Wedding Day: Jane J. O'Brien (1876 - 1974) and Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873 - 1948)

While I'm visiting her here in France I've been looking at what can be learned about my best friend Bonnie's ancestors using Newspapers.com. Since several generations of her mother's lineage lived in Fort Worth, Indiana, there's quite a bit, starting with this report of the marriage of her grandparents which took place on August 19, 1902.

[20 Aug 1902, Page 5 - Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel at Newspapers.com]

Although her mother's family passed down lots of photos, stories, mementos and even a genealogical scrapbook created by her Aunt Janette, this clipping had quite a few details about that long-ago day that were new to Bonnie

Here's a photo of Fort Wayne's Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where the ceremony took place. The priest who married the couple was Father William D. Sullivan who had just been ordained the previous May.

[Fort Wayne Indiana~Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception~Catholic Church~1907.

Source: HipPostcard.com]

There must have been pictures of the wedding party in the family's collection, but none seem to have made their way to France. In their place here's a portrait of Jennie taken about 1900 followed by the 1902 city directory entry for the law firm she had worked for.

[Courtesy of Bonnie Groves Poppy]

[Fort Wayne, Indiana, city directory by R.L. Polk & Co.1902. Source: Archive.org.]

There doesn't appear to be an available picture of Roy as a young man however I did find an earlier photo of the factory where he worked.

[From c.1890 Fort Wayne (Packard) Organ Factory catalog.

Source: The Packard Organ]

From the description of her attire as "a costume of tan silk mull, over turquoise silk taffeta" it's clear that Jennie didn't wear a typical white wedding dress. And the description of her hat as "a large white beaver, with ostrich plumes and turquoise velvet trimmings" makes me hope that a wedding photo is forthcoming!

I imagine Jennie's dress would have had the same general lines as this 1902 wedding dress worn by a bride in Montana.

[The Montana Historical Society Collection Wedding Dresses Pinterest Board]

As for the fashionable hat shapes in 1902 here are some Easter bonnets.

[The Delineator "Pretty Hats for Easter" 1902 from Pinterest]

However we should keep in mind that Jennie's large hat was described as white beaver which means it was furry (whether real or artificial material is unclear) This black beaver hat (from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and described as early 20th century and probably later than 1902) shows the texture of the fur contrasted with ostrich feathers.

[Woman's Hat, Label Strawbridge & Clothier, Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Emily W. Cunningham]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Trainer/O'Brien

The two men in this Ft. Wayne, Indiana, photo captioned "Dad - the fiddler, John & his eagle," are my best friend's maternal grandfather Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873-1948) and his brother-in-law John H. O'Brien (1868-1942).* 

[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

The handsome glass-fronted oak bookcase ended up in San Diego but not the rustic burl-root chairs and hatstand or the eagle.

*Thank you Bonnie for setting me straight about the identity of John.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Trainer/Fitzgerald/O'Brien/Tancey/O'Connor

In today's search for an appropriate image for my "Sunday Drive" I decided to take a look at this family photograph from my best friend's collection. Once again her Aunt Janette has provided a lot of genealogical data about the people pictured and even the place where they were gathered on that long-ago day. A quick glance might lead one to think that they were in an automobile...but no.

[Courtesy of B. Poppe]

[Detail of photo above]

On closer inspection it's clear that the group have posed behind a prop painted to look like a car, apparently outdoors because the trees behind them look convincing. What kind of park would have such a thing?


Janette got the place-name (slightly but understandably) wrong--it was Robison Park*, an amusement park opened in 1896 by the Fort Wayne Consolidated Railway** seven miles northwest of Fort Wayne on the St. Joseph River.

[Pavilion, Robinson [sic] Park; source: delcampe.net]

[The Rest, Robison Park, Fort Wayne, Ind.; source: CardCow.com]

[The Blue Streak, Robison Park, Fort Wayne, Ind.; source: delcampe.net]

And over the years Robison Park was in operation*** there were other options for visitors to pose in novel settings.

[From "Allen County in Vintage Postcards" by John Martin Smith, Arcadia Publishing, 2001]

The impulse to have one's photograph taken sitting in one of those newfangled automobiles wasn't restricted to residents of Indiana either. Here's an example of a family in Scotland:

[William Lees, (Family group sitting in a studio car prop), cabinet card between 1898 and 1914] Portobello, Scotland,

source: Ryerson University Library]

As to the names of the folks in the first photograph, Janette has done such a good job of identifying them in her legible handwriting, I'll leave it to her, except to point out that my friend's mother Mary Elizabeth Trainer is the youngest child in the group.


*A short illustrated history of Robison Park can be viewed here.
**The first electric trolley company in Fort Wayne.
***1896-1919
****To learn more about cars in early photographs, go here.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.