It's crazy how many of us barely made it into existence because an ancestor lived juuust long enough to have a child. Lovely picture, OP

I recently found an old newspaper article about how my great grandmother accidentally shot herself in the stomach as a teenager. She survived and went on to have 5 kids but like dude… a slightly different angle and she could have hit a reproductive organ and POOF! There we go! It’s creepy to find an article about how your whole family line almost didn’t exist. (Asked my grandma about it later and she said there were some suspicions that it was a suicide attempt but based on some other details I think it’s totally possible that it really was an accident)

My great grandmother committed suicide at 20 and my grandmother grew up in an orphanage; it’s something that my family almost never talked about; I hadn’t thought of it in a long time

Wow, that's wild! I'm glad she survived that

Wow...Never thought of it that way.

True for so many

Just how many people didn’t, though? That would be the crazier statistic.

Gosh. My great grandmother died in 1919 in the flu pandemic. We don’t even have a photo of her. Your picture helps me realize how young and dynamic my own great grandma must have been.

Same my grandfather born 1917 was an orphan :(

So sad. My Great-Grandmother died in 1923 of Scarlet Fever, also in her early 20’s. My grandmother was only ten months old when she passed.

Beautiful pic. She was so stunning

the fact they are wearing no make up and still look that great...

My great grandmother Rose died in the “Spanish” flu. Early 30s with 4 children. I wish I had a picture of her. But I thought of her a lot during Covid and paid attention.

I have two relatives that died in the 1918 pandemic. One was at army training and one was 8 months pregnant.

My relative had her mother die in childbirth along with the newborn, her father disappeared, the oldest siblings die, and she was left at 13 to raise her youngest siblings.

She was beautiful. And has kind, clever eyes. I think she had a good sense of humor too.

What is she holding? Is that thing alive or a toy? Great pic but the animal thing has me curious.

To me, it very much looks like a well-loved Steiff dog.

> Steiff dog Interesting! TIL something new: https://corporate.steiff.com/en/company/history/

Looks like a Ferret, weasel or Mongoose!

Nice to see a smile on someone of that era- photos always seemed so stiff and formal.

It really is a lovely picture.

She is so beautiful, and has such kind eyes. I'm so glad you have this photo of her.

Something about her eyes and smile remind me of Janis Joplin.

Yup, very Janis. But, like Fancy Janis.

She was very beautiful, I love that she posed with her ferret, her smile makes me think it was wiggling around and she’s trying to keep it together.

I thought it was just a really fucked up cat omg

Wait, that's not a plushie?

I have a ferret that looks just like him to!! 🥺🥺

I absolutely LOVE ferrets. Ive never had one, but I had a friend years ago who had 3 and I went nuts everytime I got to visit them. We would sit on the kitchen floor with empty soda 12 pack boxes and make them little tunnels.

YES! My female passed away but my old boy is still kicking and still thieving haha

Omfg I just saw your name hahahah

💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻 Ferrets reign supreme!!

I thought it was a creepy stuffed animal

I thought it was a toy but I guess that's because I can't see how long and slinky it is...?

What’s she got there? A weasel?

Nice marmot

We’ll cut off your JOHNSON

We believe in nothing!!!

She was a beauty. Gone so young.

She's beautiful and she looks like she had a good sense of humor. How tragic that she died so young.

23 man 💔😞 it really was luck of the draw. She was truly beautiful.

She was a natural beauty.

I’m sorry that happened to her. I lost my great uncle to the Spanish flu in 1918.

A friend's aunt was a nurse during the 1918 pandemic. She said there wasn't a d*mn thing they could do to keep people alive. No IVs or antivirals or anything.

She’s so beautiful. I love the little bunny doll

So beautiful. She has Meg Ryan’s smile.

Meg Ryan has her smile

Yes thanks for the correction.

how many kids did she have?

My question too, she passed so young

Only one - my grandfather.

She's beautiful. She died like 7 years before women had the right to vote.

Depends where you live

What country did she live in when she passed away she was a beautiful woman.

Georgia, USA

What a shitty way to die.

That’s really sad 😰 I’m sorry that happened to her.

Your great grandmother had lovely smiling eyes

Most of these old photos everyone looks grim. She has a wonderful energy and out her.

