Picture of the day - March 15, 2007

My Great-Grandmother: Ellen Leona Bare

On my mom's living room wall hangs a picture of a lady I have never met, but who looks oh, so familiar to me... My grandma Lura Leona Rouse (my dad's mother) passed away when I was just five years old, and the only memory I have of her is seeing her lying peacefully in the casket at her wake. Grandma's passing was my very first experience with death, and I remember how I stared at her face for so long that her image was forever etched into the memory banks of my young mind. Years later I saw today's picture hanging on mom's living room wall along with several other precious family photos, and the face staring back at me looked exactly like the one that I had studied so carefully as a young boy on that sad day back in 1965. I have seen this picture numerous times in recent years and I have always assumed that it Grandma Rouse - but I was wrong... Ellen Leona Henderson was born in February 1866 somewhere in North Carolina, and a few years later while still a very young lady she married a young man named Matthew Bare. Matthew and Ellen made their home in Widener Valley, Virginia and raised a family of eight children, one of which was Lura Leona Bare - my Grandma Rouse. You see, the precious lady staring back at me all those years from the picture wasn't Grandma Rouse after all - it was her mother, my Great-Grandma Ellen Leona Bare. Apparently those two ladies looked as much alike as identical twins, fooling me with that single childhood memory of Grandma's face into believing they were one and the same. And they shared more than just "looks" - they both had the middle name: Leona, a beautiful name that was eventually passed on to my sister Helen as well. After reading this you know just as much about my Great-Grandma Bare as I do, but now the puzzle of my heritage is just a little more complete than it was a few days ago. I never had the opportunity to know my great-grandma, and I can't remember the times I must have spent with Grandma Rouse, but by all accounts they were both fine women. I look forward to meeting them in heaven some day and having them help me complete the puzzle.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"