Fearless Females: Ruby Pecht Baker

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.

March 8 - Working girl: Did your mother or grandmother work outside the home? What did she do?

Ruby Pecht Petersen Baker

My father's mother, Ruby Luella Pecht Petersen Baker, worked consistently through her life until retirement.
After graduating from high school, she became a teacher herself in Hardy, Nebraska. Around 1928, she moved to Lincoln with her first husband, Otto Petersen, and their son (my Dad), Kenneth.


The stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression left a lifelong impact on this family. My father tells of how his parents both worked to earn money to support the family during this decade. Ruby would take in ironing that she would do during the day. In the evenings, she would bake fresh rolls and my grandfather would go door to door selling them for pennies.


I don't think there was ever a time that anyone in the family wasn't working. In August, 1944, Dad commented in a letter home from boot camp, "Dad tell everyone at Cushman’s hello and don’t you work too damn hard and Mom you better not work too hard either."

Stanley Home Products Convention

The woman in the hat (with glasses) on the left is my grandmother, Ruby Luella Pecht Petersen (later Baker). The second man from the left, standing, is my father's father, Otto Petersen. My mother, Patricia Kelly Petersen is in the middle (I'm not sure if that's a foo-foo in her hair or if the guy behind her is holding a dusting product). My father, Kenneth Petersen, is to Mom's left, with glasses. All of the Petersens were selling Stanley Home Products in the 1940s!

By the time I came along, my grandmother was working at Gold's Department store in Lincoln. She worked in the baby and toddler department. All of the ladies in that department wore white uniforms, white hosiery and white "old lady" shoes.


As her first grandchild, I was well outfitted in clothing from Gold's. It was always a pretty big deal to go to downtown Lincoln from the suburbs, and we always stopped to see my grandmother in the baby department, followed by lunch in the Gold's cafeteria, which made the best tuna fish sandwiches on rye bread that I've ever had in my life!


When I became a teenager and my friends and I took the bus downtown, I'd always stop to see my grandmother at Gold's. Not that I was motivated or anything, but Grandma would usually slip me a five dollar bill and I'd head off to Gold's record department to get a couple new 45's. 


It's no wonder that I have a strong work ethic today. It's something that is definitely in my genes.

Fearless Females - Minnie Welch's autograph book

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.

March 8 - Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, a journal or collection of letters?

A page from Minnie Welch's autograph book

Although not diaries or journals, I have some wonderful paper documents that capture a picture of the everyday life of my ancestors - autograph books. I have autograph books that belonged to my mother, to my father's mother and to my great-grandmother, Minnie Welch Kelly, and her sister, Nellie Welch.

It was the autograph books that belonged to the teenage Welch sisters that contributed to constructing the family group sheets of the Welch family. With entries such as "From your loving brother, Mark Welch" or "Love, Aunt Winnie," I've been able to learn about the family of Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally of Waterbury, Connecticut.

Miss Minnie Welch
of Waterbury, Connecticut

I've scanned all of the pages in Minnie Welch's autograph book and have compiled them into a pdf book that is a work-in-progress. The pages appear as they do in the original book; I only wish I'd begun the transcription a few decades ago before the ink had not deteriorated as much as it has now. I've made an index of the people who signed Minnie's book and even started to do a little bit of research on Ancestry.com about Minnie's friends. What better way to learn more about my great-grandmother than to learn about the friends she associated with as a young woman. This part of the project is still in process.

Minnie's autograph book covers the period from 1883 - 1888, when she was 18 - 23 years of age. The autograph book takes her from her birthplace in Connecticut to the plains of Nebraska in 1888. The last entry in the book is dated January 1888. She married my great-grandfather in Greenwood, Nebraska in December of that year.

The time frame makes me wonder where and how they met. What was their courtship like? How did a young lady from the east fall in love with a hard-working Nebraska farmer whose family had traveled by covered wagon from St. Paul, Minnesota? The answers to those questions may never be known, but what these pages show is that Minnie had a wealth of loving friends and family who undoubtedly contributed to the woman, wife and mother she became.

