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Brong Ardrey, Mary baby- JMBWordofGold 20160622

Words of Gold
Page Liked · June 22, 2016 ·

There is no way to be absolutely certain who the woman in the small photograph is. There is no label. It is the type of very early photo known as a daguerreotype. I found it years ago, tumbled together with other pictures in a box that was stored on a backroom shelf in my Uncle Waldo Cloud’s house in Gold. Uncle Waldo had died, and the house was to be sold. As the family cleared the nooks and crannies of the old home, treasures turned up in some strange places.
The small photo was with others which were labeled “Ardrey.” Because the lady seems to bear a strong resemblance to later pictures which are labeled, I believe it to be Mary Brong Ardrey. She sits rigidly severe, holding a small child. I would be willing to bet that even though her hair had not yet gone gray, that she was essentially toothless. Her hands, wrapped lovingly around the baby, show the effect of years of hard work.
Mary Brong was born August of 1772, apparently in the southwestern area of what would eventually be the state of Pennsylvania. She married William Ardrey, probably around 1800, and at some time, they pulled up stakes and moved away from their families to live in what is now Yates County, NY.
And so her strenuous life began. It is beyond my imagination how difficult it must have been to make that trip over 200 years ago. Would it have been with oxen and covered wagon? Probably. She may have had a child or two by that time. If the dates recorded in a small family Bible are correct, Mary was still bearing children in her early 50s. Elizabeth, William and Mary’s first born, came into the world on May17th, 1804 and their youngest and eighth child, Mary, was born around 1825. Their third child, Sarah or “Sally” gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock. When she later married Sally and her husband left for the west, leaving the little girl for her grandmother to raise.
Sometime after the older children began to marry and establish their own homes, Mary and William Ardrey loaded up the wagons and moved again; this time, to Potter County, PA.
The photographs known as daguerreotypes first appeared in France around 1827, the invention claimed by a man named Jacques Daguerre. At about the same time a similar photographic process was announced in England by William Talbot.
In 1839 Daguerre’s book of instructions appeared in the United States, according to a book titled Images of America which was published by Smithsonian Books. Although the process could be quite uncomfortable for the subject, most people considered the result to be worth the trouble. And it was relatively inexpensive. For the first time “likenesses” of family members could be shared and cherished.
My healthy imagination kicks in around this point. Could this be a photo of Mary Ardrey and her grandchild, the daughter that Sally left behind? The woman appears to be in her mid-forties when the picture was made. Is it possible that Mary had the picture taken in the hope that at some point, she would be able to send it on to the little girl’s mother? If that is true, her hope was never realized. According to family letters written a couple of decades after Sally and her husband left for the west, it is revealed that the family never heard from them again.
Mary Brong Ardrey outlived her husband and lived her final years with her daughter, Susannah Ardrey Morley, my great-great grandmother. She died in Gold on February 23, 1873, a few months past her 100th birthday.
Her life was long and difficult. Her family was scattered from New York State to Michigan and back again. Although her children kept up a correspondence with each other as time went by, it is likely that Mary did not read or write. I can only wonder how badly her mother’s heart must have yearned for the babies she had once cuddled and loved.
And then again, it is possible that this is not a picture of Mary Brong Ardrey at all. The woman who looks out at me from this mirrored image may have an entirely different story to tell. I’ll never know
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Beverly Kehs
Beverly Kehs Beverly Kehs Isn't it wonderful how these mysteries keep popping up? I just found out last week that my paternal grandmother had 4 step-siblings! Now I have to try to figure out if there are a whole bunch of other 'cousins' out there somewhere!
Like · Reply · 1 · June 22, 2016 at 2:36pm
Words of Gold
Words of Gold Yep. For every answer there are a dozen questions.
Like · Reply · 1 · June 22, 2016 at 2:57pm
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There is no way to be absolutely certain who the woman in the small photograph is.

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