Asking for help...

A little help from my friends?  Please?  I'd like to get your opinions.  I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone experienced in identifying people in old photographs.   Since you probably landed here from Facebook, please comment below if you can, and if you can't, comment on the post from Facebook which sent you here.

I'm going through some old things of my deceased parents.  I have well over a hundred old photographs of my dad's mom's family, almost all of which are labeled with names, dates, and locations.  But here is one notable exception.

I am trying to identify the lady on the left in this picture.  And if I can get an approximate date of this photograph, I can likely either identify, or at least rule out, who I believe she is.


The man, I am almost positive, is my great-grandfather, known as "Pop".

This picture has no markings on the back of it.

IF this photo is what I am surmising, then this is the only photograph I have of my great-grandmother as an adult, and the girl in pop's arms is my grandmother as a baby, so this photo would have been taken around 1896.

But I'm not sure, and there are several reasons why.  First, is that this lady does not look anything at all like the only known photo of my great-grandmother as a 14-year-old.  Take a look at this next photo.





 The photo here is clearly labeled as being my great-grandmother at age 14, taken in 1876.   She doesn't look a bit like the lady in the photo above.

Of course, some girls change appearance over 20 years or so

Second is the date issue.  My grandmother was born in 1894, meaning the photo in question above would have to been taken around 1896.  Great-grandpa (Pop) was born in 1859, so he would be coming up on 40 years old if the photo were taken in 1896.  This guy looks like he's about 40.  Great-grandma however would have been close to 35.  Is the lady in the photo 35?  More?  Less?

To support my assumption that it is Pop, and he is almost 40 in the above photo, here below is a photo of Pop (on the right), with his daughter Helen (my grandmother), and my dad, taken in late 1923 or early 1924.  My dad is the baby in her arms.  In 1923-4 (when the photo below was taken), you can see that Pop is past 60, much older than the fellow in the photo in question above.

And below is another picture of Pop around 1930.  You can see he is a bit older.  But based on this and numerous other pictures I have of Pop, the guy in the photo in question at the top of this post is almost certainly Pop.



Third, is the clothing.  If the photo in question is Pop and his wife and daughter, taken in 1896, there is a disconnect in the clothing.  Notice Pop is dressed to the nines.  He and his father and brothers were hatters and haberdashers in Baltimore, and they always dressed well, very natty.  Even the pictures I have of Pop on the farm, he is wearing a dress shirt and tie, and usually a waistcoat.  Kinda like Oliver Wendell Douglas on the Green Acres TV show.

The lady, however, is not as dressed up as I would expect his wife to be.  If Pop were visiting someone (a cousin, a friend, etc.) and her daughter, well, that would explain why Pop is dressed up but she isn't.  Remember, in the 1896 to 1910 timeframe, you couldn't call someone ahead of time to announce you were thinking of dropping in for a quick visit, and you might just catch her in her housedress.  So the mismatch between Pop's and her clothing would argue against it being my great-grandmother.

Further, go back up to the top and look at her skirt length.  Her dress is a bit short for 1896... the Google search images show 1896 styles to be ankle-length.  The dress she is wearing is more typical of mid-calf skirt lengths in the early 1920's.  So again this would argue against it being my great-grandmother, and against it being taken in 1896.

Next, let's take a look at the sisters of my great-grandmother.  My great-grandmother was one of six girls.  The oldest (Julie) was my great-grandfather's first wife. I have no photos of her. She had a son, then died five years later.  Pop then married her younger sister Mollie (my great-grandmother, possibly the lady in the top photo).  Mollie bore my grandmother and two more boys, then also died, around 1900.  Julie and Mollie had four other sisters who lived to adulthood:  Emmie, Lizzie, Susie, and Lasan.     

