These cute boys are Earl Clinton Cooper and Charles Bryant Cooper, brothers. I found them for sale on eBay – for a few more days at least. (See auction here). Clearly one of Charles’ children is writing the information on … Continue reading
Soldier pictures are wonderful but can often be hard to identify, even with a name, because the location is often no where near where they are from. Luckily this gentleman I found on eBay did have a US based location and … Continue reading
These casual pictures can be a lot of fun. And the personal note on the back is full of great information. This is a picture of Bessie Ethel Uridge holding “fruits of the soil” on the ranch in 1939, Sanger, … Continue reading
Thanks to a generous ancestry.com member, I now have more information on the connection between the Weeks sisters and Grandmother Moffatt:
“Grandmother Moffatt” is Henrietta Shearer (1829-1906) who married John Henry Moffatt (1829-1864) in Scotland, moved to PA, (where he was a house builder) and bore him five children. After his death in 1864, she married his cousin James W. Moffatt and bore him three more children, the youngest of whom was Marion “Effie” Moffatt (1876- ), who married Herman T. Weeks (1864- ) and is the mother of the “Weeks Sisters” Anna Y Weeks (1902-1937) and Isabel C. Weeks (1907-1999). She also had a son, (their brother) Frank H. Weeks (1904-1971).
Thanks Bart for this great information!
Freddy B. Steves, 1 year and 1 week
This is a fabulous little tin type of Freddy B. Steves, who, according to the back of the photo, is 1 year and 1 week old and was taken on May 25, 1868 in New York. That’s some great information!
Only one Fred B. Steves shows up in the documentation from New York born around 1867 (one year before the photo). Hopefully, it’s the same one! Fred B. Steves appeared to be the only son of Oliver and Aurelia or Lucy Steves. In 1870, Freddy and family live in Lansingburgh, Rensselaer, New York with an Eliza Brown who was 56 – likely Aurelia/Lucy’s mother. By 1880, the family had moved to Trenton, New Jersey.
Unfortunately, by 1885, at age 18 a Fred B. Steves died in Trenton, NJ of heart disease. There’s more evidence of his death than his life. He was buried in Oliver P. Steves lot. A very sad end to such a cute little boy. All the more reason to continue to promote his life!
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 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
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
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!
Here’s a batch of four from the 1924-25 class photo I have of the Westbrook Commercial Academy. In numerical order they are: #65, Dorothy Smith – with a name this common I knew she would be hard to find. Sure … Continue reading
Unclaimed Ancestors 