Grace Wood Mundt

Since my previous post mentioned Grace Mundt, daughter of John Warren Wood and Margaret Hollett, I'm posting the only portrait of her contained in the Wood/Vincent photo album.


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Grace was born in 1884. In this photo she looks about 14 years old, so we can estimate that it dates to 1898 or thereabouts. The style of her dress (what little I can see of it) seems consistent with that. Unfortunately, there is no photographer's name on the photo.

She is identified by a handwritten caption.



On June 8, 1906, Grace married Dr. Gustoff Henry Mundt in Chicago. His obituary, from 1962, gives you some idea of what sort of people they both were.


Suburbanite-Economist (Evergreen Park, Ill.), April 4, 1962.

Grace's entry at findagrave.com includes a photo of Grace and Henry and two children.

The Death of Margaret Hollett Wood

A member-by-marriage of the Deep River Wood family died on November 4, 1923.


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Hobart Gazette, Nov. 9, 1923.

Her late husband, John W. Wood, had been born to John and Hannah (Pattee) Wood in 1838, after they came to Lake County, Indiana. He was given the name of a brother who had died in childhood, back in Massachusetts.

Margaret was the daughter of Thomas and Deborah Hollett, natives of New York. The 1860 Census is the first that records them in Porter County, farming in Porter Township. It is also the last one that records Margaret under her maiden name. The following year she married John W. Wood.

John gave his occupation as house painter in the 1870 Census, which shows him, Margaret, and their five-year-old daughter, Anna M., living in Valparaiso. By the 1880 Census, John had gone into the grocery business — and stayed there, apparently, since he still gave his occupation as grocer in the 1900 Census. Sometime after 1900 he retired and moved (according to his obituary) to Chicago, and there he died in 1907.

I can't find Margaret in the 1910 Census. The 1920 Census shows her living in Chicago with her daughter, Grace, who was by then the wife of Dr. Henry Mundt and the mother of two young children.

The niece in Gary at whose home Margaret died, Mrs. Otis B. Nesbit, was the Alice Vincent Nesbit who (I suspect) owned the Wood-Vincent photo album.

Margaret's entry on findagrave.com also lists her children who did not survive her.

"Sweet Marie" on Tennis Rackets

[The images and information in this post have been provided by J.C., who noted the attention this blog gives to his ancestor, Sylvester Casbon.]



(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of  J.C.

This photo somehow got handed down to me. The woman in the center wearing the black skirt is Lida Axe (1875-1967), daughter of Cyrus Axe and Harriet Finney (sister of my great-grandfather Arthur Alanson Finney). Lida was the second wife of Martin Eugene Bogarte (1853-1911). Martin was born in Ohio, but settled in Valpo. His first wife's name was Lillian Chamberlin, born 1860; she died 14 April 1904. Martin and Lillian share a large vault at Maplewood Cemetery, while Lida gets a smaller adjacent marker.

It wasn't the first marriage for Lida, either — she had been married to Alfred Homfeld, a dentist, in 1900. I wondered if they might have had any children in the short time they were married. I found a record for Evangeline E. Homfeld, b. 30 May 1901, d. 8 June 1901. Death was always lurking around the corner in those days. Alfred died 26 April 1904.

Martin and Lida were married 1 Aug. 1908 in Porter County. Martin's occupation was listed as "Professor of Mathematics." I found this photo of him, taken from the 1912 Valparaiso University Record.



As far as I can tell, no children were born to Lida Mae and Martin Bogarte during their short marriage.

Back to the photo: a handwritten inscription on the back says "October 17, 1894 ... Rushton Tennis Club." I don't have any more info about this tennis club — do you?*

As to the annotation "Sweet Marie" on the front of the photo, given the fact that everyone in the photo is pretending to strum a guitar or banjo, my best guess is that the title refers to a then popular song of that name, written by Raymon Moore and Cy Warman in 1893.

Here are the lyrics:

I've a secret in my heart, Sweet Marie
A tale I would impart, love, to thee
Every daisy in the dell
Knows my secret, knows it well
And yet I dare not tell Sweet Marie
When I hold your hand in mine, Sweet Marie
A feeling most divine comes to me
All the world is full of Spring
All the warblers on the wing
And I listen while they sing, Sweet Marie

Chorus: Come to me, Sweet Marie
Sweet Marie, Come to me
Not because your face is fair, love, to see
But your soul, so pure and sweet,
Makes my happiness complete
Makes me falter at your feet, Sweet Marie

Verse Two:
In the morn when I awake, Sweet Marie
Seems to me my heart will break, love, for thee
Every wave that shakes the shore
Seems to sing it o'er and o'er
Seems to say that I adore Sweet Marie
When the sunset tints the west, Sweet Marie
And I sit down to rest, love, with thee
Every star that studs the sky
Seems to stand and wonder why
They're so dimmer than your eye, Sweet Marie

Chorus

That's the story ... I hope you like it. Lida must have been a crack up!

♦    ♦    ♦
In poking around for a recording of "Sweet Marie," I learned that — according to somebody on YouTube — a fragment sung by Ada Jones in 1893 or '94 constitutes one of the earliest known commercial recordings of a female singing as a solo artist.

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*I don't.