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Photographs

Mystery photos - Texas

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#1 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 8:44 AM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  All      [Msg # 194030.1 ]    
Attached is the first of three mystery photographs. They were found in the effects of my grandfather's sister Theo in Texas and are probably members of the Baker family (descendants of Martin Alexander Baker, b Burke County NC Dec 9, 1797, d Parker County TX Nov 10, 1868) or the Johnson family (descendants of Matthew Johnson, b Virginia cir 1813, d prob Pulaski County KY between 1860 and 1870; his wife Mary "Polly" Fore Johnson was born prob NC cir 1818 and d aft 1870 in Parker County TX) or of the Cottrell family (descendants of George W. Cottrell, b Madison County KY Mar 5, 1821, d Wichita County TX May 21, 1891, who married Martha Louisa Baker Cottrell in Parker County TX in 1854).

The second and third will be posted as replies to this message.

Any help would be appreciated.

-- Judy

Attachments
Name:   mystery1.jpgSize:   75 K

Edited 2/6/05   by  Judy G. Russell
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#2 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 8:49 AM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.2 Message 194030.2 replying to 194030.1 194030.1 ]    
Here's the second of my mystery photos, found in Texas and again probably members of the Baker family (descendants of Martin Alexander Baker, b Burke County NC Dec 9, 1797, d Parker County TX Nov 10, 1868) or the Johnson family (descendants of Matthew Johnson, b Virginia cir 1813, d prob Pulaski County KY between 1860 and 1870; his wife Mary "Polly" Fore Johnson was born prob NC cir 1818 and d aft 1870 in Parker County TX) or of the Cottrell family (descendants of George W. Cottrell, b Madison County KY Mar 5, 1821, d Wichita County TX May 21, 1891, who married Martha Louisa Baker Cottrell in Parker County TX in 1854).

Any help would be appreciated.
-- Judy

Attachments
Name:   mystery2.jpgSize:   81 K
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#3 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 8:50 AM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.3 Message 194030.3 replying to 194030.1 194030.1 ]    
Here's the third of my mystery photos, found in Texas and again probably members of the Baker family (descendants of Martin Alexander Baker, b Burke County NC Dec 9, 1797, d Parker County TX Nov 10, 1868) or the Johnson family (descendants of Matthew Johnson, b Virginia cir 1813, d prob Pulaski County KY between 1860 and 1870; his wife Mary "Polly" Fore Johnson was born prob NC cir 1818 and d aft 1870 in Parker County TX) or of the Cottrell family (descendants of George W. Cottrell, b Madison County KY Mar 5, 1821, d Wichita County TX May 21, 1891, who married Martha Louisa Baker Cottrell in Parker County TX in 1854).

Any help would be appreciated.
-- Judy

Attachments
Name:   mystery4.jpgSize:   65 K
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#4 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 7:57 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.4 Message 194030.4 replying to 194030.1 194030.1 ]    
Would you think that is three or four generations?  I suspect four, and it appears to me it might have been made around 1915-1920.  Have you any other clues to the time it was made?  That might help in narrowing down the people in it.
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#5 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 8:03 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.5 Message 194030.5 replying to 194030.2 194030.2 ]    
It's interesting.  Only one adult in the photo, and all those children of various ages would hint that it might be a school picture, except for the infant and those obviously under school age.  Maybe a church picture?  the clothing looks like early twenties, again, and that appears to be a Model A in the background.  Not that all this helps much, and not that you haven't seen it all for yourself.

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#6 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 11:41 PM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.6 Message 194030.6 replying to 194030.4 194030.4 ]    
My guess is also that it's four generations and my best guess is 1914-1915 and our very best guess is that the old person seated is my great great grandmother Martha Louisa Baker Cottrell just before her death in Iowa Park Texas. We think  the woman to the right with the belt is my great Aunt Ted and the little girl in front of her my mother's cousin Helen Lynn. But even Ted's granddaughter doesn't know for sure.

-- Judy
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#7 of 23

     Posted 2/6/05 11:43 PM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.7 Message 194030.7 replying to 194030.5 194030.5 ]    
There are actually two adults (note the man crouched in the hat just to the right of the tallest girl). What I keep wondering, looking at the pillars on the porch, is whether this could be the same house as in the third mystery photo.

-- Judy
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#8 of 23

     Posted 2/7/05 2:35 PM   
Pam Brautigam/STAFF
 
From  Pam Brautigam/STAFF  Posts 370  Last 5/2/06
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.8 Message 194030.8 replying to 194030.5 194030.5 ]    
Ditto on Betty's observations. Pam
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#9 of 23

     Posted 2/7/05 7:32 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.9 Message 194030.9 replying to 194030.7 194030.7 ]    
I'd wondered, also, if the house was the same.  I'd say that the man in the center back of #3 seems to be wearing the same hat as the one crouched behind the others in #2 - but I had several relatives who wore just such hats even during my own childhood. 
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#10 of 23

     Posted 2/7/05 10:50 PM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.10 Message 194030.10 replying to 194030.9 194030.9 ]    
Sigh... it's so frustrating not to have anyone to ask, isn't it???

-- Judy
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#11 of 23

     Posted 2/7/05 11:41 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.11 Message 194030.11 replying to 194030.10 194030.10 ]    
Yes, and it's even harder to realize that, with just a few exceptions, I am the oldest one left.  I do still have an aunt who is now 96, but her memory  has been impaired since she had a stroke a couple of years ago.  There are several cousins about my age, and two or three of my mother's cousins are maybe ten years or so older than I.  Not just a lot of folks I could ask, either.


