Amy E. Blackmore was a senior at Plymouth High school in Wayne County, Michigan in this photo. Very little is known about this young woman. She was born about 1914 in Michigan. The second youngest of 6 children; her mother (Avis … Continue reading
Olive Margarete L. Bowers was Senior at Plymouth High School in 1931 in Wayne County, Michigan. She was either Olive or Margarete depending on which census record you look at. In 1920, 8 year old Margreathe L. Bowers lived with … Continue reading
William W. Bronson, 1931, Plymouth High School
The third in the series from Plymouth High School in Plymouth, Michigan 1931 is William W. Bronson. Mr. Bronson was the oldest son and child of Walter and Elizabeth Bronson; born about 1913. He had a younger brother Donald, and a younger sister, Maryan (also went by Patricia). The Bronson’s lived in Detroit in 1920 where Walter was a commercial traveler (salesman) for a button company. By 1930, the family lived in Plymouth where William attended high school. Dad was still a traveling salesman. He must have traveled to Canada at some point because that’s where William’s brother Donald was born. By 1940, the last census available so far, William and his sister were still at home with their parents. The family was back in Detroit. Walter was a traveling rep for wholesale dry good and William (who was in 5th year college) worked as a technician in a hospital. Was he in medical school?
Those are all the facts I can attribute to young William Bronson. Find A Grave does have a listing for a Dr. William W. Bronson born in 1913, died in 1981, buried in Evergreen cemetery in Lansing, Michigan. I don’t know yet if this is the same William or not. I hope a family member can confirm.
Mary Virginia McKinnon, 1931, Plymouth High School
This is one of those photos that I just had to force myself to stop researching! Still so much to find out, but I do have enough to pass on to a hopefully searching descendant.
Mary Virginia McKinnon was born in Oregon about 1914. The rest of her family was born in Michigan, where they lived most of their lives. Her family included dad, Donald Neil McKinnon (1899-1966); mom, Dorothy B. McCorkle (1899-?); sister, Dorothy Paterson McKinnon (1920-?); grandmother, Mary E. Barnes McCorkle (1864-?); and a great-aunt who lived with or near them, Cordelia McCorkle (1853-1945).
It appears that only Mary’s birth and her parents marriage (Canada) took place outside of Michigan. Why the family was in Oregon is unknown, other than it was likely work. Mr. McKinnon worked as a salesman for steel products. His daughters lived at home at least through 1940 when Mary was 27. Neither of the girls were listed as having a job. If they married after that is unknown. Donald McKinnon’s death and aunt Cordelia’s were confirmed through the Social Security Death Index and Find A Grave. I can’t find when/where wife Dorothy passed away. But there are University of Michigan year books from 1910 that show she was a student there. She and Donald married in 1912.
Good luck Mary Virginia!
Delphine L. Jaynes, 1931 Plymouth High School
Delphine “dimples” Jaynes, well that’s my nickname for her anyway. All I really know from this lovely class photo is that she was born in 1912 to Clinton and Armina Jaynes in Michigan. She was the oldest of 3 siblings all sisters. Delphine born in 1912, Helen in 1914, and Norma Frances in 1919. They, as well as their parents, were all from Michigan.
Mr. Jaynes worked as a farmer, salesman, and real estate broker in 1920, 1930, and 1940 respectively. Unsurprising job changes due to the depression. In 1940 his mother, Delphine’s grandmother, lived with the family; Estella Jaynes. She was a widow at the time. Clinton’s father Alfred Jaynes had passed away in 1923. Thanks to a wonderful obituary on Find A Grave we know much more about Alfred than we do his granddaughter Delphine. Clinton died in 1966, but his burial as well as that of the rest of the family has not yet been found.
When or if Delphine married is unknown so far. But hopefully she has some descendants who will want this photo.
Mildred C. Burch, 1931 Plymouth High School
Mildred C. Burch, was a very studious looking 18 year old in 1931! She was born in Michigan in June of 1913 and lived her entire live in Canton, Wayne County, Michigan. She died there on May 13, 2006.
She was the youngest child of Elmer Burch and Catherine Kobbeman. The family consisted of brother Ralph (4 years older) and sister Henrietta (2 years older). Elmer was a farmer. He married Catherine, a much older woman, in 1908. Elmer was 26 and Catherine was 38 – at least according to 2 out of 3 census records. Catherine’s brother, Mildred’s uncle, lived with the family for many years.
