I found these three images in a pile of random lost photos in Estonia. At home I made the connection that they had all belonged to the same family. Why they ended up in an antique store in Tallinn, I don’t know. But I am happy that I could save them together. I’ve praised the Estonian archives many times on this blog. Digital (free!) access allows me to do so much research online. So let’s see what the paper trail has left behind on these three photos. The first one could be a kitsch French postcard from the Edwardian era. But this adoring couple was real – they were Mathilda and Aleksander Vehik. That look of love! Aleksander Vehik (or also Vehhik and Wehik in the records) was born on May 27, 1886 in Pandivere, Estonia, to parents Toomas and Anette Vehik. In 1912, he married Mathilde Louise Lepp, born on October 12, 1890 in Rakvere, Estonia. Her parents were Kustu and Anna Lepp. After a personal tragedy of their daughter stillborn in 1913, the global tragedy began a year later. WWI sent the couple to Imperial Russia where Aleksander was drafted into the Imperial Army. Estonia was part of the Russian Empire at the time. It was only the Estonian Independence War of 1918-1920, following WWI, that finally gave birth to the Republic of Estonia. Ethnic Estonians all over the crumbling Russian Empire were invited to come home and apply for the citizenship of the young Republic. Aleksander and Mathilde decided to make use of that invitation. In 1920, they applied for Estonian citizenship as “optants”. His new identification document also included a photograph of Aleksander: Saaga Upon their return to Porkun county in Estonia, Aleksander continued to practice his profession of locksmith. On April 19, 1922, the couple finally welcomed their second child – Uno Vehik. The photo of Uno below was taken in 1928. But the idyllic family life was cut short when father Aleksander drowned in Narva-Jóesuu on August 1, 1923. Through the grief, the widowed Mathilde focused her remaining strength on raising her son Uno on her own. It took Mathilde 10 years before she took another chance on love and re-married. And her new husband was Gustav Urbas, Aleksander’s long-time friend. Gustav was the person who vouched for the reputability of Aleksander Vehik when he applied for Estonian citizenship in 1920! Back in 1920, he said on record that he had known Aleksander and the Vehik family for more than 20 years, as the two attended school together, and had always considered them honourable people. And this is how we arrive at our third photo – of Gustav Urbas! Gustav Urbas had been born on April 30, 1888, in Virumaa, Estonia. He married Pauline Elisabeth Seiboth in 1914 and their son Aksel was born a year later. Gustav and Pauline divorced in 1924 and Aksel lived with his father. And in 1933 Mathilde and Uno joined the patchwork family. When the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940, they occupants were determined to get rid of anyone who challenged the new regime or had been profiting from the old one. So politicians, academics, veterans, clergy, land owners and businessmen were the first to be deported to Siberia on cattle trains. 1941 is one of the most horrific years in the collective memory of Estonians. In June 1941, a wave of arrests and executions took place, mostly at night, and thousands of families were deported to Siberia or murdered on the spot. Mathilde, Gustav and his son Aksel were arrested too. But luckily, they were not deported. Four years later, as the Soviet authorities arrested Aksel again, and this time they charged him with crimes of “treason” (the Soviet regime’s favourite Criminal Code article…) and sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. Mathilde was widowed again in 1950 when Gustav passed away. Mathilde herself died 25 years later in 1975. If she ever saw her son Uno again, I don’t know. Uno Vehik had escaped the arrests of 1941 and had managed to get out of the country into an American refugee camp in Germany. He fell in love with a fellow refugee from Ukraine and the couple got married in the camp in 1946. With their countries no longer existing (noone wanted to return to the Soviet occupied Estonia or Ukraine after 1945…), there was no way back. They could apply for a passage to Venezuela, the only country still accepting displaced persons at the time. In the 1960s, Uno moved his family to the United States. Uno died in New York in 2004. I’ve added these photos to Geni.com. I’m currently trying to reach out to Uno’s daughter Milvi Vehik but so far have had no success. Keep your fingers crossed that these photos will go home too!

This photo came to me from German ebay as part of a random lot of photos. I was immediately mesmerized by the beauty and tenderness of the sitter. And then I discovered the poem written on the reverse. With a little help from a Facebook group, I could make out the poem and the name of the author: Elly Kuphal, “a poet from Hamburg”. I had never heard that name or come across any of her poems. A google search didn’t reveal anything on the poem or the poet either. Perhaps she was not known to the public for her craft, but her friends and family knew and appreciated her poems. Elly Marie Josepha Brzóska was born today a 148 years ago, on February 5, 1874, in Hamburg, to parents Josef Brzóska and Mathilde Auguste Louise née Kuphal. Elly’s father was a plumber and a mechanic by profession. Elly had (at least) 6 younger brothers: Franz Joseph (born in 1876), Friedrich Wilhelm (born in 1877), Alexander Gottfried (born in 1878), Heinrich Ludwig (born in 1879), Emil Max August (born and died in 1881) and Siegfried (born in 1883). When Elly was 24 years old, she married postal inspector Max Friedrich Julius Kuphal on November 7, 1896. And perhaps you noticed too that the surname of Elly’s husband and the maiden name of Elly’s mother were identical: Kuphal. Max Friedrich Kuphal had been born on January 4, 1871, to parents Carl Kuphal and Bertha née Gildemeister. Elly and Max Kuphal had four children: 1. Friedrich Carl Alexander Johannes Kuphal, born on August 3, 1897. He married Else Bertha Erika née Hagewald on June 6, 1925 in Hamburg. 2. Elfriede Auguste Bertha Alma Kuphal, born on August 21, 1898. Unfortunately, little Elfriede died at just 2 months old. 3. Elisabeth Bertha Carola Kuphal, born on September 24, 1899. She married a postal worker Johannes Adolf Carl Walter Freund on June 18, 1927, in Hamburg. Her father and father-in-law were both postal inspectors too, so perhaps this is how Elfriede was introduced to her future husband Johannes. I don’t know if the couple had any children. 