Monthly Archives: October 2012

Geraldine O. Kling

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Geraldine O. Kling Froleigh

What a beauty Geraldine Kling is. At first I thought her name was O’Kling, but turns out O is the middle initial. The second name “Froleigh” was written at a later date in pencil – for searching purposes I assumed this was a married name. No date or location are mentioned, but it’s not too hard to tell that his photo was likely taken in the late 1920’s. Also Geraldine can’t be more than 20 herself here. Possibly a high school graduation picture.

Curious to know, as an aside, if she’s related at all to the Kling’s that Mabel Webster Palmer lived with in the previous post – hmmm.

Geraldine O. Kling appears to be the daughter of Charles & Bessie Kling; born on January 14, 1910. She lived in New York City with various people – in 1910 she lived with her parents, 1915 with her grandmother, 1920 with an aunt and uncle, 1925 with her dad (possible with a step-mom as well). She eventually married William C. Froleigh.

This is a photo that I own, if any relative would like it.

Mabel from Michigan

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Mabel M. V. Webster-Palmer

What you see is what you get with Mabel. Her long name and a location – good info. But sometimes a name like that can be confusing. Did she really hyphenate her name, or was that just for identification purposes? The way it’s written was even a little odd. Was Palmer part of her name or was it a town in Battle Creek County, Michigan? You can learn a lot about geography in the genealogy biz!

Her long name was key in identifying her – if she had just been Mabel Palmer or Mabel Webster we may not be here now. I guesstimated her birth date to between 1895-1905. It’s almost a game now, how close I can get to the actual year! MANY family trees came up, but let’s focus on the evidence first because there’s not a lot of it.

A Mabel Palmer, born April 24, 1899, died in March of 1969 in Battle Creek, Michigan – good match. However, every other census I’ve found a Mabel Webster in is in New York: in 1900 she lives with grandmother Mary Kling at the age of 1; in 1910 and 1920 she lives with parents the Webster’s also in New York. No way to know from my photograph if this is the same woman.

So, in rare form, I’m relying on the family trees to tell the story – not many of which have evidence attached to them. I am sure that this picture matches the woman in their trees at least. To that end, this is likely Mabel Mary Vestella Webster, born (as the SSDI indicated) on 4/24/1899 to George and Mable Webster. She married Lawrence Palmer in New York, and died in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1969 – with probably a lot of great stories in between :)

Good luck Mabel!

By the way, I own Mabel. If anyone wants the photo let me know.

Leon Fulsone/Fulsom

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Leon Fulsone/Fulsom

I love when I can find out who the babies are! According to the back of the photo, this is “Leon Folsone” – and according to the front, he’s probably from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I found little Leon for sale on Etsy if you’re interested in owning him (Link to Etsy store).

After some careful research I believe his name is actually Leon Folsom – or at least that’s what all the people who wrote his name on any document believed. There’s is no trace of a Leon Folsone (maybe it was just a misspelling). There is, however, a Leon Folsom born in Eau Claire, WI in 1893 and living there in 1905 with Mary and Fred Folsom. These are not his birth parents.

Leon was adopted, or so the 1910 Maple Grove, Idaho census record of the family states. The Folsom’s do appear to have one other child at least. The circumstances around his adoption aren’t known to me. Maybe some of his descendants know more, I’d love to hear the story.

Phyllis V. Bier

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Phyllis V. Bier

All this photo contains is a name, and normally that’s not enough to really identify someone. But, the sucker for genealogy that I am, I usually give it a try anyway. And sometimes it works. In this case, I found Phyllis on eBay (click here to see the sale); I searched based on a name and a guesstimated birth date [judging by her clothes and hairstyle, the picture was likely taken in the 20’s – she doesn’t look more than 20 so I put in a birthday range of 1900-1910].

Only one possible person came up, all thanks to the middle initial. Without that she could have been any Phyllis Bier! I believe this to be Phyllis V. Bier, born in 1907 in Colorado. She was the first child to David and Lillian Bier. The family lived in Boulder in 1910, and then in Weld County from at least 1920 to 1940. If another Phyllis V. Bier surfaces, let me know!

Henry Kahler and Family

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Henry Kahler & Family of Pennsylvania

This wonderful family portrait is, I believe, from about 1886. It is of Henry Kahler and family as it states on the back. The boys names are also listed, “Rush & Wm.” Gretacarbo has this picture for sale on eBay if anyone’s interested – you can see more pics of it there.

Here’s what I’ve found out about the Kahler family:

Henry and wife Catherine Berry are pictured here with their first 2 sons: Rush – AKA William Henry Rush, Rush W. H., or just Rush depending on the document, and William, often referred to as “Willie”. They would have John and Dortha a few years later. Willie was born in 1884, and appears to be no more than 2 in the photo, which is why I date it at 1886. The family lived in various towns within Crawford County, Pennsylvania – the same county where the picture was taken. Henry would live to 1934 and his wife Catherine to 1921.

I’m hopeful that this picture finds a home; there appears to be many people on ancestry.com with these people in their family tree.

Alfred T. Robinson

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Alfred T. Robinson

Another offering from my Etsy friend, Restored Memories. Per her description there are actually 2 photos of Mr. Robinson, which she is selling together – here’s the link to her store.

On the back of this photo is the handwritten name, Alfred T. Robinson and the location on the from is Saginaw, Michigan. While those two pieces of information alone may not always yield a good identification – what helped in this case was that Mr. Robinson never left Saginaw. From the 1900 to the 1940 census he and wife Louise/Louisa and their children are there.

Alfred appears to have been born around 1859 in Michigan. His parents were from England. But in all pre-marriage censuses (1870 and 1880) Alfred and sister Helen only lived with their mother, Mary A. Robinson. There’s no indication if she was a widow or divorced. She was from England however. Finding his father would be a great addition!

Cora & Ethel

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Ethel Thompson & Cora DeLudough-Cobb

What an incredibly sweet picture. This is on sale at a wonderful Etsy store for those interested. I was determined to find out who these ladies were and I think I have. The names on the back, according to the owner, are Ethel Thompson and Cora DeLudough-Cobb. I knew I had a chance of finding out who it was when I saw Cora’s last name – what duzy! Initial searches didn’t reveal much – but when I looked for the EXACT spelling of the name (which I rarely do because it’s so limiting) I got a hit. Cora Mae Deludough married James MacCall of Scotland in 1904 in Michigan and was born in 1878 in Wisconsin. Also on the marriage record it had her parents names, Sam Deludough and Carrie Lockridge. Well, that’s not exactly what I wanted. I wanted a husband with the last name of Cobb!

So I looked for Ethel. Now that’s a much more common name, but interestingly there was an Ethel Thompson born in Wisconsin in 1878 and living in Michigan during the 1900 census with a father from Scotland and a mother from Germany. She was divorced. Now we’re getting somewhere! Similar ages, lived in same states, let’s keep going.

I went back to Cora – putting in the birth year and place I’d found earlier along with the name – I now found a Cora May Deludough with an actual copy of the marriage record – same one, to James MacCall. And guess who the witnesses were? A Edward and Carrie Cobb! THEN, as if that weren’t enough, the 1900 Michigan census had Cora and 2 siblings living as step-children with Edward and Sarah Cobb. Clearly this was a name she used frequently after her mother remarried.

I’m confident I know who Cora is. But Ethel still needs some work. There’s a lot of coincidence there, but a little more evidence is needed. And I’m sure I’ll get it!