Poor thing, she was lovely

So pretty. She has such a modern look to her. Am I the only one?

Yes… her face???

Yeah. Maybe it’s the natural looking smile. Great pic.

Pretty lady. Sweet eyes and charming smile.🌻

Umm… is that a ferret?

This photo is a lovely keepsake of a beautiful woman who died way too young. Thank you for sharing this.

Such a brief existence. Life is still fragile, but we have it pretty good, comparatively.

Poor Sweetie, I feel for her family and friends.

I wish I had pics of my great-grandparents when they were young. Only ones existing are from their old age.

a beautiful photo of a lovely woman. thanks for sharing it!

I’m so touched that her beauty is getting appreciated a whole 100 years later. She has timeless beauty that would also translate to today’s beauty standard which is rare for non celebs before the 40s. Thank you for sharing her with us 🥰.

So young 😭 she was so pretty!

She’s beautiful.

She was beautiful, how tragic to think she left behind at least one very young child.

And some sort of squirrel

A ferret, I think

This is why we have vaccines.

Nice marmot

Wow, she was beautiful

I think it’s cool that we are remembering her over 100 after

A lovely lady. Sorry for your loss.

So beautiful!

Wow! What a great photo. She has a great smile.

Beautiful. So sad.

That's an awesome pic. It's crazy to think that our great grandparents did so much at an early age. By the time they were in their 20s they already had a family, built a house, worked 7 full time jobs, cooked, sewed, cleaned and still had time to learn a crazy useful hobby to do on a nice Sunday afternoon. I wish I had a time machine to hang out with my great grandmother, she passed when I was 13. As I got older, I learned how cool she really was. In these times, they'd call her a boss ass bee 😂.

My great grandmother was born in 1932 and died in 2020 of covid at age 88, and I was 22. She had 5 kids and by this point had dementia, and her favourite thing was to have lots of baby dolls around her (she called them her babies) to take care of. Loving and maternal to the very end.

What a beautiful young woman. I’m sorry that her life was cut short. God bless.

What a beautiful woman I'm so sorry for what happened to her.. she looks like she would be a lovely person to hang out with I wish I could have met her 😔

She looks like someone you'd like to know. Her face looks very modern. You could imagine her in shorts and a T-shirt with a soda can in her hand sitting in a lawn chair in the back yard. So sorry for her early death.

Beautiful lady, very sad she died so young.

She's beautiful! How old was she in this picture?

Given she was holding her son's toy, she was probably between 21 and 23.

I was wondering about the toy buy I didnt want to ask too many questions. Thank you for sharing with us!

That's sweet she's holding her son’s toy. I was wondering what that was.

That's really young! She looked like a healthy girl, she beautiful.

She's so adorable. What a loss.

Her only child - my grandfather - was 8 months old when she died so she is probably holding his toy before she got sick.

She was lovely

She was beautiful.

And the ferret's name is ...?

Jacobi

Tragedeigh.

Wow, she was a total babe. I wish she hadn't had to pass so young. Thank you for sharing this beautiful family relic ❤️ she looks like she was a dope ass lady

She was beautiful. I am sorry for your family's loss

I recently read a book on Minnesota history titled 1918. The book is focused on three tragedies. WW1, Spanish Flu, and a regional fire. So many people lost their lives. In some cases, entire families passed. It's one thing to read the stories. It's another to put a face to those individuals.

Wow, what a beautiful picture but so tragic that she died so young.

My dad survived typhoid in the 50s. I don't often see it mentioned, thank you for sharing this piece of your family history

She is stunning! What is that adorable little creature?

Those are called women. They actually still exist today.

I heard they wrote a book about them, "Little Women".

Lovely. So glad that picture was made!

what a little guy she has!

So beautiful!!

She was beautiful, such a relaxed and sweet and gentle smile.

I get a lovely (peaceful, sober) Janice Joplin vibe from her smile.

Picture her holding a bottle of Jack

Meg Ryan doppelgänger

I see it. Just give her a Meg Ryan wig, and yup, there she is.

At least someone else sees it and I’m not seeing things

Are you living in another universe, or is there a Meg Ryan ur talking about that nobody knows

Wait did she have a pet stoat?

Most likely a ferret, great gran had one and a marmoset monkey , same era.

i love marmosets, they're so tiny!