According to her obituary, Mildred married Albert Foege and they had 3 children. She died in Canton where she has was born and raised and is buried in Riverside cemetery in Plymouth – probably not far from where this photo was taken. Find A Grave reports that husband Albert passed away 33 years before she did! I hope this photo is a welcome new addition to the family collection.
A reader with questions prompted me to do a little more digging on a photo I gave up on too fast. Here’s the result:
On the original post of Cora and Ethel, I had a grand time finding out to Cora was but remained stumped on Ethel. I was so thrilled to have found Cora with her two last names that I stopped early. But Ethel has now been identified, because she was sitting next door to Cora in 1900 all this time.
Ethel Thompson was born in Michigan in 1882. The middle child of Hiram & Libbie Thompson, although there may have been some older siblings that had left the home. In 1900 when Ethel was 17, her father was 62 and her mother 57.
Here’s the Find A Grave memorial.
Welcome Ethel!
Arthur E. Gordon, 1931 Plymouth High School
This handsome gent is likely Arthur Gordon, son of William and Anna Gordon. It’s not a terribly uncommon name, but identification is compounded by the fact that no Arthur Gordon lived in Plymouth directly. This one, or the one I suspect him to be, lived in Highland Park, Wayne county, Michigan. That’s about 30 miles from Plymouth. Too far for a high schooler to travel? Probably in 1930. By 1940, that family lived in Detroit, very close to Highland Park. There’s also the very little issue of the middle initial. In all the documentation of Arthur (son of William and Anna) he had the middle initial of F., not E. When it’s all you have to go on a middle initial gains some weight in the game!
Now to really confuse things: An Arthur “F” Gordon born January 23, 1914 died on new year’s day 1995. He lived in Wayne, Michigan. Then again, an Arthur “E” Gordon born on February 22, 1914 died on February 11, 1999 in Detroit. Hmmmm. Maybe a family member will know which Arthur Gordon is really in this picture.
Mildred Ash, 1931, Plymouth, Michigan
UPDATE: Family has updated us that Mildred passed away on November 2, 2013. She was 99 years old!
This is Mildred M. Ash, she’s about 17 in this photo of the Plymouth, Michigan High School class of 1931. Born on February 23, 1914, her parents were William Ash and Hulda Esch. William and Hulda had 4 children, Lucile (1912), Mildred (1914), Ethel (1920), and Edward (1923). It would appear that Lucile and Mildred never married or had children – or if they did the documentary evidence eludes me. Ethel and Edward did, however, have families. I’m hoping that there will be some nieces and nephews out there excited to receive this photo.
A little more background, William and Hulda lived in Wayne county, Michigan all their married lives. William was a farmer who lived until 1964 and Hulda didn’t die until 1983 – she was almost 100. The whole family (with the exception of Lucile whose burial location I haven’t identified) appear to be buried in Riverside Cemetery in Wayne County. The odd thing about Mildred’s grave is that it only has her birthday on it, February 23, 1914. There’s room for a death date but it’s blank. Could she still be alive? Her mother did live to be almost 100! Maybe she was the last of the siblings to pass away with no one to fulfill her burial wish of being buried with the family. I do wonder about these graves that seem to leave us hanging.
Margery VanAmburg, 1931, Plymouth High School
Such a sweet photo of 18 year old Margery VanAmberg. This was her senior year high school photo at Plymouth High in Plymouth, Wayne county, Michigan. During the 1930 census, the year before this photo, Margery lived in Plymouth with her family: Arthur Garfield VanAmberg (dad), Nellie Friend (mom), Marian (sister, age 12) and Keith (brother, age 10). Her father was a carpenter building houses, as his father had been before him.
The family had moved to Plymouth from Bay county, Michigan where they had lived in 1920, next door to Nellie’s parents (Margery’s maternal grandparents). There, Arthur had been a farmer. Margery’s paternal grandfather (Fred VanAmberg) lived with them.
After high school, Margery did what many women of the depression/pre-war era did. She went to work. According to the 1940 census, she was a bench worker at an auto plant. Her siblings (all of them still living at home) also worked. Marion was a stenographer and Keith a machinist in the auto industry.
Eventually Margery would marry Charles Morrison and at some point move to California. It appeared to be a family move. Mother, Nellie died in California in 1983, just 3 years shy of her 100th birthday! Margery had been preceded in death by her husband, and died in California in 2005. I’m confident there will be some descendants to give this photo a good home.
Unclaimed Ancestors 