Looking at family trees I have noticed a sad reoccurring trend with unmarried siblings of ancestors; they are too often forgotten. Their legacy is ours to keep alive. One woman in my tree that lived an interesting life was Carrie Bishop. Carrie Bishop was born on the 20th of April, 1885 in Greenwood, Indiana, the daughter of John Jacob Bishop and Eliza Ellen Wilson-Bishop. She was the sixth of seven children. Her father came to Indiana from Virginia and her mother from Kentucky.
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| Carrie Bishop |
Carrie had a life of “rural privilege” her father was an industrial man; he had been a store clerk in his younger days and became a prosperous farmer and served as the town’s postmaster general for many years.
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| The Bishop children front l-r Jacob, Fred and Frank. Back l-r Mable, Carrie and Flora |
In 1907, at the age of twenty-two, Carrie began work at the Greenwood Bell Telephone company as an operator and their bookkeeper.
She truly was a woman ahead of her time, quickly becoming the manager of the telephone company. She retired in 1950 after 43 years of service. A ceremonial dinner was held in her honor at which time she was gifted an orchid and a diamond pin.
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| Carrie hard at work |
Carrie was a lady of great class; she was known for dressing up and attending the local opera, and she often traveled across the country to visit family and friends.
After the death of her parents she had a home built next to her brother Jacob’s home, it was a Cape Cod design, when it was finished in 1936 it was wrote about in the newspaper calling it “lovely.” It seems that everything Carrie did was noteworthy. Her home was full of antiques and other fine things.
Although Carrie never married or had children of her own she took great joy in her nieces and nephews and her great-nieces and great-nephews, shown in the many letters she sent.
Carrie went to her heavenly home on the 15th of December, 1961 at the age of 76. She is buried next to her parents and many of her brothers and sisters in the Greenwood City Cemetery.
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| Carrie |
The most important message I have to fellow genealogists is to take the time to trace the aunts and uncles in your tree that never married or had children, you may be surprised by what you find!
There is now a children’s book about Carrie! “A Day at Aunt Carrie’s” written by my cousin Amelia N. Williams and myself, it is our first children’s book! It is based off of the stories that we heard growing up from our grandmother Bernice E. Smith, about her mother’s aunt, Carrie Bishop. It takes place in 1948 in Greenwood, Indiana. Not only does the book have eleven fully colored illustrated pages, it also features a biography of the real Carrie Bishop, photographs of her, and genealogy notes about the Bishop family as well.