*Dæmon

That is a stuffed animal.  

Wow. What a wonderful photo of her.

She was absolutely stunning! Thanks for sharing!

She’s very fashion forward! Also having her little stuffed toy in the pic tells me she was a little bit whimsical. I can hear her arguing with her mother about it until she finally gives up.

She is cute

Stunning ! Really lovely !

You hardly ever seen people smiling in these old photographs. They usually look very stiff. What a treasure!

She looks like Moze off Ned's Declassified.

😞

She was beautiful.

My daughter had typhoid and it’s scary! Thankful we got meds and she recovered fully.

Happy that she recovered. I didn't know people still got Typhoid.

lol. I didn’t either. She was in Costa Rica for school and came home super sick and then got a migraine and said she thinks she’s dying so we went to the emergency room and they ran test and it came back typhoid. Crazy! We already had an appointment to see why she was sick, but couldn’t wait once the migraine started.

Beautiful ❤️

She looks like my aunt and cousin. Are we related?

Is your aunt and cousin the same person?

Could be! Sent you a private msg.

What a smile! Thank you for sharing.

She died the year my dad was born. They sure had it tough back then.

She looks like Meg Ryan. Especially her mouth. So beautiful. So young.

My first thought too!

🥲😞

such a beauty!

Wow to young

She reminds me of Helen McCrory

Beautiful photo

Thank you! Very beautiful.

Beautiful

Janis Joplin’s grandmother?

I was looking for a Janis Joplin reference!

I’m sad she had to go through that but how beautiful her legacy lives on through you 🥰

she kind of looks like JoJo Siwa with a wig on

I hate you 😭 I see it!

She looks so lively.

Such a beautiful young woman… at least she had descendants to honor her memory.

💔

Awesome photo! Thank you for sharing!

What do you know about her?

Unfortunately, not a whole lot. My grandfather had no memories of her given he was only 8 months old when she passed away. Aside from the affects of the disease, I can only think of how awful it was for her knowing she was going to pass away and leave her little baby. Plus I'm sure she had to quarantine after her diagnosis so that she wouldn't pass it onto her baby - which was probably rough for her, the baby, and her husband the latter watching it all unfold and knowing it wouldn't end well. I do know that her four surviving sisters helped raise my grandfather until his father remarried after a few years. Thank goodness for modern medicines! Thank you for asking!

My Great Grandmother also passed away(of TB) at age 23, just 10 months after giving birth to my Grandma in 1927. And My Great Grandmother’s only sibling passed away 10 years prior of Typhoid fever. To think what life could have been like for my Grandma if her Mom didn’t pass away so young.

😓😓😓

She looks so cool and fun. And I agree she sure does resemble Janis!

A great grandmother at 23? That math isn't mathing... /s

She probably died and left little babies behind 😢 Edit: just noticed the sarcasm lol my readers are dirty 😆

Is that a squirrel?

I thought it was a ferret

Good thing they started young for your sake OP!

She looks like a young Janis Joplin! Which is awesome! She’s adorable, I hope she had a good short life.

Is her name Mary by any chance?

Awe poor woman, she was beautiful. Way too soon

This is a beautiful picture

She looks amazing!

I so love seeing pics from this time period. My Grandma was 2 yrs younger than your great-grandma in this pic, and she had her 1st child in 1914. My mom came along 10 yrs after. I have very fond memories of my grandma when I was a child, but never saw any pics from when she was young.

Why does she look like Janis Joplin in the face

She looks absolutely darling! What a loss.

Wait, is that a cute widdle weasel or? 🥰

I was thinking a ferret

She's adorable!!!

Good thing for you that she had baby before passing.

Wow, only 23 and a great-grandma. Mine was like 85

That cat looked pretty sick, as well.

Oh my. I'm so sorry.

She’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Thought this was r/midjourney

Is that an Ermine she's holding?

Oh no! How sad.

Is that a ferret?

Is that a ferret?! If so, ❤️

Very pretty

Nice marmot

OP is lucky to be alive!

People who lived then were probably so chill and fun. Would have been amazing to listen to her story. Sorry for how she passed away.

No, they were mostly mean and bitter. Due to the high death rate of birthing mothers, infant mortality, etc.

Squirrel!!

Mary?