The topic of “favorite photo” is used each year in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. But its always fun to pick a photo because you always have more than 1 photo that you love.
The photo that I have chosen for this year is my great-great-grandmother, Anna Maria Leighty Wise. I choose her for 2 reasons. One is that her birthday was just 2 days ago and she would have been 175 years young. Secondly I remember the day I found this photo. For some reason it occurred to me that she didn’t pass away until 1933, and with my having photos of my Grandma Blair (Anna Maria Morgart) in this box of photos that my father gave me, what were the chances that someone took a photo of Anna Maria Leighty?
So I came home and grabbed the box and began sorting through all the photos and then I came across the photo of her and I was just in awe. My Grandma often talked about her Grandma… so I have always felt like she was a kindred spirit despite never knowing her personally (she died 10 years before even my dad was born). But she just seems like a grandmotherly type of woman… and so this photo always makes me smile.
That and she looks like she’s telling everyone to hurry up with the photo already so she can get back to cooking.
Helping History Come Alive 