Hello and Welcome to O Day!
Name:
Orvetta Maria Brogan
Vital Information:
Orvetta was born on 13 July 1898 in Indiana and died on 8 September 1973 in California.
Relation to Me:
Orvetta is my maternal great grandma.
Tidbits/Characteristics/Commonalities:
Orvetta was the ninth and final child born to John and Alice, well after Alice thought she could no longer conceive. As the baby, she was named lovingly after the USS Orvetta, aboard which John fought during the Civil War.
Whether because she was the baby, born to tired parents, or because she was simply a free spirit born at a time of great change and new opportunities, Orvetta liked to push the envelope and she liked to be away from home as much as possible. When she found herself pregnant at 17 with my Grandma Eve, she found herself not ready to settle down, though she did marry Eve’s dad, Denzil. However, with both of their young and wandering hearts, the marriage didn’t last long.
In time, after Eve was fully grown, Orvetta married for a second time, though that marriage didn’t last long either.
But I’m not interested in talking about the details of Orvetta’s relationships today. Instead, I’d like to share some of her adventures. See, it seems that Orvetta’s free spiritedness carried through her life and she became quite the traveler. Additionally, when she was home in Los Angeles, based on the photos that were given to me when an aunt passed away, it seems she thoroughly enjoyed hosting holidays and spending time with her family and friends.
I wish the photos I was given were better labeled (beyond the few dates in the late 1960s), so I might know more about where she traveled to, but I am so grateful to have this glimpse into her life in her older years. She truly looks happy to be on her own and surrounded by all the people she loved.
I couldn’t wish for anything more 🙂
In Your Research…
Have you found an ancestor who was a free spirit? Or one who loved to travel and document it all?
Housekeeping
My theme for the 2025 A to Z Challenge is Kin! The first names of direct lineage kin, to be more specific.
I’m spending the majority of the month focusing on the first names of many of my direct lineage kin. I’ll include their full names, any vital information I’ve found in my research, their relation to me, any fun tidbits/characteristics/experiences, and any commonalities I may have gleaned between myself and them.
In a couple of cases, where I have not identified an ancestor whose first name starts with a particular letter, I will choose a unique middle name, a direct line surname, and/or ancestral lands/places of significance.
Pop over here to read my full theme reveal: A to Z 2025 Challenge Theme Reveal: Kin
Pop over here to visit our host and see what they’re up to throughout this year’s challenge: A to Z Challenge
If you’re visiting from the A to Z Challenge please leave a comment so I can visit you, too! If your comment bio doesn’t link back to your site, please feel free to add the link to your most recent post to the comment field so I can be sure to find you.
Thanks for being here! See you again soon!
Onward,
Melissa
Orvetta really does look happy in the photos. And somehow I imagine you knowing your Great Grandma was a free spirit is a delight your heart can hold tightly to.
It truly is a wonderful experience to gain some insights into ancestors who I never had the pleasure of meeting! Orvetta’s joy helps remind me to follow my own bliss in the small and the big ways whenever possible <3
She reminds me of my Aunt Frances who passed away at 92 a couple years ago. She was a foster aunt, the only child of her parent who took on three fosters during the 40s. My mother was one of the three girls, and that became my family.
Aunt Fran was a free spirit, she never married, traveled extensively during summers off from school (she was a high school English teacher), and love to swim and boat (raised on the New England coast). She always had a female roommate and always traveled with one or two female friends.
Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
What a lovely story! Thank you for sharing it with me! Aunt Fran sounds like a phenomenal woman. I am so glad you get to carry her forward with you!
There is something about SoCal of that era. I have similar pictures from the grandparents in the ’50s and ’60s. She looks like she was having quite the good time.
It was such a cool place to be and she seems like she fit right in!
It’s nice to see/read that you have such a detailed info about your great grandmother along with so many photos. I have one blurred photo of my great grandmother, although I am told I look like her in many ways. Thanks for your post for reminding me about her.
I hope you will find additional photos in time so that you might see her clearer. It wasn’t until my aunt passed that I received so many. Apparently, they were very close. Those photos helped me identify Orvetta in the one photo I had in my collection but didn’t know was her 🙂 I’m glad you were reminded of her.
Another really interesting name, Orvetta. I just came from a post that was talking about nicknames. I can’t help wondering what Orvetta will shorten into: Orie, Vetta, or something else entirely. Made Orvetta wasn’t someone who liked her name shortened. Either way, she had a lovely name.
I haven’t found any indication of a nickname (yet) but think Vetta would be a fun one, if she’d accept it! Everyone wanted to call me Missy as a child and I said NOPE! A few special people have called me Melis, and I’m ok with that 🙂
Orvetta is about the same age as my grandparents who were also born in rural Indiana. But they all remained as farmers for their whole lives.
Yes, she was quite the firecracker! I’m glad she followed her bliss.
Where in Indiana were your ancestors? Mine were largely in the Marion area.