Women Who Paved the Way

Cora Elizabeth

This is Cora Elizabeth Rogers, née Smith. She was my great-grandmother. I am reminded of how the women in our past still shape our lives. By the 1920's she would be married to my great-grandfather Edward. Her son Harry and daughter Dorothy are adults. She was to be a force in my mother's life. In my mother's young life, Edward and Cora lived right next door to my grandparents on Garfield St.. But in the 1920's they lived on Charles St..

146 Charles St.

Edward is listed at the Superintendent of the City Sewer Dept. in the 1920 census. He would rise to become Superintendent of Streets. 

I was browsing the newspaper archives for the Fitchburg Sentinel and I found this story. It is the registration roll for the 1922 elections. The vote for women had been ratified in August of 1920. Interestingly, there are no Tapply women on the list. But there is my great-grandmother.

Voting was important enough to Cora for her to be on the first list of voters in Fitchburg. She is an example to us all.

Then and Now

 This is the famous Quincy Market in Boston. On the left in 1904 and a current photo from Mr. Google. Long ago the street was closed off and made a walking street, but I remember going inside as a child and seeing whole sides of beef, fresh fish and vegetables for sale.

A butcher at Quincy-Boston Public Library

According to Boston Magazine, in 1823 Josiah Quincy, then mayor, didn't like the view from his office. He hired an architect, and the Greek Revival temple of food was born.  It opened in 1826.

A parade through Quincy Market- 1876

It became a center of interest in the city, as this parade picture show. And here is the earliest image I was able to find. A lantern slide from some time before 1868. Mostly what you see here is Faneuil Hall. (The correct name for the whole area is Faneuil Hall Marketplace)

Does this have any direct connection to my family? No. But this was a favorite spot to go as a child, even before it became the land of  Urban Outfitters, Coach and Starbucks. I guess I wasn't the only one. This made me laugh and it's appropriate to the season.

A lady picking out her Thanksgiving turkey- 1952