Photo Number 396

All you Forgotten Old Photo readers are simply the best!  I always appreciate your comments and your input on the old photos!  I feel very fortunate that some of you have emailed me your old photos to share with the readers..photos that would otherwise just be “forgottens” shoved in a box or even worse.. destroyed. 

Patty shared this poem with me:

Strangers in the Box by Pam Harazim

Come, look with me inside this drawer,

In this box I've often seen,

At the pictures, black and white,

Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,

These strangers in the box,

Their names and all their memories

Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like,

How did they spend their days?

What about their special times?

I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time

To tell who, what, where, or when,

These faces of my heritage

Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate

Of the pictures we take today?

The faces and the memories

Someday to be passed away?

Make time to save your stories,

Seize the opportunity when it knocks,

Or someday you and yours could be

The strangers in the box.

Patty also shared an interesting photo.

A tintype.    A tintype is an image formed directly on a sheet of metal.  The image is reversed left to right.

Tintypes were USUALLY considered “one of a kind” photos.  There was a process for making copies but it was rarely used.

Although in the small print it says that duplicate copies can be had from all negatives.

Mrs. SA Rich was in Zanesville Ohio from 1870 to 1876, then from 1883 to 1889 she was at 101 Main, then 1885 to 1886 she was someplace else in Zanesville.   From that information I would say that this photo was taken in 1870 to 1876 or 1885 or 1886.  There is some writing on the back of the CdV   (above the FROM ..same as small.. is kind of circled) and (under the S.A Rich is Conesville.)

This is the info that Patty sent along with the photos that she emailed to me.

I've attached one of the photos I was referring to.  As you can see, I have not only a print but also the tin "negative".  The writing on the back of the print is so faded that there isn't much that can be made out.  This photo and negative was in a box of old photos that I inherited from my grandmother in the early 1990s, before she passed away.  We identified all the photos that we could at that time, but she did not know who this person was.

Here is what I do know... I did have ancestors in my direct lineage with the surnames of Savage and Parks in the Zanesville/Coshocton/Conesville, OH area from 1850 until the early 1900s. 

I know that isn't much to go on.  Perhaps you can help me fill in some details based on what you know about old photographs.  Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

I think he is a young lad, fifteen or sixteen years old..born in either 1855 to 1861 or 1870 or 1871.  I wonder what the census says for the surnames Savage and Parks in Muskingum County Ohio in 1860 ..1870..or 1880?

Thanks Patty for sharing your mystery relative!

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Full Circle 16

This photo of Clara Frech found it’s way home rather quickly one day.  From the census info I tracked down, Iggy found a family tree, he left me the link I followed it and left an email message and in return Mike left me a message on this blog. Clara is the daughter of Mikes Great Great Grandfather.  I believe that would make Clara his Great Aunt.  I sent the photo off to Mike in Ohio.

Photo Number 374

Mike wrote:

Thank you so much. It is such a great photo. That is the Clara Frech that was born to Albert and Mary Frech. She was born Dec 1879 and lived in Columbus Ohio. Her father was a bartender who immigrated from Bavaria.   Thank you again so much for such a treasure !!

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Full Circle 15

Some time ago I featured an entire family of photos..some were connected..some were question marks.  I called it “The Mystery of Aunt Fan.”   Thanks to Iggy, I was able to follow up a lead he gave me and I made contact with a family member by the name of Ruth.  The photos were mailed to her quite some time ago..I finally had to call her to find out if she received them. Yes, she had..she knew of the Ben Franklin connection to this family and recalled thinking that Hanna Hannant was the funny name of her Great Grandmother whose maiden name was Hanna Clarissa Franklin.
In most instances I do not charge anything for the photos..in this case there were eleven photos..so I asked to be reimbursed for my cost which was 2 dollars each.  She sent a check this last week and I will cash it and purchase more photos.

Photo Number 337             Photo Number 338        Photo Number 339

 
Photo Number 340             Photo Number 341         Photo Number 342



Photo Number 343              Photo Number 344         Photo Number 345


Photo Number 346              Photo Number 347
The photos were sent to Ruth who lives in Texas.  Her Grandmother Edna Mae was Fan and Ida’s sister, so that makes Ruth a Great Niece of Aunt Fan’s.   The Bennets, Eddy Ryther and Fred Hickle’s  connection to Aunt Fan still remains a mystery so does the identity of the person who marked them with the same fountain pen. I wish we could have learned more from family members. 

Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)
 
Update: February 15, 2011
A CD copy of these photos was mailed to Jaimie the Great Great Granddaughter of John and Ida Barnes. See Full Circle Number 22.  


