52 Ancestors #33: Martha (Cole) Odell

I love these two pictures of my 3rd great-grandmother Martha (Cole) Odell. In the first she looks annoyed while her granddaughters goof around and pose, but in the second I think her true self comes through. In light of the second picture, I wonder if the look in the first is one of faux-annoyance and she was goofing around just as much as they were, we just can’t see the eye-roll in a still picture.

I’m not exactly sure of the date these pictures were taken, but there are a few more taken that same day in the same place of Martha’s daughter Susan and husband Julius Henry Frost (my 2nd great-grandparents). I estimate 1918 based on the ages of all the people across the photos. In 1918 Martha would have been 80, so perhaps the family had gathered to celebrate her birthday?

Martha was born about 1838 in New York, one of eight children born to John and Hester Sophia (Martine) Coles. At some point between 1840 and 1843, the family moved to Newark where Martha met Reuben Odell. They married 10 August 1856 in Newark and had eight children.

Martha died on Christmas day, 1921 and is buried in the family plot, Fairmont Cemetery, Newark.

This post is 33rd in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge series.