While researching Rev. C.W. Ruth (husband's grandfather), I discovered this unknown family history story about my husband's aunt, Emma Naomi Ruth.
Naomi was Christian's oldest daughter. She was born November 26, 1886. She began missionary work at a very young age. Over her lifetime, she traveled to many out-of-the- way places. I discovered the above photograph on her passport from Ancestry.com, dated September 13, 1916.
Doing further research, I located the articles, which detailed a very anxious time for the entire Ruth family. For a while, they didn't know where Emma was during an earthquake that struck in the path of her travels.
The Sun. (New York, NY) 31 Dec. 1908. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83030272/1908-12-31/ed-1/.
The Indianapolis Star: 31 Dec, 1908; Indianapolis, Indiana; Newspapers.com
Can you imagine how harrowing this was for Naomi's parents?! Especially in a time period where communication was not as readily available.
To learn more about the disaster, searched Chronicling American for "messina".
