I recently purchased
an antique photograph on Ebay. The
photographer was located in Auburn, New York, and on the back was written, “George
and Hattie Taylor”. Beneath that in a different color ink,
clearly added later, was written, “Cousins of Grandma Lund”. Amazingly enough I have
found only two entries in local census records that could be the individuals in
this picture. Even more amazingly I have
tracked down Grandma Lund. (Sometimes I really
astonish me.)
After pouring
over Lund families in the census I contacted a gentleman who was working on a
local history project in Grandma Lund’s old stomping grounds. The exact location of which I failed to write
down and don’t now recall, though I'm pretty sure it was Hannibal, NY. (Sometimes I really annoy me.) Why don’t I just look
him up again you may ask? I tried; it
seems he is done with the project and removed the details from the net. Anyway, he wrote back that he had seen several
photographs labeled in exactly the same manner as mine so I’m confident I found
the right Grandma.
The problem is I
have been unable to prove or disprove which of the two possibilities is the
correct one. Nor can I prove either of
them is related to Mrs. Lund whose maiden name I don’t know. Census records show a George and Hattie
Taylor who are husband and wife, and another George and Hattie Taylor who are
brother and sister. Is this a family portrait
of siblings or a wedding picture? Did
the person who wrote the second entry on the photo even know what they were
talking about? And what year was the
photo taken? This is where you come in -- Guesses anyone? On Ancestry I found a post claiming Henry Taylor Sr. grandfather of George and Hattie the siblings, was a full blooded American Indian. In the photo George does look kind of Native American don't you think?
The couple
doesn’t look very old to me, and I really hope it’s of the brother and sister
from Savannah, New York which is pretty close to Auburn. The other George and Hattie lived in Manlius,
Onondaga County in between Syracuse and Auburn. Savannah Hattie was, as far as I can tell, the common law wife of my
third great uncle Daniel O’Hora. I’ve
never found any sort of marriage record for them although New York and
Pennsylvania both kept them at that time.
Oftentimes they were living apart in census records though she continued
to use his last name.
I don’t know much
about Uncle Dan except that he was the black sheep and moved around a lot,
at one point taking off to Washington Territory, then Pennsylvania and at
another time was working as a foreman at the Brooklyn Naval Yards. None of my older relatives, who are now
departed, ever talked about him, and when asked they tended to ignore the
question. Because he had a common law
wife perhaps?
The frustrating thing about the labels on some of these old photographs is that they sometimes are added by aging relatives who want their ancestors to be remembered. The unfortunate catch in that plan is that the reporting relative doesn't remember things correctly, either!
ReplyDeleteEllie, I've had family photographs with two sets of notes on the back--the one seemingly disagreeing with the other! It does take a lot of research to come to the full story, so I feel for you as you try to piece this mystery together! I'd say, anchor that search on linking with a Grandma Lund, as hard as that may sound.
Jacqi, Thanks for the advise, I think you are right--back to Grandma Lund. Her maiden name may hold the answer.
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