Linda Huesca Tully

Workday Wednesday: Chief of the Censor Board of Chicago

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Benita McGinnis, circa 1921. Chicago, Illinois. From Benita’s scrapbook. Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, my great-aunt Detty, was not afraid of a little controversy. In fact, she believed that if you did nothing else in your life, you should always stand up for your convictions, … Continue reading

Talented Tuesday: Doing Her Bit

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) As the Great War (later to be called World War I) broke out in Europe in 1914, barely a year after arriving home from her trip there, my great-aunt Detty (Benita McGinnis McCormick), like most women of the era, threw herself into a flurry … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: Sunday Dinner

Making Memories Around the Table Left to right: John Charles McGinnis Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis, Alice McGinnis, Thomas Eugene McGinnis, (John’s wife) Edith (Hoag) McGinnis, cousin Eileen Kelly, and Benita McGinnis. Photo taken at the McGinnis home, 8336 Drexel Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, sometime between 1914 and 1920. Like many a family in the early twentieth century, my … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past: The Man She Almost Married – Part Three

G Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Edward Michael “Ned” Savage (1886 – 1915) Last of a three-part series Ag éirí na gréine agus a chuid ag dul síos, cuimhin linn duit. (At the rising of the sun and its going down, we remember … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: The Man She Almost Married – Part Two

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Edward Michael Savage (1886 – 1915) Second in a three-part series Ned Savage plays in a haystack, Ireland 1913. The man and woman with him are unidentified. From Benita (McGinnis) McCormick’s scrapbook. As I began to search for what happened to Edward Michael … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: The Man She Almost Married – Part One

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Edward Michael Savage (1886 – 1915) The life given us, by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal. … Continue reading

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Dear Uncle Pat

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Benita McGinnis painted this watercolor rendering of her Irish uncle sometime during her visit with relatives in Ireland in 1913. Unfortunately, we may never know more about “Dear Uncle Pat,” as she titled the painting, except that he was 93 years old at … Continue reading

Travel Tuesday: Benita at the Gap of Dunloe

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Just couldn’t resist sharing this picture, which was given to my maternal great-grandparents, Thomas and Mary Jane (Gaffney) McGinnis, by their oldest daughter, Benita. I love it so much that I have hung a copy as the centerpiece of a family photo gallery wall in … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past: More Irish Mystery Cousins

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) “Baby Maureen” is the only person we can (partially) identify in these pictures. Here she is, with (possibly) her parents and another man. Might her mother be cousin Bessie Quinn? More Mystery Cousins! As with the other photographs we’ve seen recently on this site, these come from … Continue reading

Those Places Thursday: A Brick Wall the Size of a Prison

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) How appropriate that this unidentified cousin is standing in front of a stark, cold brick wall. Mystery Cousin, what is your name? Photo from Benita (McGinnis) McCormick’s scrapbook. Taken outside Mountjoy Prison between July and August, 1913. Ironically, though I don’t know the man’s name, … Continue reading