Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Photo Number 447

This is another photo that was tucked into the back of the Nettie Parks Album.

Extra Niel Parks in California

Extra Niel Parks in Calif back

Niel Parks was Nettie and John Wesley’s son, he was born about 1905.  In his fathers obituary in 1957..it says that he lived in Maderia, California.

We last seen Niel in this photo…

Extra Gladys Niel MVP Lyle Glenn

He is the littlest one in the dress.  This was Photo Number 447.

Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)

11 comments:

  1. I wonder if Neil was the "blacksheep" of the family. It's pretty sad when your own sibling(?) can't spell your name correctly.

    I also re-checked the obituary and it says "Maderia, California" - but no such town exists in California. I think they meant "Madera" which is just northwest of Fesno.

    At any rate, he grew up to be a big frowning, strapping guy in farmer overalls - I wonder what the brick building was - it has a really elaborate rain gutter.

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  2. It was the background building in the first photograph which caught my attention too. I suspect it looks institutional rather than domestic.

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  3. Looked through the photographs at the Madera Library to try to identify the building. I couldn't see anything that matched. Here's the link in case anyone would like to do a deeper search.

    http://www.sjvls.org/cgi-bin/dig_b5/ma/1

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  4. It looks like a hospital, library or other type building, but at that time (around the 20s-30s) Fresno and Madera were really small towns. They are still considered to be small towns by California standards.

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  5. I defiantly agree with whowerethey and Alan Burnette. I suspected college or library. He changed quite a bit from baby photo to adult photo. WOW!

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  6. Well I spent about 20 minutes looking at the schools, libraries and other buildings at that link Maybelline provided, but I didn't look at them all. I suspect it is a school of some type though. There was an institution called the Awahnee Sanitorium but that appears to be a frame construction - that was my first place to look. I might continue looking today. If you go to the home page you can access photos for all the central valley and then sort by type of photo.

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  7. BTW Love the new header!

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  8. I am guessing Neil is about 20-25 years old in this picture - which put the date about 1925-1930 as whowerethey does.

    I found some pictures of the Fresno State Normal School, c. 1920. A two-story brick structure was subsequently home to the Fresno State Teacher’s College, Fresno State College, and finally Fresno City College.

    http://www.sjvls.org/photoheritage/fresno/frp0021a.jpg

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/8727067@N02/5349057270/in/photostream/

    and

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/8727067@N02/5349056978/in/photostream/

    I can't tell if its a match or not - but it is rather "suggestive" - note the brick is "common bond" (i.e., alternately / staggered) and the details around the doors - the transom windows and such.

    Maybe.

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  9. Did you notice the people shadows on the lawn? It's like he is glowering at two or three people standing in front of him. Guess he really didn't like his picture taken.

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  10. Iggy, I had looked at Fresno State Normal School too but I was looking for the gable or whatever on the top of the building. I'm not completely convinced but it is the closest match that can be found. Of course they could have made significant changes over the years with renovations.

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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