We have previously discussed our grand aunt Elizabeth Hynes, the older sister of our grandfather Gordon Hynes. Newly digitized newspaper records reveal a photograph of Elizabeth.
This may have been about the happiest time in Elizabeth’s life, who spent much of her youth fending off improper advances from her father, spending some of her teenage years in the safety of the home of her aunt Addie Gordon, and who died three years after her marriage of Diphtheria or Rheumatic Fever. Our mother has vague, very early memories of Elizabeth lying ill in the Freeport home.
We still have no photograph of Elizabeth’s mother, our great grandmother Bessie Gordon Hynes. We can try (but it is not easy) to imagine her as a combination of her sister Addie and her daughter Elizabeth (minus any contribution of her husband James to her daughter’s appearance)….
Bridging the Silences 