I have been looking for a photo of my bio-mom’s paternal grandmother (my great grandmother) for over fifteen years. I found photos of my 2nd great grandmother, my 3rdgreat grandmother, and a fascinating story about my 3rdgreat grandfather but in all that time of searching (and I have some training as a genealogist so I know how to do a decent search) I hadn’t turned up anything on the woman in question: Edna Baldwin (later Edna Armiger). It didn’t help that her name was not all that unusual.
I will say that every place and person I contacted was extremely helpful, and through that help I was able to flesh out this line all the way back to the Huguenot ancestor who first came over to the States. I’m very grateful for everyone’s assistance. The key piece came from one of my aunts – who also has what I would term an ancestor practice, though for her it is being what she calls a “keeper of our line,” and remembering stories, tracing genealogy, etc. Well, she found a picture of Edna Baldwin and Perry Barnes, my great grandparents. I almost fell out of my chair when I opened the package today. This fills in a huge piece of my genealogy and my ancestor shrine.
Edna was apparently an opera singer in Baltimore, though during the depression she supported herself by working as a seamstress. She and Perry divorced early –theirs was a volatile relationship. My aunt told me that Edna once threw a knife at Perry (he had serious drinking problems so I’m not passing any judgment on this whatsoever) and only the thick newspaper he was holding up prevented damage. Family history says that Perry was a doctor, but I’ve found no evidence of that (and census records indicate quite the contrary, though he did graduate from college). I suspect they were two passionate people who were extremely ill matched.
Anyway, may they both meet with comfort and healing amongst our ancestors. May they be well remembered. They’ll both be well honored at my shrine.
boneladyblog 