52 Ancestors Week 2 (Jan. 8-14): Favorite Photo

 My favorite photo is of Rebecca Jane Gibson Maynard (1843-1938), my 3x great grandmother. Her photo appeared in the Indianapolis Star (June 4, 1938) on the occasion of her 95th birthday. 

The photo shows her seated in an upholstered chair. She's wearing a long-sleeved dress made of a dark fabric with a light pattern. She has on lace-up boots. Her hair is pulled back. She holds a booklet tightly in her likely arthritic hands. She appears to be a spry woman who has earned her 95 years through hard work, sacrifice, and endurance.   

The photo caption provides several details of her life, most of which match up with genealogy research that I'd already worked on. I probably could go back and start counting the grandchildren, etc. 

• She has lived in Ohio and Indiana.
• Current residence at 740 East 14th Street.
• 13 children, 6 living
• 47 grandchildren
• 36 great-grandchildren
• 4 great-great-grandchildren
• Rebecca was born in Ohio.
• She lived in Johnson County, Indiana for 65 years.
• She moved to Indianapolis two years prior to 1938.

What the photo and caption don't tell us is that she was abandoned by her first husband and had to file for divorce to be able to remarry. The Marion County court papers said that George Richards abandoned his wife and young daughter. He never responded to the complaint and Rebecca Jane was granted the divorce. She went on to marry Greenberry Mullinix of Johnson County. She outlived Greenberry, her third husband Henry Magsam, and also her fourth husband William Maynard. She lived in White River Township on land that she'd received as a widow of Greenberry.

Here is her photo which I've colorized. The chair she sat in might be red and I'd like to image that her dress was navy.