Update: July 05, 2012
A CD copy of these photos was mailed to Suzie a Great Grandaughter of John and Ida Barnes.  See Full Circle 55

Full Circle 14

Photo Number 383 now has a name “Nellie”

This is a photo that blog reader Joan from North Carolina found behind another photo in a second hand shop. Iggy was instrumental in finding a connection.  I forwarded the information onto Joan..and the photo was returned to family! 
Joan shared this with me:
I wanted to let you know that Mike Schofield emailed me this morning and said he and his family believe the photo is of Nellie Vetter, who married Leopold Vilsack in 1895.  The Schofield family is descended through Pauline..who was one of Nellies daughters.    Happy ending! ( Mike is a Great Grandson of Nellie)
This is the research info:

Joseph G Vilsack's brother, Leopold W Vilsack was born in Pittsburgh February 6 1872. Mr Vilsack is a jeweler by trade and was in the jewelry business in Fifth Avenue, New York for 18 years starting in 1893. His early education was obtained at St Augustine's parochial school of Pittsburgh and in Holy Cross College. He then served an apprenticeship at his trade after which he went into business. He married Nellie M Vetter, daughter of John Vetter and wife on October 6, 1895. Their children are Leo (b. Jul 1896), Virginia (b. Feb 1898), Pauline, Mercedes (1903-2000) and Robert.
William J. Schofield Jr. (b. Feb 1898) and Pauline Vilsack married. Mercedes does not appear to have married.


Yes,  indeed another photo found it’s way home!  Thanks to Pam for sharing this old photo and to Iggy for his sleuthing skills!


Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)

September 12, 2012 Update From Patricia:
Thank you for posting the photo of Nellie Vetter Vilsack, my great grandmother. Daughter Virginia was my grandmother; Nellie had a fourth daughter, Genevieve. A small correction: Leopold Vilsack was a jeweler on Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh, not New York.

Photo Number 395

I received two photos from Gillian, they are foreign photos.

Gillian wrote:

This is my maternal grand mother Jane Ghee (nee Arnot) (standing) and my maternal great grand mother Jane Arnott.
Jane is our family name for girls and it has been handed down to my sister and now her daughter.
I just LOVE this photo.  I love how they are dressed and how they took pictures so seriously!

The second photo is a picture of a group of Sunday School children at Kilmarnock Baptist Church in Scotland, United Kingdom.  One of them is my Aunt Jane Ghee but I'm not sure which one.

Large group photo are hardly ever marked.. so they become part of the “Forgottens.”  The thing that I noticed about this group photo was the little girl on the end with the open or perhaps ill fitting coat..everyone else looks prim and proper and many have hats. They must be dressed in their “Sunday Best.” 

I enjoyed both of these photos..I enjoyed seeing the fur trims on the coats..back in their day they were very elegant. I will guess that the fur coats are from the 1920’s..a time when one button coats with large fur trims were very popular. 

I am not a fur expert but the smaller fur appears to be Mink and the larger fur looks like Fox to me.  Input is always appreciated!

Thanks Gillian for sharing your old photos!

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Photo Number 394

This is a lovely photo of Nan.  This photo is from Sophie, her Great Grandmother Nan was born On November 10, 1910. If she had lived she would have been 100 years old last month.

This photo was taken when she was about 18 years old in 1928.  It is an English photo. Apparently she is wearing silk stockings..her legs are very shiny. Quite a change from the dark stockings…you can actually see her legs!   I did not realize that hemlines were above the knee in the late 1920’s, note the dropped waist of the dress and the sleeves ending with the handkerchief like trim. Her hairstyle is sleek and short.

I am not sure what kind of flowers are in the vase..Daffodils perhaps.

Sophie wanted to share this photo with me because she found it very nostalgic…she found it recently when she was going through some of her Great Grandmothers things.

I thought it would be a good photo to share, because it could be dated, and because it was a foreign photo of a beautiful young lady.  Thanks Sophie for sharing!

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Photo Number 393

This is an old snapshot..

Cash and Ida Swint with Negir the cat.

The dog apparently was not important enough to mention. I am not quite sure on the date of this photo..1930’s? Interesting name..Cash..how many people do you suppose had that first name?

Thank you Pam for sharing all your photos with us!

Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)

Update from Abra:

The 1910 census lists  Ida Swint, a servant for Cassius & Ella Phelps in Williamstown, Berkshire, Massachusetts. Is it a coincidence, or, since the photo was found in this same area, is it plausible that this is the same Ida Swint as in the photo?

A theory I have is that Ida is pictured with either Cassius Jr or Cassius Sr. Is it possible the owner of the photo labeled it in such a manner as thinking those viewing it would automatically know who Cash was but needed to identify Ida? If this is the case, it would have been more clear if it was written 'Cash with Ida Swint and Niger the cat.' Does that make sense?

Ida Swint no longer lived with the Phelps' in 1920, so if this is the correct Ida, then I would guess the photo was taken between 1910 & 1920. I couldn't find Ida in either the 1900 or 1920 census, so she is a bit of a mystery woman.

I was also theorizing that perhaps the cat is a gift from Cassius/Cash Phelps to the servant Ida, thus the importance of naming it in the photo. Note that Cash is dressed rather formally, while Ida is wearing an apron, which could be another indication of her servant status.