4. Anna Kuphal, born on September 11, 1907. Anna married engineer Valentin Hartmann on November 28, 1931, in Hamburg. Their son Alexander Peter Albert Hartmann was born April 14, 1932. Elly’s family was hit by one tragedy after another… In 1898 Elly lost her daughter Elfriede of just 2 months old. Elly’s son Friedrich Carl was admitted to a mental institution due to schizophrenia sometime after 1925. He died there in April 1943 as a result of tuberculosis. I cannot even begin to imagine what mother Elly was going through, knowing today what the NS-regime did with the mentally challenged and psychiatrically ill… I don’t know exactly when Elly’s husband Max Kuphal died, but by 1943 she was widowed. In 1940, Elly’s daughter Elisabeth’s husband Johannes Freund passed away in 1940 from kidney tuberculosis. And as if that was not enough sorrow for one family to carry, this family story has an absolute tragic ending… Mother Elly, her widowed daughter Elisabeth Bertha Freund, her other daughter Anna Hartmann and her 11-year-old son Alexander, all died during the air raids on Hamburg in the night of July 28, 1943. The series of RAF anf USAAF air raids on Hamburg is known in history as the “operation Gommorah”, a symbolic name for the firestorms in the last week of July 1943 which destroyed most of Hamburg buildings and killed around 40,000 persons while wounding more than 180,000. It was mostly women and children who suffocated in the shelters under the ruins of their once homes. The bombs dropped from the skies hit directly on the house of Elly’s family in O’Swaldstr. 36. Every single one of them dead in an instant… I truly hope that through all the sorrow and hard times, poetry could be Elly’s comfort and companion. I will leave you here with the lines from her poem (see in English below). May she forever rest in peace. “Verbiet dem Veilchen seine Düfte dem Vögelein daß froh es singe dem Sonnenschein daß wenn es dringe zu uns durch Aether und durch Lüfte Umsonst da läßt sich nichts bezwingen wo göttlich wirkt des Menschen Wille Gebiets du auch dem Sänger Stille in seiner Seel wirds dennoch klingen” —————————————————————- (my attempt to translate the original into English so that you get an idea) “Forbid a violet its fragrance, or a little bird its happy song, forbid sunshine to reach us through ether and air You won’t succeed to suppress it, even with the human will so divine order a singer to be silent, but in his soul it still will ring.”

I published a blogpost about William Hayden Kuehn some time ago. Today I write about her fun auntie Cora Sheddy née Kuehn. And later I will explore who the other person, Ben Craig, might have been. But let’s start with Cora. Cora Kuehn and Hayden’s father Charles Kuehn were siblings. Cora Ann Kuehn was born on September 19, 1878, in Philadelphia. In 1880, the head of the family, Charles Kuehn, Sr., was a carpet weaver. He had come to the United States with his parents and siblings in 1854. Cora’s mother Anna née Bode had emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1867 on her own as a 21-year-old servant. In 1900, the siblings were living together with their parents and younger brother William at 2336 East Sergeant Street in Pennsylvania. On June 9, 1903, Cora married Francis “Frank” Marion Sheddy. Frank was from Cora’s own neighbourhood, his family lived just a couple of blocks away from Cora’s. By 1910, Cora had given birth to their son Gordon, and Frank had taken up the profession of a machinist in an iron foundry. For the next 20+ years, Cora and Frank lived in Philadelphia (Ward 31). There is a photo of them added to FindaGrave.com: FindaGrave.com There are two more photos of Cora on Findagrave: By 1940, Cora and Frank had moved in with their son Gordon in Collingswood in Camden, New Jersey. Those photos of Gordon are accessible on FindAGrave: www.findagrave.com Cora died in March 1960 and was buried at the North Cedar Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. I wish her obituary shed any more light on her fun character: Link: newspapers.com Now to the other identified person in this photo – Ben Craig. Of course, this is a very common name, but I gave it a try anyways. I concentrated on Ben or Benjamin Craigs from Philadelphia. It is hard to say how old the man was in this photo, as he was wearing shades, but he could have been about the same age as Cora and the others. The photo must have been taken after WWI, late 1910s/early 1920s. The fake wedding gown and veil and cap speak for the wedding fashion of the 1920s. I say “fake”, because as we know from Cora’s story, Cora and Ben did not really get married. I came across one Benjamin Craig, who had been born on July 4, 1876, in Prestwich, Lancashire in England and emigrated to the United States in 1888. This Ben, together with his parents Samuel and Margaret Craig and 6 siblings were living in 2806 Jasper Street in Philadelphia (Ward 25), which lies just a mile away from Cora’s parents’ house in 2336 E Sergeant Str. And in 1900, Ben was a carpet weaver, like Cora’s father Charles had been! Perhaps this is how the two families befriended each other. In 1910, they also lived just a mile from each other: the Sheddys in East Sergeant Str and the Craigs in 2767 Helen St. And in 1920, they lived about 2 miles from each other: the Sheddys in 2301 Memphis Street, and the Craigs in 3468 Hartville Street. Ben married Isabelle Howell in 1903, in the same year that Cora had married her Frank. The couple had to endure some very tough times together. Ben and Isabelle had 4 children, but only one survived into adulthood: Benjamin Charles Craig (1907-1995). Their other children, Samuel (1904-1904), Isabell Getrude (1905-1906) and Margaret (1908-1909) all died before or just after their 1st birthday… Just heart-breaking! Ben worked in the textile industry all his life. He started out as a carper weaver and later his position was titled twister in a textile mill. Ben passed away too soon, at just 57 years of age, on July 26, 1933. I wish I knew who the other persons in the photo were. The man with the glasses smoking a pipe was Cora’s husband Frank Sheddy. There are some fun photos of him on FindaGrave to compare with: Perhaps one of the ladies was Ben’s wife Isabelle. I hope not the one not looking very amused on the very left .

