In the Sonntagpost, 1899

 

Sonntagpost. Chicago, 5 Mar 1899.

The clipping above appeared in the German-language Chicago Sonntagpost (Sunday Post), describing the reunion between Agnes Atherton and her centenarian father John O'Brien. The article states that Agnes was a well-known Chicago actress, separated from her father for over 35 years as she was placed in an orphanage after the death of her mother. The article gets some aspects of the story wrong, as Agnes was placed with the Sisters of Charity in LaSalle by 1860, not Chicago in 1864, and John was 105 or 106 by the time of the reunion. 

It is great to see this family reunion appeared in a German language newspaper - this is the fourth different language newspaper that Agnes has appeared in over the years (French newspapers in Canada, an Italian newspaper in NY, now German in Chicago). The clipping shows the story was shared across a wide audience at the time.

The article is a new-to-me find as I upgraded my membership with MyHeritage to get access to OldNews.com. I'm hoping to uncover some other articles on Agnes and her incredible life that were not previously available to me on other sites.