Today's Photo of the Week is from 1864 and features 10 year old Jennie Jerome, the young girl who would grow up to be the mother of Winston Churchill. Jennie was born in Brooklyn in what is now thought to be 426 Henry Street in 1850. The year she was born, Millard Fillmore became President of the United States - and Leonard Jerome, Jennie's father, was appointed U.S. Consul to Trieste. In 1860 the Prince of Wales paid a visit to the U.S. and attended a reception in his honor. Leonard Jerome was a part of the reception committee. When 10 year old Jennie found out she announced, "the Prince comes to dance with me." According the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, when he didn't Jennie cried a little but forgot her disappointment when she attended Mrs. August Belmont's children's party in the costume pictured above. Though there is some debate about where she was buried exactly, there is a marker on Henry Street.
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
Post a Comment
While BPL encourages an open forum, posts and comments are moderated by library staff. BPL reserves the right, within its sole discretion, not to post and to remove submissions or comments that are unlawful or violate this policy. While comments will not be edited by BPL personnel, a comment may be deleted if it violates our comment policy.
eNews Signup
Get the latest updates from BPL and be the first to know about new programs, author talks, exciting events and opportunities to support your local library.