The photo below was taken about 1924.  This photo is labeled and is of Lizzie on the left and Susie on the right, taken about 1924.  This is almost 25 years after my great-grandmother (their older sister) had died.  Notice their (ahem) body builds and facial shape match that of the lady in the photo in question above.   Compare the lady in the photo at the top, with my great-grandmother's sisters, then with the second photo, of my )known) great-grandmother at age 14.  What do you think?








 













Now look at the hairstyles.  Here is Susie (on the left), about 1922...



















. 

 And here is Lizzie in 1919.  (Deborah McSwain, you might be interested that this photo was taken on the family farm in Maxville, Florida.)   Notice the skirt length in these photos from the 1920-era match the skirt of the lady in the topmost photo.

And here are Furley sisters in 1928, from left:  Emmie, Lizzie, and Lasan.  Notice the hairstyles and facial shapes.  Compare the hairstyles with the hairstyle in the first picture.  Is this a style from 1928?  Or is it a style from 1896 and the Furley sisters were just old spinsters who never updated their hairstyles?   (Spinsters, for sure: only Julie and Mollie ever married, and both of them to my great-grandfather!)


















And now for something else that suggests the photo is from the 1920s not 1896.  The photo album where all of these photos were located was not organized by date.  But the size, coloration, and type of photo paper of the photo in question is very similar to photos in the album which are dated from 1915 to 1928, with two exceptions:   the photo in question does not have any penciled markings or names or dates.  Nor does it have the rubber stamp impression on the back of it saying "John Lloyd, 30 West Adams Street, Jacksonville Florida", which obviously is the photo lab which printed all of the other photos which are labeled between 1915 and 1928.  The photo paper and coloration of the photo in question does not match any of the photos from any date in the 1800s, or the photos from 1901, 1905, 1909, or even 1913.

Finally, look at the lady holding my grandfather's arm in the topmost photo (the one in question).  And her proud smile.  The Furley sisters all look like first-class sour-pusses in all the photos I have of them.  (As I said, I have no identifiable photos of Julie, and none of Mollie as an adult, so I don't know what she looked like when she died.  So that may be her smiling, then again  maybe not.) 

A logical question might be, given the album full of photos, including many of her sisters, why isn't there a photo of my great-grandmother herself?    Or of her older sister Julie?

Here's the answer my dad gave:  The family was living in Baltimore, Pop married the oldest Furley girl, Julie, and she had one son, but died five years later.  Pop married her younger sister (my great-grandmother, Mollie) who bore my grandmother, then bore two more boys, and then she died too, about 1900.  Pop was reportedly so broken-hearted he couldn't stand to continue living in Maryland, so he left and moved to Florida to raise the kids himself.  The youngest boy was still a baby and he died too just before they made the move, causing even more emotional pain.  Pop reportedly tried to erase all memories of his wives in an attempt to handle his grief.  Somehow, my grandmother apparently hid a photo of her mom at age 14 (which is shown as the second photo above).  It was not in the album, it was in a frame in a separate box, by itself, labeled "Keepsakes".  It was the only thing in the box. 

So if the top photo is my great-grandmother, the above explanation might explain why it is unlabeled.  Plus, it is possible that my grandmother, as an adult around the 1920's,  might have asked relatives for a copy of a photo of her mom, which would also explain why the photo paper and coloration of the photo matches photos taken and developed in the 1920's, not the 1800s.  It would also explain why the photo didn't have the "John Lloyd - Jacksonville" stamp impression, and why it was in the album containing other photos most of which date in the 1920's.   

Given than every photo in that leather-bound album was mounted on four corner holders, which were then glued onto the album pages, all by hand, it had to have taken hours and hours to put together.  So I can't imagine why grandma would have taken the time to mount that photo, but not label it, unless it held some special importance. ...  Like being her baby picture with her dad and mom.

So help me out here:  Is the photo at the top of this post a family photo of my great-grandfather, my great-grandmother, and my grandma as a baby?  Or is it of my great-grandfather and some other lady?   And if it is some other lady, I have no idea who she is, or why my grandma would have her picture in the album.  And if the girl isn't my grandma, then I have no idea who the girl in his arms might be. 