You know by now that I can’t resist an identified orphan photo. So when I saw five on sale by @old_magazines_and_books, all identified with the surname “McClure”, I jumped right in to buy them. Upon receipt in mail, I did my usual quick search on the available genealogy platforms. I wondered how the sitters might have been related. And I came across quite the family story. Those photos did indeed belong together and were all of one family! The little boy’s name reads Harold McClure from Lewisburg, PA. While researching persons to match our Harold McClure, I came across this photo of him as an adult on Findagrave.com (originally published in the 1915 yearbook of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA). And I thought to myself, wait a minute, I recognise this face. I had seen this face, younger minus moustache, before. So, I went back to the seller and checked their archives for more photos that could relate to this family. And found this! Luckily no one had claimed it and I could purchase it as well. There is so much information available on this man and his family, I’ll try to put it in a nutshell for you. Harold Murray McClure, known as Hal or Mac, was born on August 8th, 1859, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to parents James Crouch McClure and Glorvina née Elder. Hal had a younger sister Marie Flanagan McClure, born in 1861, but about her later in more detail. In 1871, Hal entered Bucknell University in Lewisburg and graduated in 1877 with a degree of A.B. In 1880, he did his Master’s degree. Hal was athletic and loved sports, and apparently he was a very talented ball player. While at the University, he caught the attention of managers of professional teams who were all eager to pay him to play for their teams. Hal figured why not, if that salary could help him finance his law studies. Quoting from “Commemorative Biographical Record of Central PA, including counties of Clinton, Union and Snyder”, published in Chicago by J.H. Beers and Co., in 1898, (pages 792-793), as found on the page dedicated to Hal on Ancestry.com: He entered the professional ranks with John M. Ward, playing with the Athletics of Philadelphia, the Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, and Boston clubs. He was at the time regarded as one of the best catchers and most accurate throwers in the country, always remaining cool and deliberate in the most exciting games. You can check his baseball statistics here. Hal played a couple of games with the 1882 Boston Red Stockings but was more famous for his minor league career. He was 183 cm tall and weighed 74 kg at the time of his professional career. And after I had read this, I looked at the photo of Hal as a boy again and realised that he seemed to be wearing a baseball outfit and holding a helmet of sorts? Perhaps the love and talent for ball sports was already present in this little boy! Quoting from “Commemorative Biographical Record of Central PA, including counties of Clinton, Union and Snyder” (see link above): After traveling over a large part of the United States, including the Pacific coast, he left the field and commenced his preliminary course of reading at Sunbury, Penn., and in June 1881, was admitted to the Bar. He at once began the practice of law at Sunbury, three years being spent with his preceptor, before he opened an office of his own. His abilities commanded recognition from the first, and in 1891, as has been said, he was elected President Judge of the Seventeenth District. Hal married Anna Margaret née Focht in 1890. Anna Margaret had been born in June 1858 in Perry County, PA. Hal and Anna Margaret had 2 children: –I could identify the baby in the photo as Hal’s son James Focht McClure (1892-1976), here just 3 months old. James became a lawyer too. He married Florence née Fowler in 1924. They had two sons Richard Fowler McClure (1927-2010) and James Focht Jr. (1931-2010). James Jr., like his grandfather Hal, was a federal judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. –Hal’s daughter Margaret McClure (1894-1983) married Howard Voelkler Fisher in November 1920 in Selinsgrove, PA. The couple might have had 4 children. Hal served as a judge from 1891-1911. Upon his election, he was one of the youngest judges in the State. The Commemorative biographical record (link above) from 1898 goes on to describe that “his acute and well-disciplined mind places him among the best of our able judiciary, and his decisions are marked by sound logic and a thorough knowledge of precedents (..) The admiration gained by his mental ability is augmented by his high character as a man of pure life and correct ideals, and his popularity is not limited to any class.” Apparently, Hal was not the first judge in his family. Following the American Revolution, his great-uncle Jonathan McClure had become one of the first judges in Dauphin, PA, when the county was organised in 1785 (read about it here). Hal retired from law in 1911 and spent his retirement investing in utilities. But Hal’s life came to a sudden end at just 59 years of age, way too early for his time. He passed away on March 1st, 1919 of angina pectoris which translates to breast pain due to an insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle. Hal’s wife Anna Margaret passed away more than 20 years later, in February 1941, at the age of 82. The were both buried at the family gravesite at the Lewisburg Cemetery, PA. Since the photo lot also includes the photo of Hal’s mom, Mrs. James C. McClure, I write a few lines about Hal’s parents James and Glorvina McClure. They got married in 1857 in Philadelphia. James had been born in March 1830. James was in mercantile business. In 1877, James and Glorvina moved to Norththumberland where James started working in lumber business. They moved again in 1885, this time to Scranton, PA, where James operated anthracite-coal. James McClure passed away in September 1903 from a gangrene. The obituary was published in Lewisburg Journal on September 11th, 1903. Hal’s mother Glorvina McClure née Elder had been born in January 1834 to parents Joshua D. Elder and Eliza née Murray, former residents of Harrisburg, PA. Quoting again the Commemorative biographical record, she was described as “a brilliant, gifted and charming woman, with rare musical talent, of broad culture and great intellectual attainments.” Glorvina McClure passed away on May 22nd, 1898, at just 64 years from a stroke. We also have a photo of one Maria McClure. At first I thought she was Hal’s sister Maria Flanagan Baldwin née McClure, born on September 11th, 1861. But the fashion suggests that this photo was taken in the 1860s or early 1870s, so she couldn’t have been Hal’s sister. I suppose she was Hal’s paternal aunt, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on her. If you want to know more about the McClure, Flanagan and Elder families, there are quite a few sources out there. A long story about the McClures was published in the Mifflinburg Telegraph on November 6th, 2003: The first McClure ancestor in Hal and Maria’s family, who settled in the United States, was Richard McClure, born in 1718 in Raphoe, Ireland. Upon arrival in the New World, he settled down in Dauphin, Pennsylvania, where he also died in 1774, having fathered about 17 children with his wife Jean née Sage. One of them was Hal and Maria’s great-grandfather Roan (Rowan) McClure. Read more about the McClures here “Commemorative Biographical Record of Central PA, including counties of Clinton, Union and Snyder” (link mentioned above): The McClure Family became identified with the Virginia colony at a very early period, but the Judge’s great-grandfather, Roan McClure, left the Old Dominion in 1790, and settled in what is now Union County, Penn., on Buffalo creek, two miles from Lewisburg, where his remaining years were spent in farming. His son, James, the Judge’s grandfather, married a widow, Mrs. Maria Flanagan Lyndall, who already had four children-Stephen, Henry, Joseph and Sarah. James and Maria McClure reared a family of six children: (1) Roan, (2) Richard and (3) Edward, all of whom went to California in the early days. Roan returned and is now living near Ames, Iowa. Richard and Edward died there. (4) James C. is our subject’s father. (5) Elizabeth, now deceased intermarried with Ogden Vorse of Lewisburg; and (6) Maria, who married Horace Nichols, resides near Ames Iowa. Hal and Maria’s grandmother Maria née Flanagan’s ancestors also sailed from Ireland. Their great-grandfather Stephen Flanagan (1757-1832) served as a fifer and seaman on the armed boat Congress under Captain Isaac Roach. He was born in Ireland, died in Philadelphia, PA (information found here). Hal and Maria’s maternal ancestors, the Elders, had been born in Scotland in the 1670s and had settled to America in about 1730 through Ireland (information found here). What fun this has been to research this family! Well, I didn’t really have to research them, I just collected all the wonderful information about them into this blogpost. I hope the photos and the stories will bring you as much joy.

