather Albert Finley McKee Sr., lived only twenty-four years. She was born in Ohio on the 24th of January 1840, and died of diphtheria on the 24th of March 1864 in Watervliet, Michigan. I have recently discovered four photographs of her.

Around 1850, with her brother Albert:

She is on the left here, with one of her sisters:

This appears to be from the same negative as the tintype above:

I love her dress here:

Four Generations of Girls

Ladies of the Family, a photo by nameless.ship on Flickr.

The baby there is my aunt Mary Margaret Gammon. Holding her is her father's mother Carrie (McKee) Gammon. Left to right the others are her mother's mother "Poppy" (Overington) Jones, her mother Claudia (Newman) Gammon, and her great-grandmother Claudia (Fries) Overington.