As part of my ongoing family history research, I have been seeking additional photos and information from various family members. This past Monday, while visiting great-aunt Mae Deedy I was thrilled with her response - when asked if she had any photos of her parents, she pointed to a small framed portrait sitting ontop her TV. The portrait is of her Mother, Johanna (Hanna) Donovan Deedy, while undated, it was likely taken in the 1890s. Unfortunately this appears to be the only family photo of her parents (my Dad gave her some copies of black and white photos he had of Edward and Johanna from the 1940s, which were included in the Archive I & II CDs) that Mae has kept over the years. She did recall other framed family photos which once hung on the walls of 12 Wabash Ave - one in particular she recalled with a large and ornate gilt frame, but after her parents passed away and she and sister Bet took over the apartment, she recalls Bet removing the gilt framed portrait and expressing her dislike of such an "ugly thing". The apartment was then redecorated to the sister's more modern tastes and Mae has no idea what could have happened to the old framed images.
Luckily I had brought along my digital camera when visiting Mae. She was kind enough to allow me to remove the small image from its frame and take a picture of the portrait. I then replaced the portrait in its frame and it is back ontop her TV. While the quality is not as good as a scanned image, it is the best I could do given the circumstances. Since it is the only image she has of her Mother, I did not feel comfortable asking to borrow it to scan.
Labels: Deedy
0 Responses to “Johanna (Hanna) Donovan Deedy”
Post a Comment