William Hayden Kuehn was born on November 26, 1904, in Philadelphia, Pa. His father Charles Henry Kuehn was a son of German immigrants, and his mother Catherine Hayden’s parents came from Ireland. Father Charles was in the printing and publishing business. In 1910 and 1920, the Kuehns were living in the So 54th St. in Philadelphia. On January 1, 1911, Hayden’s baby sister Dorothy was born. I love it when I find a photo to compare to on the internet. Like this yearbook photo from 1927 from the University of Pennsylvania. Unmistaken this is our William Hayden! 1927 Yearbook of University of Pennsylvania Yearbooks are a great source of genealogical information! We learn that Hayden graduated from West Philadelphia High School. During his studies at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he participated in the University’s literary and debate club (the Zelosophic Society), was a member of the Catholic Newman Club, and of the Musical Club, he played the violin in the University’s orchestra (a photo of him and the orchestra in the 1926 yearbook), and he did some journalistic work for the University’s publications Punch Bowl (University of Pennsylvania’s oldest and funniest satirical publication) and Spoon. After graduation by 1930 Hayden was a solicitor in bonds by profession. He was living with his parents and sister at 1414 54th Street in Philadelphia, in the maroon (nowadays shabby-looking) house in the middle. Source: GoogleMaps In May 1931, tragedy struck Hayden’s family – his baby sister Dorothy died at just 20 years of age. By 1940, Hayden had started working for Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, a credit reporting company founded in 1841, that nowadays “offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financial analysis, operations and supply, and sales and marketing professionals, as well as research and insights on global business issues. It serves customers in government and industries such as communications, technology, strategic financial services, and retail, telecommunications, and manufacturing markets” (Wikipedia). Hayden was the director of education at Dun & Bradstreet for more than 20 years before he retired in 1964. When WWII broke out, Hayden was registered for the draft to the US Army in October 1940. Since I’m not too familiar with the drafting process, I wondered if he had volunteered as the US had not officially entered WWII yet. I suppose his name came up in the draft lottery, as I found this good explanation on the webpage of the National World II Museum in Orleans: On September 16, 1940, the United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. This was the first peacetime draft in United States’ history. Those who were selected from the draft lottery were required to serve at least one year in the armed forces. Once the U.S. entered WWII, draft terms extended through the duration of the fighting. By the end of the war in 1945, 50 million men between eighteen and forty-five had registered for the draft and 10 million had been inducted in the military. I don’t know if Hayden served in the armed forces. But I do know that his draft card tells us he was 5″ 8′ tall, had blonde hair and blue eyes. By 1950, Hayden had moved to New York. But for his retirement, Hayden left the Philadelphia and New York finance circles and settled down in a house with a lakeview at Wolf Lake, Wurtsboro, New York. And good things are worth the wait – some time in his golden years he met and married Jean Proctor (1908-1988). Hayden passed away in July 1983 and was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. This same photo was already added to FindAGrave in January 2022, probably before this photo went on sale. His obituary was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer of July 28, 1983. Rest in Peace, Hayden Kuehn! Link: newspapers.com

I don’t get many French family photos, mainly for the reason that I don’t speak French and am not familiar with French sources of genealogy. I was fortunate to return two photos to families in France. But the rest of them in my collection are still waiting to have their true stories rediscovered. Perhaps by sharing them with you, some new clues come to light and these French families find their way back home, too. Olga Scherzer 3 year? Roger Scherzer 9 months? Photographie Dufayel, Paris These French siblings (my guess) are a mystery. My Instagram community helped me figure out that their surname was Scherzer. No wonder nothing came up when I searched for Scherger. I was only able to find two records. We could identify that Olga Suzanne Scherzer was born on July 4, 1910 in Paris, 19e-Arrondissement. She passed away on July 6, 1993, in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis in France. And one Roger Francois Scherzer was born on September 19, 1912 in Paris, 9e-Arrondissement. He passed away on April 11, 1977 in Saint-Benoit-La-Foret in France. So Roger was 9 months old, and Olga almost 3 years old in May 1913, when this photo was taken. I’ve not found any other information on those two, no names of parents or spouses. In fact, I cannot say for 100% that those are the records for these Scherzer siblings. I hope one day we will learn more about them! Renee et Yves Jamin. Mariage de Jacqueline Jamin, 1946 My French followers told me that this is a photo of Renee and Yves Jamin, taken at the wedding of Jacqueline Jamin in 1946. Renee and Yves were then either a married couple or siblings, and Jacqueline who shared their surname, might have been their sister. I wish I found a marriage record for Jacqueline Jamin so that we would also know whom she married in 1946 and how her surname might have changed. I wish I also knew for sure her relation to Renee and Yves Jamin. But so far, I have not found anything that would tie them all together. I found one Yves Jamin working as a French steward for Air France between 1948-1956, travelling as a crew member from France to New York several times over the years. In 1949, he was listed as single, so Renee was