Women’s Heritage Month begins with Nana

This photograph shows me with my beloved grandmother, Mary Margaret Mahoney Doran (1895-1961), at my baptism. Her nickname was Mamie. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to two recent Irish immigrants struggling for a better life. Her parents met in Brooklyn, and married there in the early 1890s.

Women’s Heritage Month, celebrated each March, is thought of in relation to famous women in history, but as a genealogist I’m focusing on the wonderful women in my own family for the next four weeks.

Below is an earlier photo of my grandmother. Mamie is wearing the black dress, with one hand resting on the shoulders of her first grandson. The baby is my eldest brother – Mamie’s second grandson –  and it was taken at his baptism. Both my Irish and Polish sides of the family are in this picture.

Grandmothers are called by so many different names. My Polish grandmother was called Bapcia. My next blog posting will be about her. Here’s the certificate of baptism for our grandmother, that my sister sent for in 2012. It took lots of research to find the right church in Brooklyn that our grandmother’s Mahoney family attended. Click to enlarge images.

Six Word Saturday is a blogging prompt suggested by Cate, at Show My Face. Take a look at some other postings. Good luck searching for your women ancestors! Happy Saturday!

And for more Fearless Female history, visit Lisa and her blog prompts at: http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com/2014/02/back-for-fifth-year-fearless-females-31.html