And was this photo taken in 1896 or some time later?  My grandmother had an older brother (from Pop and Julie) who would be about six years old if this photo was taken in 1896.... where might he be if this photo was taken in 1896?  Why wasn't he included?

And finally, is the guy even my great-grandfather?  He sure looks like him.

Inquiring minds want to know... leave your comments here or on Facebook.

A Walk in the Woods

Easter Sunday, a nice spring day to meander up the Madison Run Fire Road trail in the Madison Run Wilderness Area of the Shenandoah National Park.  There are lots of wildflowers blooming up there this time of year. 

A spicebush swallowtail would not stop flapping its wings.

Some kind of lupine?

A common dandelion.

 Some kind of violet perhaps?

Closeup of a dogwood blossom.  Lots of dogwoods in this area.

A redbud branch, with the Madison Run in the background.

The Madison Run, with the redbud branch in the foreground.

 

 Small tiny fozzball flowers on a tiny ground-cover-type plant.

Mullein, a useful wilderness toilet paper, since the leaves are thick and tough but soft as velvet.

Thirty-One Hours, Eighty-Two Countries, and 491 Separate Radio Contacts

The post below was from last October.  So this weekend I tried to beat that performance.  Mission accomplished, -- and a new "personal best".  I was on the air for 31 hours of the last 48, and worked 82 countries this time. 

I contacted 491 foreign ham radio operators (outside the continental US and Canada).  The countries included:  Morocco, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Aland Islands,  Azores Islands, Balearic Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Kalingrad (Konigsberg), England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal,  Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela,  Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Antigua-Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, St. Maarten, Turks-Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Plus, I contacted Hawaii and Alaska (which in ham radio circles are considered different countries from the U.S.). 

Nine more contacts, and I would have talked to 500 different hams around the world.  I heard, and tried (and failed) to contact hams: South Africa, Namibia, Gambia, South Korea, Indonesia, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Macedonia, San Salvador, Greenland, and Liberia.

So here's your challenge, should you decide to accept it.  Can you think of a country in Europe or South American that's not listed above (or listed below)? 

Surprisingly, I didn't work the following countries that I worked last October:  Cyprus, El Salvador, Iceland, Panama, Sicily, Madeira Islands, St Kitts-Nevis, or Cueta-Melilla.

There were surprisingly large numbers of hams active in Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico, Croatia, Cuba, Portugal, Spain, Serbia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Venezuela, and the Caribbean islands.  And as expected, there were also many in Germany, France, the British Isles, and Mexico.

I "exercised" all three of my shortwave radios.  My signal was just a tad less energy than a 100-watt lightbulb, and I used just a wire antenna (G5RV design) strung between two trees in the backyard.  

Fourteen Hours, Fifty-Seven Countries, 153 separate contacts on the ham radio this weekend.

Every now and then, I like to test out my communications capabilities.  Friday night after dark, I went outside and using a flashlight, strung up a wire, ran it into the spare room downstairs, set up my ham radio, and in the next 24 hours, I spent 14 of them making sure I could talk around the world without using any public communications infrastructure such as phone lines or internet.  I even ran my generator for an hour or two.

I only was on the air for a total of 14 hours, so I didn't do as well as two years ago, but here is the list of the 57 countries I was able to contact.  I also heard lots of stations in Japan, and they did indicated they heard my signal, but I didn't have enough power for them to understand what I was saying (they were speaking English, but couldn't dig my signal out of the background noise).

I made complete two-way radio contacts (short conversations) with hams in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvadore, England, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Siberia, Sicily, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the island "countries" of Aruba, Azores, the Balearic Islands (off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean), Bonaire, the Canary Islands, the Madeira Islands (off the coast of Portugal north of the Azores),  Martinique, Sicily, St. Kitts and Nevis islands, US. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Spanish Territories of Ceuta and Melilla (in Africa ...look up Melilla and Ceuta in Wikipedia and learn something new!  I did.)  I talked to numerous American hams, too, including one in Alaska.