not his wife. His place of birth was marked Dinan, Cotes-D’armor in France. On a passenger form from 1960, his date of birth was marked November 19, 1923. On another crew list his name was listed as Yves Rene Alphonse Jamin, French citizen. In 1963, he and his Mrs were living at 2024 Rue Roche in Montreal, Quebec. He passed away on February 5, 2010, in France. But since I find nothing else for this name, no relations, family members or family trees, I am not even sure if this was the Yves Jamin in Jacqueline’s wedding photo. Pierre Saillat, mon père 1863, Paris This one is a long shot. There have been more than a few men with the name Pierre Saillat in France . So let’s concentrate on the ones who lived in Paris. I assume the man in the photo could have been in his 30s, so perhaps he was born in the 1820s or beginning of 1830s. I find one gentleman named Pierre Saillat who was born on June 16, 1832 to parents Pierre Saillat and Marianne Delmas. On October 29, 1863, he married Marie Rose Richard. Perhaps he gave this photo to his bride. The photo is very faded, so I can’t make out if he was wearing a wedding band in the photo. Pierre Saillat passed away on December 16, 1906, in Paris 14, and was buried at the Cimetière de Montparnasse (14e), in Paris. I wish I could read this record about his death: Source: Archives de Paris Pierre and Marie had (at least) one son: Victor Henri Emile Saillat. Perhaps he wrote those lines on the back of the photo? Grandparents Tellier, Leur fille et petite fille. Ohio/Orio/ Orie? My French followers on Instagram helped me read the surname of the grandparents to have been Tellier, and they were photographed with their daughter and with their grand-daughter. But regarding the last word, there were several opinions. It could read Ohio. Or Orie, perhaps the grand-daughter’s name. Or more probably it reads Orio, a name of the town this picture was taken in. Orio is a fishing town located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, northern Spain. The lady holding the child might be wearing a traditional costume and headpiece of Basque country. I would date the photo to the late 1900s, more likely early 1910s, taking into account the fashion of the lady shh-ing the baby. But that is all I have for you, so just leaving you here with this faded gem until new hints come to my attention that might help us further. Samedi 30 June 1900, … Pellissier Two cabinet cards from the same family outing from Saturday June 30, 1900. The name below reads Pelllissier. But was it a surname or a name of the location? Also, I cannot read the abbreviation before Pellissier: Deph. (for Dephany)? Dlph (for Delphine)? Ilph (for Ilphonse)? Oeph (for Oephia, Oephelila)? Alph (for Alphonse)? Ilph If you have any ideas for me, do please let me know. All clues and ideas are very welcome, let’s find their homes together!

I found these three photos at my local thrift store in Hamburg. I picked these cause they were identified, and it seems to be the same handwriting on all three. But how were they connected? They show “Emil Lemkau as a groom” (photo taken in Berlin), “Martha Böttger” (photo taken in Elberfeld) and “Aunt Caroline Reiche” (photo taken in Altona-Hamburg). I started with Emil Lemkau. His detachable collar and cuffs were perfectly starched. He was wearing cufflinks and a wedding band, and another ring on his pinky finger. I wish I could zoom in on the ring to see if it had any symbolic carvings. His hair was very correctly slicked down with central parting, only his handlebar mustache could have used a bit of a trim on the edges. His gaze was warm and his smile welcoming. Maybe the man was in love, if it says the photo was taken when he was a groom. I looked for Emil Lemkau from Berlin, but soon made the discovery and the connection that he was instead from Hamburg. Carl Johann Emil Lemkau had been a police inspector. He had been born on February 19, 1875, in Altona-Hamburg, to parents Johann Hinrich Lemkau and Wiebke Maria Elisabeth “Betty” née Schütt. His father Johann Hinrich had been a seafarer and perished during a sea passage from Hamburg to Leith in Scotland. Emil had an older brother Johann Albert Ferdinand Heinrich Lemkau (1872-1950). Emil passed away on February 6, 1937, in Hamburg. The person to report his passing was one Heinz Hubert Karl Heinrich Lemkau. Perhaps his son? And his death certificate also reveals that Emil had been married to Emma née Böttger. Böttger – the surname of Miss Martha in our second photo below! I wonder if Martha Böttger in this photo was Emil’s sister-in-law, his wife Emma’s sister? The photo was taken in Elberfeld which lies in Wuppertal, almost 380 km away from Hamburg. Were Emma and Martha born there? There were very many Böttgers living in Elberfeld in the 1950s, and even today, so I’m inclined to believe that the sisters might have been from that corner of Germany, but unfortunately, I don’t know for sure. I have not found a connection that ties Emma and Martha together as sisters (or as more distant relatives, or perhaps even as one and the same person Emma Martha?!). And then we have our third photo, of “Aunt Caroline Reiche”, taken in Altona-Hamburg. She, turns out, was Emil’s maternal aunt! Caroline Margaretha Schütt and Emil’s mother Wiebke Betty Schütt were sisters. Caroline, born on January 13, 1837, married a businessman Wilhelm Heinrich Reiche and they had two daughters: their firstborn Betty Henriette Marie Reiche sadly only lived a short life between 1876 and 1880. Carolina’s second daughter Mathilde Helene Catharina Reiche was born in May 1878, she married twice (divorced her first husband Mr. Imkemeier and married Karl Albert Nebel in 1908) and passed away in 1956. Carolina was widowed in 1900, so perhaps this photo was taken during her mourning years. Carolina passed away in July 1927 in Altona-Hamburg. And that is all I have for you today. Three strangers to me who were not strangers to each other. Please let me know if you’re related to the Lemkaus, the Schütts or the Böttgers.

