Salt Lake Tribune, April 7, 1901
In Society
Bessie Morgan turned eleven in 1901. That Spring she was mentioned “In Society” in the Salt Lake Tribune for Sunday, April 7, 1901. It appears she was one of twenty-two young people who attended a party during the week before Easter.
The newspaper article began, “Holy Week was without any
large or important event, society devoting most of its time to church-going and
millinery openings. The weather last evening was not of a description that would
denote a brilliant Easter parade today after the church services, a custom of
the day in fashionable circles in nearly every city in the country.
“The festive high ball is to be relegated to obscurity at
the Country club.
“The Easter bonnet is quite gay this year.
This picture of Bessie Morgan from among her older brother,
Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan’s papers (thanks to cousin Karen M.) is of Bessie as a
young woman. Her daughter Winnifred had never seen it before I showed it to her in 2010. Bessie's hat makes the picture fit well with this article. Bessie does not look eleven-years-old in her hat.
The newspaper article continues, “On Tuesday evening Miss Ruby
Thomson entertained, her guests being Genevieve James, Elsie De Groo, Ruby
Thomson, Gail Morgan, Jessie Freeman, Jennie Freeman, Bessie Morgan, Rosella
Price, Ethel Liddle, Julia Smith, Florence McFarlane, Perry Liddle, John W.
James, Harold James, Ralph Kunkle, Art, Kunkle, Clarence Van Saub, Guy Hart,
Earnest Smith, Will Thomson, Wallace Burt, Raymond Thomson.”
I recognized some of these young people and put them
together using their last names. There were twenty-two young people at Miss
Ruby Thomson’s party and many of them were there with brothers and sisters.
James; Genevieve,
Harold, John W.
Thomson; Ruby,
Will, Raymond
Morgan; Gail (13),Bessie (11), Wallace Burt (12)
Liddle; Ethel,
Perry
Freeman; Jessie,
Jennie
Smith; Julia,
Earnest
Kunkle; Art (12),
Ralph (14)
Clarence Van Saub
Elsie De Groo
Rosella Price
Florence McFarlane
(13) (Florence was 22 in the 1910 Salt Lake Census—Waterloo District)
Guy Hart
In 1902 Bessie’s older sister, Ruth, married Sol Burke Kunkle. Kunkles also lived on York/Bryan Avenue. Bessie’s oldest sister, Helen, was married to Andrew Burt.
Wallace Burt, Bessie’s nephew, was born to them in 1890, the year before Bessie was born.
A different Tribune Society Page explained that the party Bessie Morgan and twenty-something other young people attended was a surprise party. Such interesting trivia!