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#12 of 23

     Posted 2/8/05 9:37 AM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.12 Message 194030.12 replying to 194030.11 194030.11 ]    
Getting older is definitely not for sissies... this business of inexorably moving to the category of "oldest" can be a bit unnerving! I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that in exactly 20 days I will (for the first time) remember something that had happened 50 years earlier. (My space cadet brother turns 50 on February 28th.)

-- Judy
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#13 of 23

     Posted 2/8/05 11:34 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.13 Message 194030.13 replying to 194030.12 194030.12 ]    
Even scarier - my oldest child is in her late forties now!


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#14 of 23

     Posted 2/9/05 9:20 AM   
Judy G. Russell
 
From  Judy G. Russell  Posts 578  Last 9/29/05
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.14 Message 194030.14 replying to 194030.13 194030.13 ]    
Even scarier - my oldest child is in her late forties now!
Yep, getting older is not for sissies!

-- Judy
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#15 of 23

     Posted 2/9/05 12:53 PM   
David Geoffrey Watkins
 
From  David Geoffrey Watkins  Posts 2277  Last Nov-21
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.15 Message 194030.15 replying to 194030.13 194030.13 ]    

Betty

>>>Even scarier - my oldest child is in her late forties now!<<<

Snap, my Frances was born 3 April 1956. (3-4-56 !) so she is nearly 49.

And I didn't get married until I was a few weeks shy of 25 !

My Mum was born 13 February 1895 - 110 years ago next week !

She went to 92 and was the oldest of seven.  Two boys died aged seven and nine. Uncle Bill died age 70 and Auntie Hetty at 42 of cancer.  Emmy went to 98 and Dorothy is still alive age 95.Bill and Emmy were completel blind as is Dorothy.  Mum was nearly so.

Fifty years ago I was a student at the Bomber Command Bombing School learning to drop iron bombs on the Queen's enemies.  Later I went to the Bomber Command Armament School to learn how to introduce Instant Sunshine into the lives of the same people.

Life wasn't so pleasant in those days.

Howevr - times do change and Fuzz has his second birthday tomorrow.

Tempus is Fugiting all over the place ! <G>

Dave

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#16 of 23

     Posted 2/9/05 5:56 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  David Geoffrey Watkins      [Msg # 194030.16 Message 194030.16 replying to 194030.15 194030.15 ]    
My congratulations to Fuzz!  It doesn't seem that long.

Fifty years ago - I was teaching developmental reading in a Fort Worth junior high school, and working part time as director of youth activities in a Baptist church.  My husband of one year was studying for the ministry at the Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth.  Nearly all of that changed.  My husband spent the rest of his life teaching electrical engineering.  I spent most of mine teaching math.  And that was my last church job, though I still attend regularly and sing in the choir almost every Sunday.

My mother was born in 1898, and lived only to be 80.  She was one of eight, the oldest having died before the rest were born.  She had two sisters, one of whom is still living and age 96.  The other lived to be 95.  Her brothers did not live so long though.  I don't think any of them reached 70. 
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#17 of 23

     Posted 2/10/05 1:59 AM   
David Geoffrey Watkins
 
From  David Geoffrey Watkins  Posts 2277  Last Nov-21
To  Betty Clay/SYSOP      [Msg # 194030.17 Message 194030.17 replying to 194030.16 194030.16 ]    

Betty

>>>My congratulations to Fuzz! <<<

Thanx - I'll pass it on.

Dave

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#18 of 23

     Posted 8/13/06 7:13 AM   
Dave Birley/Rock Hill, SC
 
From  Dave Birley/Rock Hill, SC  Posts 1  Last 8/29/06
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.18 Message 194030.18 replying to 194030.12 194030.12 ]    (Unread)
One suggestion: when scanning old pictures like these for the purpose of trying to identify people, scan them at a very high resolution -- 600 dpi or even 1200 dpi. If there is even a scintilla of detail to be brought out, the scanner will do it. The resulting image on your computer will be very large -- perhaps 100 Mb, but after you have examined it to your satisfaction, you can always throw it away. When I do photo restorations as a professional photographer, I never use a resolution smaller than 600 dpi even if the original is an 8x10 and the finished picture is to be and 8x10! It provides much more leeway for tweaking tiny scratches and hairlines. At the moment I am working on one that has a bullet hole right through the middle of it!


Dave

Dave Birley
Rock Hill, SC

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#19 of 23

     Posted 8/13/06 2:34 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Dave Birley/Rock Hill, SC      [Msg # 194030.19 Message 194030.19 replying to 194030.18 194030.18 ]    
Dave,

I'm not Judy, but I found your advice helpful.  I'm not all that good at improving photos after I've scanned them, though some of my software does a pretty good job automatically.

 I had not known you were a professional photographer.  I knew you as the expert on genealogy software.  And you've been missed here when we had questions about that, too.


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#20 of 23

     Posted 8/21/06 11:31 PM   
Betty Clay/SYSOP
 
From  Betty Clay/SYSOP  Posts 4963  Last Jun-19
To  Judy G. Russell      [Msg # 194030.20 Message 194030.20 replying to 194030.1 194030.1 ]    (Unread)
Judy,

I was having another look at your mystery photos, and I wondered if you have sent copies of them to the genealogy society in the county where they were found?  Does that society have a website where you could post the photos with questions?  Or does the GenWeb site for that county have a place for unidentified persons?  It's the GenWeb site in Stewart County, TN that has been helpful with photos - and I've found pictures there that I'd never have located without that site.  There's a lovely set of professional studio portraits of my grandmother's youngest sister and her husband that someone uploaded to the site.  How could I get so lucky?

Betty
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Photographs

Mystery photos - Texas

  
 
     

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