1931 Press Photo Mr and Mrs John J McDonnell Golden Anniversary California

History and the march of science will both be recalled at the golden wedding celebration of Mr. and Mrs. John J. McDonnell at their home in Oakland, California. For Mrs. McDonnell was the first women ever to speak over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone in Haverhill, Massachusetts, when it was strung up between the house and the leather-goods shop of Mr. and Mrs. James Sanders. McDonnell has lived in Oakland since 1878, and Mrs. McDonnell came here a year later from Haverhill, where she had been living in the Sanders home. In the Sanders home, where Mrs. McDonnell lived before she came West, there was a small son who was deaf and dumb, and Alexander Graham Bell, who was a teacher of the deaf and dumb, also lived there to tutor the child. Bell was at that time working on his phone.

Photo is dated 1931.

Photo measures 8 x 10.25 inches.