Margaret Ann Moorehead has been a mystery to all of us for a very long time. First, we discovered that she had actually committed suicide. Secondly, we learned that she was a nurse. Thirdly we learned that she appeared to have lived in St. Louis after her parents left to go to Reedsburg. I made the assumption that perhaps she had stayed with family friends since by all accounts her parents moved to Reedsburg after they had been in St. Louis and from Reedsburg to Dayton Ohio where Margaret died in 1929. In a serendipitous moment, I stumbled onto a newspaper article that confirmed I was wrong about Margaret and her parents. John and Molly did move to Reedsburg in 1919 but they moved back to St. Louis in 1922 after school ended in Reedsburg taking Margaret with them. Well, what can I say what I write is only as good as what I read on the subject. Every single day new records pop up all over the internet and via my genealogical wanderings, I have discovered a wee bit of a holy grail of sorts. Two photographs from Reedsburg High School dated 1922. One of them is of the Freshman/Sophomore Girls Glee Club and the other of the school Orchestra. Featured in both pictures is Margaret Moorehead. Typical of yearbooks of the time photographs were taken and names were printed underneath but not in any particular order. That left the problem of identifying which one was Margaret. The Girls Glee Club retinue was huge so that was right out the window but the orchestra was small and even better the number of girls even smaller. I took that picture and searched for all the girls in it by name looking for single photos of them so that I could eliminate them one by one. I ended up with two girls and still was not sure which one was Margaret. The other girl was unnamed on the list but I knew since Margaret was also in Glee Club that meant one of the two remaining unidentified girls would be Margaret. Jackpot!!! I took each face separately then scanned through the Girls Glee Club one was eliminated and the other was Margaret Ann Moorehead.
Stories Lie In The Eyes
I cropped the photographs down so that I could study the face. There are stories in those eyes good and bad, imagined and real, happy, and sad. In the orchestra, Margaret played the violin. It's worth keeping in mind that Molly taught herself to play the cello so it is certainly no surprise that Margaret chose a string instrument. While studying Margaret's face I realized that she reminded me of somebody and that somebody was not her sister it was her mother. In fact, Margaret appears to be the spitting image of her mother. The story goes that Molly always favored Margaret and it's no surprise really since they looked so much alike.
Orchestra 1922
Top photo Margaret is on the left and on the right is unknown
The bottom photo is Molly Moorehead
They resemble each other so closely it is uncanny right down to the glasses.
To me, Margaret looks like she has a semblance of a smile but the eyes are sad with a hint of defiance. Molly looks exactly the same way.
Girls Glee Club 1922
In this picture again the hint of a smile but the eyes seem sad and defiant.
These are full-size pictures from the Reedsburg High School yearbook. Margaret was 16 when these were taken and had only 7 years more on earth.
Joy threw me a little stone. I wish it had done the same for Margaret.
