Virginia Vonderheide

Virginia Vonderheide was the first-born child of August Henry Vonderheide and Anna Catherine Moser.  She was born on May 1, 1899 in Covington, Kentucky.  Her place of birth is listed on the Covington birth record as 1711 Holman Street.  Her father's occupation is listed as "shoe cutter."

Virginia Elizabeth was baptized at Mother of God Church in Covington and her Godparents were listed as Gerhard Woehrmann and Elizabeth Vonderheide.

Mother of God Church played a big role in the early Vonderheide family history -- both Anna and August lived on the same street as the Church and got married there.  I visited it about a year ago and it still serves a vibrant, active congregation -- many of whom live in the suburbs and choose to drive to this historic Church.

On December 23, 1900 the Vonderheides added a younger brother, Val to the family.  It wasn't long before the family relocated to Elmwood Place, Cincinnati. August Vonderheide opened a shoe store there.  Anna occasionally worked in the store.  The family eventually lived in that beautiful home on Springfield Pike.  Aunt Evelyn said that a relative, who she believed was named "Mary", assisted in the care of Virginia and Val.  Life was good for this young family living the American dream.

It was traditional in the early 1900s for children to make their First Communions at the age of 13.  Here are the First Communion pictures of Virginia and Val.

As a young woman, Virginia was uncomfortable with her rather pronounced "overbite".  These were the days before orthodontia and you had no choice but to live with it.  Both Aunt Evelyn and my mother have told me that Virginia was actually glad when she had to get dentures, eliminating this problem for the first time in her life.  Here is a picture of Virginia when she was about 16 years old.

Luckily for us, Virginia must have taken a second look at "that old Roy Ryan" leading to the next chapter of her life.  I will discuss the young wife and mother in the next post.