In researching Viola Russ McBride one must keep in mind that she changed her name from Dorthy May Russ to Viola Russ McBride. I remember asking my dad about this and he mentioned it was to more closely resemble her mother’s name, Viola May Russ (Lake), who died in1913 when Dorthy was about 7 yrs old. I remember some family commonly referring to her as Dot. I wished I knew more, but those in the know are gone or not talking much.
Note: Patricia Costanzo (Patty Jean) has scanned hundreds of photo from Viola’s collection, rendering them into a digital format. VMET is working on an accessible portal for browsing the collection.
This new website looks amazing!!! So awesome to see!!!
love your website!
Thanks Peggy. If you got any good stories ( especially w/ relevant pictures) on Bear River send them along to admin @ violamcbride.com
In Victorian culture, it was not uncommon for a girl to take the name of a particularly beloved mother when she passed away. It was a way of honoring her mother. This is what Viola did when she changed her name from Dorthy May Russ to Viola May Russ. When she got married she changed her name to Viola Russ McBride.
She didn’t like being called Dorthy and hated being called Dot. My dad called her Dot to annoy her, as boys tend to do with their mothers, but I never heard anyone else call her that.
Viola insisted on calling my dad William and very much disliked the name Bill. She called me William as well, and wanted me to make people stop calling me Bill. She told me that William was a “fine family name” whereas Bill was a vulgar name. When I was a boy, I told her that I thought William was a pretentious name and she was quite unhappy with me about that. She never once called me Bill or Billy like everyone else. It was always William, drawing out the ells.
Thanks Billy. I didn’t know about the “Dot” usage. I can totally see Bill senior doing that!