I got this photo from my Instagram friend Chase. There is just too much loveliness in this photo – a sweet child with her sweet pet and it’s identified – everything my genealogist heart desires! The back of the photo says “My kid sister Catherine and our dog Sport”. Thanks to my lovely Instagram community, we could make out that the photo was addressed to one: Anna Johns 734 Bartlett Ave. Baltimore, Maryland This is the house as it stands today. Source GoogleMaps I looked through all the 1930 and 1940 Census lists of Baltimore, but none of the Johns I found were living in that address. A huge thank you to @find_my_ancestors who helped me find the decisive clue about the Johns. She found out that one painter named Carl F. Johns was registered in that address according to the 1937 Baltimore City Directory, and that Carl’s wife had been Anna! We had found the Johns! And then I discovered the reason why I hadn’t found any Johns in the 1940 Census living in that address – because Ancestry had recorded them under the surname “Carl” instead of “Johns”. Oh, a confusing detour, but we found them! So the little girl in our photo was Catherine Margaret Johns who was born on June 12th, 1926, as the youngest child of parents Carl Flossie Johns and Anna Jane née Young. Catherine’s older siblings were Anna, Carl Jr., Mable and Doris, but about them later. Oh, and let’s not forget one more family member – the furry friend Sport. The photo with Sport as taken in 1935, so little Catherine was 9 years old. I don’t know exactly when, but Catherine married one Clyde L. Beck sometime after WWII. At 20 years of age, Clyde was drafted to serve in the WWII in 1942. At the time Clyde was not yet married. The couple went on to have three children: Carl John Beck (1950-2000), Ralph D. Beck (1953-1984) and Ray A. (born in 1956?). In 1955, the family was living at 9518 Ridgely Avenue in Parkville, Maryland. Here’s a 1971 Parkville High School yearbook photo of Catherine’s son Ralph. I do see some resemblance to Catherine! Clyde passed away in 1978, and Catherine on January 17th, 1990. I don’t find much else on Catherine, so instead let’s look at her parents and siblings as there is plenty to find about them. Catherine’s father Carl Flossie Johns had been born on November 13th, 1896, in Waco, Texas. In the 1930 Census, his profession was listed an electrical engineer. By 1940, it had changed to a painter. There is a fun photo of him, publicly available on Ancestry (Source HERE), showing him what looks like supporting an election of someone (JFK???). Looks like Carl had a bit of a rough start into adulthood. He was convicted of a theft of 50$ in March 1917 at just 20 years of age, in Huntsville, Texas. He was to serve 2 years in prison, but was pardoned in November 1918. Carl got his act together after that incident. He served in the US Army as Sergeant between April 1919 and April 1920. Carl F. Johns passed away in September 1967 and was buried at the Baltimore National Cemetery. His obituary, which I found on Ancestry, includes some important details regarding his children, especially regarding the married surnames of his daughters. We also know that when this obituary was published in 1967, all the Johns siblings as well as their mother were alive. Catherine’s mother Anna Jane Johns née Young had been born in July 1897 in Baltimore. There are some fun photos of her published on her family tree page on Ancestry (Source HERE). She passed away in 1983. Carl F. and Anna J. Johns Let’s look at Catherine’s siblings too: –Ann Swain (1920-2010) married Walter Franklyn Swain and the couple had 2 children. –Carl F. Johns Jr. (1921-1995) married Ruth Adele née Boehl and the couple had 6 children. You can read their names in Carl Jr.’s obituary below, as I found on Ancestry. –Mabel Johns (1923-2007) married George R. Fanton Jr. and looks like the couple had 2 children. –Doris Elaine Johns (1925-1997) married Theodore Francis Bocklage and the couple had 4 children (two of them seem to be alive today). Catherine’s family is a wonderful example of the melting pot that the United States was and is. Catherine’s maternal grandfather James D. Young had been born in Scotland in 1865, and her maternal grandmother Catherine née Ferguson, had been born in Cork, Ireland, in January 1865. Catherine’s paternal grandfather Emil Johns had been born in Germany in about 1870, her paternal grandmother Sophrana Anne’s Jolliff line were from England and they settled in Norfolk, Virginia, sometime in the 2nd half of the 17th century! I’m always amazed how much family history one single photo – one tiny snapshot – can reveal!

This much loved photo is in a bit of a poor state but the motherly love it emanates has not faded one bit. The large image on cardboard was originally found in the US before it came to me from Spain. And it’s identified! It has writing on it in two different handwritings. My Instagram community helped me read the older handwriting: “? Kerrige 5 Turton St Weymouth” The modern handwriting reads: “Younger girl – Constance A. Bowker as a girl older girl Katherine, Cab’s sister Woman – their mother Agnes Williams nee Dell (had a sister Mary Jane & brother Richard)” Lots of clues to start my search with! I found a public Ancestry tree and a FamilySearch tree for the mother, Agnes Johnston Dell, who according to the Ancestry tree was born on August 20, 1854, in Fleet, Dorset in England, to parents Richard and Mary Ann. Agnes had indeed a sister Mary Jane Dell (1857-?) and a brother Richard Dell (1846-1915), and 5 other siblings, all listed on that public tree. According to the 1861 Census, Agnes’ father Richard Dell was a coast guard (later constable guard). There were many mouths to feed, so Agnes could not idle around in blissful inactivity but had to learn a trade in her teens, that of a dressmaker. Agnes married James Harrington Williams on March 7, 1875, in the Weymouth Holy Trinity Church, built in 1836. James was a hairdresser by profession. I suppose a hairdresser for women, since otherwise he would have been referred to as a barber in the Census lists, right? So perhaps it was Agnes’ profession that brought her in contact with her future husband, since both of them dedicated their professional lives to making women feel and look pretty, and word of mouth recommendations of each might have increased both of their customer bases. I am being silly and unfair now, but I can almost imagine them giggling together in the evenings within the four walls of their home about all the bits of gossip they could exchange about the customers they styled during their long working days (I’ve obviously been streaming too much Bridgerton and Gilded Age). In 1881, Agnes, James and their two daughters Katherine Agnes and Alice Harrington, as well as their servant Alice, were residing at 13 and 12 Bond Street in Weymouth. Agnes was widowed in 1903. In 1911 she was living at 5 Turton Street in Weymouth with her daughter Katherine Agnes Kerridge and two lodgers. We have solved two mysteries of the first handwriting – the address, and the name Kerridge! This is a photo of the said address in Weymouth: Source: GoogleMaps According to the public tree on Ancestry, Agnes passed away in March 1932. Agnes and James’ first daughter Katherine Agnes Williams was born a couple of months after their marriage and was baptised on July 28, 1875, in the Melcombe Regis St. John’s Church in Weymouth, Dorset. Katharine married Charles Leslie Moreton, a salesman of furnishings, on September 24, 1898 in Bristol. In 1901, the couple was living in Bristol and the Census does not