I used all three of my shortwave radios to make sure they are all still working.  And... I had fun.

Do you know where Lem Turner is? Not the road, the Jacksonville pioneer....

I found Lem Turner.  No joke.

A major highway in Jacksonville Florida, State Road 115, is known as Lem Turner Road as it runs from I-95 exit 356 all the way to the Duval-Nassau County Line (115 continues all the way to Callahan). 

Lem Turner Road is a multi-lane divided highway for most of it's length.  But who is this Lem Turner?

It is named after Lemuel Turner, who lived from 1820 to about owned most of the property on the north side of Trout River from Kings Road (Today US 1) to the Holly Ford community across from what would later become Imeson Airport.  He and his sons cut the timber and sold it to the Broward Sawmill on the Seaboard Railroad tracks, today at the corner of Dunn Avenue (Turner's logging road back then) and US 17 (North Main Street)  This is the present location of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.
 
Turner's children and grandchildren continued logging, and in the early 1900's sold the timber to the Cummer Sawmill at the corner of US 17 and Heckscher Drive, near the Jacksonville Zoo, (today the location of Pick-A-Part junkyard).  Yes, the Cummer Sawmill was owned and operated by the same Cummer who endowed the Cummer Art Gallery when he finally sold it.  Turner's kids and grandkids sold their property bit by bit over the years, but Turner's original 1840's homestead stood on the banks of Blockhouse Creek until my teenage years, I used to see it from my schoolbus every morning.  The dirt road leading to it (from Lem Turner Road, just across and south of Bessent Road) is still there, but I believe the house may be gone.

 I found Lemuel Turner's grave 2 weeks ago, in the overgrown and unkept Turner-Picket cemetery.  To reach it, take Lem Turner Road north from I-95 at Norwood Avenue, go 2 blocks to Ida Street, turn right onto Ida, go 1 block to Calvin Street,  turn right, and Calvin Street ends at the cemetery.  It looks like an overgrown vacant lot, but if you walk from the torn-down gate diagonally to your left, about 50 feet in you find Lem Turner's grave stone, broken, and lying on the ground.  There are numerous other graves dating from the 1800's, all the way up to 1977.  I'm wondering if Craig Zipperer​ has done any genealogy and knows whether this Mildred Zipperer is any relation?

Large Birds at the Feeder Today... (Post 1 of 3)

After clearing the snow from the driveways, I was tired so I sat at the kitchen table and worked on my computer for an hour or so, and took pictures of the birds coming to the bird feeder out the window.

 

Click on the pictures for a larger version.

 



Northern Mockingbird

in the boxwood scoping out the situation

before chasing the other birds away from the feeder.

 

In the Maple Tree after grabbing a bite to eat.

Going back for seconds.

 

Mourning Dove

The dove didn't come to the feeder while I had the camera.

He just sat in the tree and watched the proceedings.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker (you can't see his reddish belly from this angle)

 

There were 15 species of birds today (Feb 17 2015).  The other blog posts below show the others.



Little Birds at the Feeder Today (2 of 3)

Chickadees (we have lots of chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee's)

A chickadee with his friend, the nuthatch. 

 

Goldfinch.  We have lots of goldfinches, too. 

 

Sometimes the gold finches tussle with each other  The feeder will be full, and there will be several more wanting a place at the banquet, urging those already eating to hurry up...

Yellow-headed finches -- NOT to be confused with gold-finches.  We have lots of yellow-headed finches, too.   The goldfinches will perch on the feeder and feed, but the yellow-headed finches sit in the tree, and when the feeder is open, they'll dart in and grab something and fly off, just like the tufted titmouse.

 

Tufted Titmouse