Gertrude V Brown

My true, biological great-grandmother is Gertrude Brown. She was the first wife of Robert L Stewart, and just after a few years of marriage and one daughter, she "disappeared". We don't know for sure the surrounding circumstances, which is unfortunate, but we do know that Jeanette was only about 3 years old then, and Robert burned and/or threw away anything to do with her. Gertrude's daughter, Jeanette, never had so much as a photograph of her real mother to look at. She somehow knew her mother's name and that she was born in Washington. She knew she had a half-brother named George who was a little older than herself, she did not know what surname he was called by.

In 1988, after finding out that Gertrude was not born in Washington state, but Washington D.C., my mother obtained a copy of her birth certificate.

Date of Birth: November 2nd, 1895
Place of Birth #64 Myrtle Street W
Female, White
Full name of mother: Josephine R. Brown
Mother's maiden name: Josephine R. Kauser (actually Krauser)
Mother's birthplace: Washington D.C.
Full name of Father: George W Brown
Father's occupation: Barber
Father's birthplace: Mansfield, Ohio

You can see the Health Department stamp with a November 2_, 18_ District of Columbia. This is also embossed with the official seal and stamped, signed on October 5, 1988 (when we got it)

Somehow we came to knowledge that she became a nursing assistant in the dental field. While living in San Francisco in the 1920's she was exposed to quite a lot of radiation at work (then they didn't know to protect themselves) which led to her death. This was what we came to believe somehow.

After viewing some archives from the Washington Post, generously sent to me by a participant at http://www.rootsweb.com/ , we have new information on what she was like.

September 23, 1911 in the Washington Post, page 1

GIRL BECOMES AN EDITOR

The Hand and Mind has been in existence since the technical school was established, and is the rival of the Central Review to the editorship of which, a girl, Miss Marjorie Barnes, a daughter of Benjamin F. Barnes, former postmaster of Washington, has succeeded.

Miss Barnes is the first girl to hold the position of editor in chief of the Central Review, although the majority of students at the Central school are girls. Last year Miss Gertrude V. Brown served as editor of the McKinley School paper, being the first girl to hold the position.

Interest in the publication of school papers is on the increase. Had Dr. George E. Myers continued to serve as principal of the McKinley Manual Training School, in which capacity he was succeeded by Frank G. Daniels, he would have instituted a special course in practical printing as an addition to the technical curriculum of the school. Mr. Daniels has not decided to take up that matter as yet. If the course is introduced the school paper will be printed in the building by the students.

She is listed in the California Death Index, and we have in our possession now her death certificate from San Francisco County, California, which sheds some more light on the life of our "Grandma Gertrude". She was a nurse at the French Hospital in San Francisco, nothing mentioned of dentistry or radiation. She died at the same hospital she had worked at, at the age of 39, August 15, 1935. We would call it Pelvic Inflammitory Disease these days, and it must have been very painful. She had a surgery for an ovarian abcess, but it must have become infected, as she died a couple weeks later. She is buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery.

Her obituary from the San Francisco Examiner, August 17, 1935 page 11

BROWN - In this city, August 15, 1935, Gertrude V. Brown, loving mother of
George F. Perry, devoted daughter of Mrs. Josephine R. Brown, beloved sister of
Myrtle E. Farmer, Juanita M. Kunts, Anna C. Hennessy and Joseph T. Brown. A
native of Washington D.C. (Washington D.C. papers please copy) Funeral
announcement later. Friends may call at Whites Service Chapel 2200 Sutter St.,
N.W.corner of Pierce.

No doubt this separation would break a mother's heart. Sisters might try to cover it up, protect her from heartache. Never mind about the husband, I wondered if her family even 'remembered' about Jeanette... who went to live with her paternal grandparents after Gertrude left. She remembered being on a swing in the yard and seeing a pretty lady watching her through the fence. I'd be willing to bet that was her mother, what do you think?

Well now, in March of 2008, after more than 80 years of wondering and literally 20 years of searching, we have found and come in contact with some of the LIVING members of Grandma Gertie's family. All the photos we have seen and will yet see are precious, but this one in particular, Gertrude together with her two children, is absolutely priceless...

Thank you Jim and Niz.