Sunday, February 7, 2010

Photo Number 103

This is South Dakota/Illinois photo.  One of those photo that looks all silvery when you scan it.  Norkio suggested that I try to photograph the photo...
It gives you much better detail!  Thamks Norkio!
On the back of this photo this is written: Mrs. Walls Ambrose Mary and Hugh Hermes.
 I know these are totally different Hermes names from the other day.  The name of the Photography studio is very hard to read..Lexingford?? at Tampico, ILL..  Now look at the lady again the Mrs. Walls ( or Wall) ...is she the same lady in this photo? I poked around some..I am wondering if Wall is not Wahl?  I have to do some more sleuthing.
This was also amongst the South Dakota photos..but it was not marked. It is photo number Eighty-one.
I wonder ...was Mrs. Wall or Walls somehow in charge of these children, or was she the Grandma?
What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)
Update*** 
From Abra: I first found this family in the 1920 census. They are living in Harmon, Lee County, Illinois. The parents of these children are Edward & Agnes Hermes (age 48 & 41 in 1920). These are the three oldest children. In 1920 they are 16 (Amorose-sic), 12(Mary), and 10(Hugh). The additional children in 1920 are Agnes (8), Joseph (5), Frances (3 &10/12), Rita (1 & 7/12), and Anastaia(sic) 2 months. 
By 1930, they are still living in the same place, though Ambrose and Mary have moved on, and they had an additional child, Helen, who is 7 in 1930. I found it interesting that some of the neighbors last names were Elrika & William Porps (possible relation to Dorothy Porps from another photo, if I remember correctly?) and McKeel (alternative spelling I found in one census for Mekeel), so I am thinking the neighbors are possible relation to Anson Mekeel from yesterday. These people seem to all be intertwined in one way or another. (There were no Walls/Wahls as neighbors in 1920 or 1930).

A little more searching finds a single Edward (Ed) living with his younger brother John(26) and sister-in-law Belle and children Eddie & Mabel, as well as a servant, Frank Eagen, in Hahanaman & Montmorency Townships, Whiteside, Illinois in 1900. Edward was 27. They are neighbors to the Neitzkes (I believe Louise and Francis were subjects we researched earlier), but no Walls.

he search continued, and after changing out the information a few ways, finally: BINGO!! Edd Hermes, age 37, and Agnes Hermes, age 26 (note the age differences are not the same as what I found in the 1920 census) are living in Hahnamon Township, Whiteside, Illinois. Children’s spellings are varied—the reason it is sometimes difficult to find people. They are Ambers (instead of Ambrose)-age 6, Mary-age 2, and Huck (instead of Hugh)-age 6 months. The biggest BINGO: The mother-in-law is living there, and it is, as Connie so aptly figured it out, Mrs. Walls. Mary Walls is a 64 year old widow, and a 25 year old daughter, also named Mary Walls, is living with them, as well as a hired man. Something I found interesting: the neighbors name is Wahl—but are apparently not related, as their heritage is German, while the Walls are of Irish heritage.

A little further research finds Mary Walls, widowed, age 50, in 1900, living in Tampico, Whiteside , Illinois. Her daughters, Agness (sic), 21, and May (sic), 19, are living with her, as well as a niece, Anna Murphy, age 16. The census shows that she is the mother to 4 children, of which 2 are living. Again, the ages are off compared to 1910 census, but Agnes’ age in 1900, matches up with what I found in 1920 & 1930. More searching reveals finds Mary Walls(28), married to Patrick Walls(34), living in Hahnaman. They have two children at this point, Ambrose age 4 and Agness, age 2, as well as a servant, Daniel Callehan (there are close neighbors with the Callehan surname, as well). Patrick is listed as a farmer. I find Patrick, age 23, living in Browning, Schuyler County, Illinois, occupation of R.R. hand (there were a lot of RR hands living in this particular neighborhood). The only thing I can’t explain with all of this is what the ‘uniforms & pins’ are for on the clothing in Mr. & Mrs. Walls previous photo.

16 comments:

  1. Another good mystery! These are beautiful children. Hope you are having a good day Connie.

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  2. My computer is too old to work with our scanner so I either have to disrupt my wife or I just take a photo of it. Sometime the scanner reflection is so great that the camera is your best bet. It is an interesting mystery.

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  3. Connie, you are always so intuitive about how these pictures are related, and you are usually pretty accurate. Okay--here is the book on this family--it is quite lengthy, so might take a couple comments, but connects this family, as neighbors, to several of your other photograph subjects:

    I first found this family in the 1920 census. They are living in Harmon, Lee County, Illinois. The parents of these children are Edward & Agnes Hermes (age 48 & 41 in 1920). These are the three oldest children. In 1920 they are 16 (Amorose-sic), 12(Mary), and 10(Hugh). The additional children in 1920 are Agnes (8), Joseph (5), Frances (3 &10/12), Rita (1 & 7/12), and Anastaia(sic) 2 months.
    By 1930, they are still living in the same place, though Ambrose and Mary have moved on, and they had an additional child, Helen, who is 7 in 1930. I found it interesting that some of the neighbors last names were Elrika & William Porps (possible relation to Dorothy Porps from another photo, if I remember correctly?) and McKeel (alternative spelling I found in one census for Mekeel), so I am thinking the neighbors are possible relation to Anson Mekeel from yesterday. These people seem to all be intertwined in one way or another. (There were no Walls/Wahls as neighbors in 1920 or 1930).

