more of Mildred

After finding the silhouettes and initials on the wall (read more about it here), I've been intensely curious about Mildred.  Despite being the only daughter of a fairly prestigious family, we knew little about her life until after she married Robert King, who had to have been one of Pittsburgh's most eligible bachelors. As it turns out, I already had a wealth of info open in a pdf on my computer (a tab that had been open for months in fact), that I had never gotten around to going through.

There, waiting for me to find her, was Mildred A. Kelly.  As it turns out, she was quite a beauty...

Miss Mildred A. Kelly

The photo and new tidbits were found in the digitized archives of Pittsburgh's Illustrated Weekly.

Pittsburgh's Illustrated Weekly, 1911

New and exciting?  Details of motoring trips to East Coast resorts and cities via their car and chauffeur, cruises to Europe, where they were renting their summer home and details of what must have been her and Robert's stunning wedding at the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia.

We spend so much time working on the house and trying to make ends meet that it's always a shock to realize that our overwhelming project was once a manse built for a life of luxury and privilege (and MAIDS!).  Even more difficult to comprehend for my 21st century mind?  After her marriage, John and Agnes moved into their new son-in-law's even larger and more beautiful mansion, two new photos of which were also lurking in the magazine...

The King Estate, Baywood on Negley

side view of Baywood in Pittsburgh

While I have no desire for a chauffeur, and had a beautiful wedding of my own, a grand tour of Europe would certainly be a welcome change.  And I don't think I'd turn down a maid either (although I'd see about trading her in for a live-in carpenter instead).