This is my
favorite photo that came to me from a cousin found by a DNA match. Our
grandfathers were brothers, but I had almost no information about my grandfather’s
brother, John, until the DNA connection led to email correspondence and phone
calls with my new-found second cousin.
My own grandfather appears in the photo, too.
It’s a wedding
photo of John Martin Clark and Helen Carr on May 18, 1930, at Church of St. John
the Evangelist at 351 East 55th Street, Manhattan, New York.
I love this
photo because it was the first photo I ever saw of John, it is a wedding photo,
it reflects the 1930’s era fashion, and because it clearly ties John to my
grandfather, Thomas.
John was 46
years old and lived on East 57th Street so nearby the church. On the 1930 census, John is listed as living
with his aunt, Delia Crane, on East 57th Street and with an
occupation of plumber. Later in 1942 on
his WWII draft registration card, he is listed as working for the Department of
Water Supply presumably for the City of New York.
Helen Brigid
Carr, who also went by “Nellie,” was 40 years old at the time of her marriage
to John Clark. Helen was born in
Ireland according to the 1950 census. Helen
and John had two daughters, Eileen and Mary, born in 1931 and 1933 respectively. The family lived in Astoria and then
Flushing, Queens, NY.
John died in
1951 at the age of 67 while Helen went on to live another 32 years dying in
1983.
This photograph is presumably the typical bride and groom with the best man and maid of honor. While no one has identified the maid of honor, the best man is the groom’s brother and my grandfather, Thomas L. Clark, who was 47 years old in 1930 and was a Major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Connecting with this branch of the Clark Family has been one of my top achievements in my genealogy journey and this wedding photo represents that achievement in great style!