    A little more searching finds a single Edward (Ed) living with his younger brother John(26) and sister-in-law Belle and children Eddie & Mabel, as well as a servant, Frank Eagen, in Hahanaman & Montmorency Townships, Whiteside, Illinois in 1900. Edward was 27. They are neighbors to the Neitzkes (I believe Louise and Francis were subjects we researched earlier), but no Walls.

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  4. The search continued, and after changing out the information a few ways, finally: BINGO!! Edd Hermes, age 37, and Agnes Hermes, age 26 (note the age differences are not the same as what I found in the 1920 census) are living in Hahnamon Township, Whiteside, Illinois. Children’s spellings are varied—the reason it is sometimes difficult to find people. They are Ambers (instead of Ambrose)-age 6, Mary-age 2, and Huck (instead of Hugh)-age 6 months. The biggest BINGO: The mother-in-law is living there, and it is, as Connie so aptly figured it out, Mrs. Walls. Mary Walls is a 64 year old widow, and a 25 year old daughter, also named Mary Walls, is living with them, as well as a hired man. Something I found interesting: the neighbors name is Wahl—but are apparently not related, as their heritage is German, while the Walls are of Irish heritage.

    A little further research finds Mary Walls, widowed, age 50, in 1900, living in Tampico, Whiteside , Illinois. Her daughters, Agness (sic), 21, and May (sic), 19, are living with her, as well as a niece, Anna Murphy, age 16. The census shows that she is the mother to 4 children, of which 2 are living. Again, the ages are off compared to 1910 census, but Agnes’ age in 1900, matches up with what I found in 1920 & 1930. More searching reveals finds Mary Walls(28), married to Patrick Walls(34), living in Hahnaman. They have two children at this point, Ambrose age 4 and Agness, age 2, as well as a servant, Daniel Callehan (there are close neighbors with the Callehan surname, as well). Patrick is listed as a farmer. I find Patrick, age 23, living in Browning, Schuyler County, Illinois, occupation of R.R. hand (there were a lot of RR hands living in this particular neighborhood). The only thing I can’t explain with all of this is what the ‘uniforms & pins’ are for on the clothing in Mr. & Mrs. Walls previous photo.

    *Research Note: I am not sure why ages are often different, but it is pretty common—perhaps the person making the oral report to the enumerator is estimating, or the enumerator didn’t hear it right or record it right. The reasons for poor spelling are varied—but most often because enumerator is phonetically spelling what they think they hear from thickly accented oral discussions with household members, or what I have found often, is that when I search ancestry.com or other sites, their transcribers mistake some of the cursive or poor writing of a census taker for the wrong letters—when using the search engines, it is picked up the way in which the transcriber determined. I quite often see cursive r & n, as well as k and h, mixed up, among others, when I look at original images.

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  5. OOPS!! I should have noted that when I found Patrick, Mary, Ambrose, and Agness Walls, it was in the 1880 census, and when I found Patrick Walls single, it was the 1870 census.

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  6. Abra, Way to go! Lots of information! Thank you!:) Connie

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  7. Wow, Abra that is amazing detective work! It is very exciting to catch a thread and follow it with these families. I wonder if the Hermes from this family is distantly related to Edith Hermes, for instance her sister married a Hermes. So exciting!!

    I'm glad the photo did well, you can definitely get a lot more detail!

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  8. Oh and the Hermes lived in Whiteside too. They could have been neighbors, gone to the same church, etc. Exciting to piece together the past this way.

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  9. So, this is my family...I randomly googled my grandpa's name Hugh Hermes and found your site! My mom is Jeanne Warner, Hugh's daughter. The only living children are Helen and Stasia. How crazy.

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  10. That's my grandpa! Hugh Hermes.

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  11. Julie Warner, So glad you did a google search!! I would be more than happy to mail you this photo..can you tell us a story about your Grandpa? My email address can be found in the About Me section on the left of this page! I love sending these photos to their homes!! :)

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  12. Very exciting to have a family member find this!! Yeah!! ~Abra

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  13. Hugh Hermes was my father and as he in his family, I was the third child of his marriage to Elizabeth O'Neil (Deer Grove, IL). There were 7 children in our family. I loved seeeing this photo of my dad, grandma and his older siblings. Thanks,
    Rosemary Hermes Mason

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  14. Hi Rosemary, So glad you stopped by, can you tell me if the older lady ( your Grandma) in the first photo is the same older lady in the second photo? Thanks for leaving a comment, I do appreciate it.

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Hi, Thanks for the comments, your input on these old photos is appreciated! English only please! All comments will be moderated! Connie