Chicago, 1893

 

Photo by C. D. Arnold. Chicago Public Library. Chicago, 1893.

Above is a photo from 1893, when Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exhibition, a World's Fair commemorating Columbus' 400th anniversary arriving in the Americas. The event was located on Chicago's South Side, from May through October 1893. It is very likely Agnes Atherton was in Chicago during the exhibition, but I do not have a record of her in Chicago in 1893, only up to November 1892.

Agnes' sister Isabella, or Belle O'Brien, was living in the city during this time, and was living nearby the exhibition at 931 Thirty-Fifth Street. She died on 12 November 1893.

Chicago Inter Ocean, 14 Nov 1893.

I do not have a copy of her death certificate, but from a text entry of the Cook County, Illinois Deaths, 1871-1998, it lists her as 37, born in Illinois, single, with an occupation as "housework."

The only other confirmed record I have for her is the 1860 US Census entry in La Salle, Illinois, when she appears as 7 year old Isabella, between sisters Anna Maria O'Brien and Agnes O'Brien on the next page, under the care of the Sisters of Charity at the St. Patrick's Church Convent. How and when she moved from La Salle to Chicago is not clear.