In the October 1899 publication of the Lockport High School Crescent, a poem was included written by Irma E. Southworth, class of 1900:

Hope Invincible.

“She built a beautiful castle
High in the balmy air,
And filled its countless chambers
With costly treasures rare.

But when it seemed most perfect,
And every lofty tower
Gleamed in the golden sunlight,
All in a fated hour,

Fourth from the azure heavens,
With never a warning sound,
Came a thunderbolt destroying,
And dashed it to the ground.

She gazed on the ruins before her,
And her eyes grew dim with tears,
For there lay blighted forever
A thousand hopes and fears.

Sadly she grieved for a moment,
the sorrowfully raising her head,
Spoke with a woman’s patience,
“I’ll begin again,” she said.”¹

I found Irma living with her widowed father, Edward Southworth, and her younger sister Edna in the 1900 Population Census living in Lockport, NY at 42 Genesee St. (direct link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6P8S-3NM?i=18&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMS26-P9Y).²

Here is Irma’s profile on the FamilySearch Family Tree: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHKG-NW4. She has many Research Help (hints) that are waiting to be added if you would like to help attach more sources to her.

Irma’s memorial on Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124914001/irma-s.-mcneil

If you have any Niagara County Residents that you would like to feature on our blog, please send an e mail to Jeanette at Jeanette@niagaragenealogy.org.

Jeanette Sheliga is the Niagara County (NY) Genealogical Society’s (NCGS) Chairman of the Board, Vice President, NGS Delegate, and Program Chairperson. She is a member of many local and national organizations and holds leadership positions with the Niagara Falls Chapter of the DAR as the Chapter Registrar, the Western New York Genealogical Society (WNYGS) as a member of the Board of Directors, and the Virtual Genealogical Association (VGA) as the Corresponding Secretary. You can learn more about Jeanette on her website and her profile page for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).

1. Irma E. Southworth, “Hope Invincible,” Lockport High School Crescent 2 (October 1899), no. 1: 4.
2. 1900 U.S. census, Niagara County, New York, population schedule, Lockport City, ward 4, p. 176 (stamped), enumeration district (ED) 58, sheet 10, dwelling 231, family 238, Edward Southworth; image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 5 April 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1128.