Fearless Females: Heirlooms

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.

March 6 - Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor.

Turquoise Bracelet and Earrings

When I was a young girl I remember my "Aunt Etty" wearing this gorgeous turquoise bracelet and earrings. Aunt Etty wasn't really an aunt; she was my grandmother's, Sina Bellinger Kelly, first cousin. Sina's children didn't have an aunt, so Aunt Etty declared that she would be their aunt, and so she was. She became the aunt to my mother and her siblings as well as to my cousins and me.

I always thought that Aunt Etty lived an exotic life - she traveled a lot and seemed like a jet setter even before that phrase was coined. My memory tells me that Etty bought this turquoise bracelet and matching earrings while on one of her many trips to Mexico.

After Aunt Etty died in 1968, the jewelry was passed on to my mother, who always wore them with great style and elan. In the 1970s, turquoise jewelry was all the rage and I purchased several of my own rings and bracelets during my regular trips to Las Vegas. None of what I purchased could ever compare with these pieces that were likely purchased sometime between 1920 - 1950.

Aunt Jerry, Aunt Etty, Mom, Me
all Fearless Females
summer 1968

Mom wore this jewelry everywhere. And that meant that we couldn't go anywhere without someone stopping her to admire the bracelet. And she wore it well.

After Mom's death the jewelry was passed on to me. As much as I love this bracelet, it is extremely heavy! After a few hours, it's got to come off. So, for now, it remains in my jewelry drawer with all the rest of my turquoise jewelry from the 1970s.

But every time I see this bracelet or wear it, I'm definitely carrying a little bit of Aunt Etty and my Mom with me.

Fearless Females: Marriage of Clara Laymon and Leroy Pecht

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.


March 4 - Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents?

Marriage License
Roy P. Pecht and Clara R Laymon

LeRoy Pearl Pecht and Clara Rosella Laymon
my great grandparents

Fearless Females: Emma Harriet Landon Bellinger

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.

 March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

Emma Harriet Landon Bellinger
1862-1915

This photo is a tintype of my great-great grandmother, Emma Harriet Landon Bellinger. Some sources refer to her as Harriet Emma, but in the family, she was known as Emma.

This is one of only two photographs I have of Emma and this one appears to have taken in her younger years.

I like the flowers in hr hair and the scarf around her neck.
And her eyes . . . very haunting eyes.

I chose this photo because I've never posted it on this blog before.Read all posts in this series

Fearless Females: Favorite Female Ancestor

Lisa Alzo, who writes The Accidental Genealogist blog, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. I hope to participate in as many of these blogging prompts as possible this month.


March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.

Sina Bellinger Kelly
age 17

I've already posted that 2011 is the year that I want to learn more about my maternal grandmother, Sina Bellinger Kelly. Sina's face graces every page of this blog this year.

Sina was in my life for such a short time; she died when I was five years old. At the time, we lived on the same property, so I saw Grandma Kelly every day. Mom related to me that on the day I started kindergarten, Grandma  said she was glad she could see me start school because she knew she would never live to see me graduate. Grandma died two months later.

I wonder if I ever had my photo taken with Grandma Kelly because I don't have any pictures of me with her. Sina was notorious for cutting herself out of photographs, so there's only a few images that I have to remember her by.

In January of this year, I wrote about the timeline of her life that I had put together based on events in her life: her birth, her marriage, the births of her children, deaths of her parents and brothers and the death of her first child. I know there is more of a story to weave from these events. One of my research projects for 2011 is to visit the Nebraska State Historical Society and read through the microfilmed versions of the Greenwood Gazette to see what I can glean about her life before I was born.

Another blog post I wrote about Sina was on the heels of hearing Lisa Alzo speak at the Family History Expo in Kansas City last summer. Lisa so eloquently spoke about giving a voice to silent women of our past. It was during that presentation that I knew I had to learn more about my grandmother Kelly.

I look forward to finding out more about Sina as a wife, mother and a woman in the coming months.

Read all posts in this series