This week’s unknown photo comes from the Rice photography studio in Washington, DC and again was found in Grandpa and Grandma Montgomery’s house. The only Washington connection of which I am aware is great-aunt Bessie (Montgomery) Boyland. The third of Grandpa Montgomery’s sisters, she was born December 20, 1886 in Mansfield, Illinois, and married Francis Marion Boyland between 1906-1907. Their daughter Helen was born the following year.
In 1910 Francis, Bessie, and Helen were in Grover, Colorado. By 1920 Bessie had moved to Washington, DC and was working as a clerk for the Treasury Department. Bessie is listed as a “boarder” and is living alone (where were Francis and Helen?). By 1930 she had moved to Los Angeles and was living at the Commodore Hotel and working as an auditor. But the question remains – is this Bessie, or another as-yet-unknown connection to our nation’s capital?