show any children. And since we could already establish that in 1911, Katharine had a new surname, Kerridge, and had been married to Mr. Kerridge for 3 years, her first marriage must have been short-lived. And I found the reason: in 1906, Katharine petitioned for divorce on grounds of adultery coupled with cruelty. Katharine petitioned that her husband had had several affairs with different women, starting already in 1899 up until she submitted her petition, and as a result of those affairs he contracted venereal diseases on several occasions (at the time, those were typically syphilis and gonorrhoea. The divorce was granted a year later. The petition also bears Katharine’s signature, and I think we have a match with the handwritten address on the photo. It must have been Katharine herself who signed our photo: As I already mentioned above, in 1911 Katharine was 35, married for 3 years without children, and living together with her mother Agnes in Weymouth. Unfortunaterly I can’t say who her second husband Mr. Kerridge was, whom Katharine married in about 1908. I can’t find their marriage record anywhere. By 1939, Mr. Kerridge had passed away and Katharine was widowed, living in Weymouth as an apartment house keeper. Katharine passed away on September 29, 1959 in Dorset. Now to how this photo ended up in the US, far away from Dorset. The reason might have to do with Alice, the younger daughter in the photo. Alice (Constance) Harrington Williams had been born a year after her sister Katharine, on October 20, 1876, in Weymouth in Dorset. I’ve found a public tree for her on Ancestry. She married Joseph Llewellyn Bowker on May 19, 1902, in Melcombe Regis in Dorset. Joseph was a fitter & turner by profession and 10 years older than Alice. I had to look up what a fitter & turner does: Fitters and turners are highly skilled craftspeople who manufacture, construct, assemble and fit components for machinery, vehicles, installations and other apparatus or articles. (quote) Alice and Joseph had 3 children in Dorset: Kathleen (later Blyth, 1903-1997), Maurice (1904-1970) and Enid (1906-1991). The couple then made a bold decision that might explain why the photo ended up in the US – the Bowkers emigrated to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania! Joseph left for New York in 1909, Alice stayed with the children in Wyke Regis in England. Half a year later Joseph applied for the US citizenship, and made all the necessary arrangements as well as earned enough funds to sponsor the passage of the rest of his family in 1912. The joy of the reunion must have been great cause in 1913, Joseph and Alice’s fourth child, Sydney Bowker (1913-1973), was born in Bethlehem :-). Joseph found work as a machinist at a steel mill in Bethlehem where he worked until his retirement and death in 1941. The three persons in my photo were reunited in 1920 when Alice (who occasionally went by the name Constance in the US) visited her mum and sister in England. She took her youngest, Sydney, with her. I bet mum Agnes and auntie Katharine were thrilled to meet little Sydney for the first. Alice Constance Bowker passed away in the leap year of 1968, on February 29th. She was 91 years old. I’ve added her photo to FindaGrave.com. Her obituary was published in The Morning Call, Allentown, of March 2, 1968: Link: newspapers.com Also, one Instagram follower solved the mystery of “CAB’s sister”, written behind the name of Katharine on the photo: most probably CAB were the initials of “Constance” Alice Bowker. Why Alice adopted an additional first name in the US remains a mystery to me. Perhaps her (great-)grandchildren are out there, missing this treasure?

I bought these two photos on an Instagram sale from the United States. One of them seems to have been kept in a round photo frame all these years. And the other one is a copy from a newspaper article. Cora L. Bond was the oldest child of W. Irwin Bond (1832–1892) and Mary née Smith (1833–1882), born on September 2nd, 1853. Irwin was a farmer in Geauga County, Ohio. In 1870, when Cora was 16, she was working as a teacher in the common school. Her sister Mina was 10 and Adella (Della) 7 years old. On September 10th, 1872, Cora married Charles Seth Herrington in Geauga. Charles was a farmer and a Civil War veteran. In 1880, they were living in Russell, Geauga and Charles had taken up cheese manufacturing. By 1880, Cora and Charles had 3 children: daughters Carrie May and Alice, and son Luman. In 1884, their youngest daughter Emma Olive was born. Cora was 63 when she passed away on July 15, 1917, in Chardon, Ohio. Charles followed in March 1921. They were both buried at the Maple Hill Cemetery, Munson, Geauga. Cora’s sister Mina Herrington (1861-1918) married Clifford Ernest Walker in 1880 and they had three children. Cora’s baby sister Della Herrington (1863-1918) married Henry Carlton Wilber in 1881, and she also had three children. Very strange that all three sisters died within one year from each other… Now a few words about Cora’s children. Their descendants might be out there, missing these photos of their ancestor. Cora’s daughter Clarice “Clara” May Herrington had been born on January 14th, 1874. She married Bion Burns Hazen on January 12, 1905, in Geauga, Ohio. Clara and Bion’s wedding was reported on in detail in the New Philadelphia, of Ohio, on January 12th, 1905: Link: newspapers.com The 1910 Census does not list any children for Clara May and Bion. In 1920, Clara May was unfortunately widowed. She moved in with her brother Luman’s family and was living with them in 1930. Clara May passed away in 1956. Cora’s son Luman Herrington was born on May 15th, 1876. He became a farmer in Munson, Geauga, like his father. He was a late bloomer and only got married in his late 30s. By 1930, he and his wife Ada N. had 3 children. Daughter Cora Delle was born in the same year that Luman’s mother Cora passed away – what a sweet gesture to name his daughter after his late mum! By 1940, Cora Delle had become a teacher, just like her granny Cora had been at her age. Luman’s sons Lloyd and Willard were a couple of years younger. Luman passed away in 1949. Cora’s daughter Alice L. Herrington was born on February 17th, 1882, and unfortunately passed away in 1901, at just 19 years of age. She was not married at the time. Emma Olive Herrington was the youngest daughter of Cora and Charles Herrington. She was born on April 16th, 1884. She married Lee James Hunt, a barber, on February 17, 1903. They had 8 children: Harold Lee Hunt (1903-1987), Lawrence David Hunt (1905-1913), James Irving Hunt (1908-1980), Pauline Adeline Hunt (1912-1979), Arline Frances Hunt (1914-2006), Everett Walter Hunt (1918-1983), Ola Mae Hunt Kingman (1922-1990) and Mary Jane Hunt (1926-2006). In 1920, they were living in Bainbridge, Geauga, Ohio, and James had become a farmer. Emma passed away in 1944, and James in 1959. Looks like Emma’s husband James and his brother-in-law Luman Herrington might have been good chums. In 1939, they visited a corn-husking contest near Delaware, Ohio together. I don’t know anything about corn-husking, but looks like the contests are still held today. Link: newspapers.com I wish I knew what Cora was like as a woman, mother and grandmother. I also wish I knew from which newspaper the second photo is from! Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything on her on newspapers.com. It would be so interesting to read the clip that was published together with her photo! I’ve added her photo to FamilySearch.org. Please reach out to me if you’re related to Cora Bond Herrington!

