Week 23: Bridge – Locating Proof of the Goe Family Playing Bridge

I interviewed my Aunt June and asked about all of her aunts and uncles. She had stayed a year in Anaconda, Montana with her mother’s sister, Nellie Goe. One of her memories of Aunt Nellie was:

“She had lots of bridge parties, where she wore long dresses and her maid dressed in a black dress with a white apron. She always had a new deck of cards.”[1]

It’s a lovely memory and I thought there might be newspaper articles in the “gossip” columns that described these bridge parties. The Anaconda Standard newspaper is available up to 1927 on Newspaper.com and I was able to find several articles about parties where they played bridge. Although these are before June's visit, they still support the story.

Helena “Nellie” Sullivan married Harold H. Goe on 13 August 1912 in Portland, Oregon by the priest from Holy Rosary Catholic Church at Harold’s home.[2] She had been living in Portland with her grandparents, John and Margaret Gleeson. They moved to Anaconda, where Harold worked at the Anaconda Copper Mine.

Just a month later, Mrs. Harold H. Goe (she was never referred to as Nellie in the newspaper) played bridge at Mrs. Bayard S. Morrow’s home in Anaconda, and held the high score.[3]

She was often hostess or joint hostess for luncheons that included the playing of cards. This party was held at the country club.[4]

She and Harold were also members of an evening bridge club. Here, she is the hostess.[5]  

This next party had a birthday theme for President Lincoln’s birthday. What a lovely description of the centerpiece.[6] 

Sometimes others held parties in honor of Harold and Nellie, as this article describes. The couple were preparing for a trip to California, likely to visit her sisters, Loretto and Anna, and her brother, Cyril. It appears that Harold was also a good bridge player, as he had high score that night.[7]

The last article found was a party held in honor of her sister, Anne Hork, who was visiting Nellie. Of course, the afternoon was spent playing cards.[8]

The result of the research supports that Nellie and Harold often had parties where bridge was played. There was no mention of maids. None of the census records list a live-in maid, so if she had one, she likely came only during the day (or stayed for the evening). Black dresses and white aprons could be a typical outfit for a maid. When my Aunt June stayed with Nellie, she was in the eighth grade, so was old enough to have good memories of what she saw.

Have you researched to find evidence supporting information told to you by a relative? Newspapers are a great source for these kinds of stories.

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] June M. (Hork) Stewart interview, June 2014.

[2] Multnomah County, Oregon, marriage certificate, no. 23367, Harold H Goe to Helena M Sullivan, 1912, digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org ), citing digital film 103140221, images 4719-4720.

[3] “For Out-of-Town Guest,” Anaconda Standard, 26 Sep 1912, p. 17.

[4] “At the Country Club,” Anaconda Standard, 17 Oct 1920, p. 34.

[5] “Evening Bridge Club,” Anaconda Standard, 10 Jan 1926, p. 28.

[6] “Dinner Bridge Party,” Anaconda Standard, 13 Feb 1927, p. 19.

[7] “Dinner Bridge,” Anaconda Standard, 6 Mar 1927, p. 17.

[8] “At the Goe Home,” Anaconda Standard, 16 Oct 1927, p. 21.

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