Here’s one of those found treasures that is my favourite kind! It has all the important clues to make our search successful. It states the names of the children Gladys, Gertrude, Willie and Sydney, and the names of their parents W.S. Valentine and Grace Edna Clark Valentine, as well as the photo studio location in Mt. Vernon and the date May 1904 when the photo was taken. What could a genealogy-detective’s heart want more :)! Photographed here were the four children of William Satterly Valentine and Grace Edna née Clark from Yonkers, New Jersey, where the oldest children were born. Sometime around 1898 and before the 1900 Census the family moved to Mt. Vernon, New York, where this lovely photo was taken in 1904. According to the 1910 Census, the children’s father William Sr. was a salesman with an oil company. By 1920, mother Grace is listed as widowed. I don’t know what happened to father William, I have not been able to find his death record. The children’s maternal grandmother Emma Clark was living with the family as well. But let’s look at the lives of the children in more detail (I hope I’ve got the faces right since I don’t know which child was who): Gladys Valentine was born on February 20th, 1893 in Yonkers, Westchester, New York. She married Clarence Edwin Cockefair (1891-1967) in 1919 in New Jersey. In 1920, the couple was living in Bronx, NY. Clarence was a manager in real estate. Gladys was a homemaker and tended to their two children Gertrude Louise Davis née Cockefair (1922-2002), and Philip H. Cockefair (1925-2010). In 1940, Gladys and her family were living in Montclair in Essex, NJ. Clarence was working as an architect of theatre frame builders. Gladys passed away on June 12th, 1974 in Glen Ridge, NJ. Gertrude Clark Valentine was born on December 4th, 1894, also in Yonkers, Westchester, New York. Gertrude became a teacher and as such did not opt for a life of a married woman. In April 1924, she applied for a passport for the purpose of travelling to Great Britain and France. And look at that, the application included a passport photo of Gertrude as an adult! Source: FamilySearch Gertrude continued to work in her profession all her adult life. According to the 1920 Census, she was living together with her mother Grace, granny Emma and her two brothers at 229 Inwood Avenue in Montclair. Source: GoogleMaps In 1940, Getrude was working as a teacher at a public school and living alone at 210 Inwood Avenue, just a few houses away from her mother Grace. Gertrude passed away in June 1967. Source: GoogleMaps Since the brothers William S. Jr. and Sydney Valentine were born so close apart, I cannot be sure who is who in the photograph. William “Willie” S. Valentine Jr. was born on July 10th, 1896 in Yonkers, Westchester, New York. According to the 1920 Census of Montclair, he and his brother Sydney were living at home with their mother and sister Gertrude and working as brokers in sugar industry. William was single at the time. I find him on a passenger list from Bermuda to New York in 1929. On February 25th, 1931, he married Anne (Anna) Catherine née Worden (1908-1966) in Orange, New Jersey. Maybe they met on the sea since Anne was into travelling too, she is to be found on passenger lists on her own in 1927 from Naples, Italy, in 1929 and in 1930 from Southampton, England. Perhaps it was the couple’s honeymoon to Bermuda in May-June 1931, as I find the two of them on another passenger list, this time together. And then I came across the passenger list of the cruise ship “Kungsholm” from February 1932: Source: Ancestry Apparently, William committed suicide while at sea on February 5th, 1932. What confuses me, though, is that in the family tree on FamilySearch, William’s time of death was February 1990 and he passed away in Bordentown, Burlington, NJ, instead. But I cannot find any sources to confirm this, while I have found the passenger list from February 1932 to back my worst fears. William’s young wife Anne Catherine never re-married and passed away in 1966. The youngest sibling Sydney Mead Valentine was born on August 5th, 1898 in Mount Vernon, Westchester, New York. As mentioned above, in 1920 he and his brother were brokers in the sugar industry. In 1930, Sydney had switched to real estate. He and his wife Florence D. née Davis and their 3-year-old daughter Florence (1926-2001) were living in Montclair. The couple had another daughter Robin who married Michael Lobsitz in April 1950. Strange that I don’t find Robin living with the Valentines in either in the 1930 or 1940 Census. Sydney passed away on August 10th, 1991, at the age of 93 and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair. Maybe one of them was your ancestor? Please contact me if you’re related to any of the Valentine kids!

This looks like a smile of someone who loves snow, don’t you think? The photo has been labelled Herfila Mendoza @Vincent Hall and the stamp of the Eastman Kodak shows that the snapshot was printed in the “week ending February 11, 1956”. The handwriting of the name is very modern and no-one would have used the “@”-symbol back in the day. So, I was a bit sceptical if this really was the name of the woman in the photograph. I won’t disappoint you – it was! Herfila Mendoza was born on January 15, 1915, in the Philippines. She became a registered nurse in her home country and started working in the Manila Sanitorium. In the early 1950s she got the opportunity to come to the United States together with 12 other graduate nurses from the Philippines for post-graduate studies in American hospitals. I found a newspaper clip about this event on page 8 of the Great Falls Tribune, Montana, from April 19, 1954. Link: newspapers.com And I even found her in one of the photos printed on page 60 of the Great Falls Tribune, from April 4, 1954. The lady on the very left is the Herfila from our photograph! Link: newspapers.com According to the newspaper mentions and records I have found about Herfila, she decided to stay in the United States permanently, in 1966 she became a US citizen. She worked many years as a nurse, first in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later in Reedley in California. Link: newspapers.com So according to our timeline, in February 1956 when our photo was printed, Herfila was either still in Great Falls, Montana, or already in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am pretty sure it’s the latter, as there was a Vincent Hall The Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Source: archive.org And if I’m not mistaken, Herfila’s photo was taken in front of the main entrance of the hospital! In Reedley, California, she married Ricardo Asuncion, a barber and one of the first Filipino residents of Reedley. The couple was very active and respected in the local Filipino community, raising funds for college scholarships etc. Herfila passed away on August 11, 1997, in Irvine, California. She had been widowed in September 1986. From the obituary published in her honour in The Fresno Bee of August 14, 1997, she touched so many lives with her generosity and assiduity. And that dashing smile was infectious too! Link: newspapers.com I have added Herfila’s photo to her FindaGrave page.