Friends Album: Checking in with the Neighbors

A while back, I found a 1920 census listing for Friends Album subject Frederick A. Young and fam and noticed that there was a family by the name of Wilson in the household next door. Is this a coincidence, given that there’s an Ellis Wilson in the Friends Album? Certainly ‘Wilson’ is a very common surname, but I felt I needed to dig deeper to see if I could find a connection to these neighbor Wilsons.

Ellis’ parents were Clarence T. Wilson and his wife, Susan. I haven’t really fleshed out their extended family or previous generations at this point because I was more interested in looking for more recent generations.

The Wilsons living next to the Youngs in 1920 are George R. (age 58), his wife Libby A. (age 60) and George’s mother, Elizabeth A (age 74). George is listed as a farmer.

The Wilsons are living next door to the Youngs in 1910 as well. Daughter Emma M. (age 24) is in the household at that time, as is son George E (age 15).

In 1900, the clan is even bigger. Another daughter, Libbie Belle, is with the family, along with mother-in-law Emily Hirst. Not only that, but there is another Wilson household right next door to them (on the other side from the Youngs): Albert and Annie, along with their son, Charles.

Most of these neighbor Wilsons have roots in New York, Connecticut or England. After looking a bit more into Clarence’s family history, however, he and his siblings were born in Massachusetts. Clarence’s parents hailed from Connecticut though. I’m trying to flesh out his father’s life a bit, but for now, there’s no clear connection between Ellis and his family and the Wilsons who were neighbors to the Youngs.

I suppose that there doesn’t really have to be such a connection between Ellis Wilson and the Youngs pictured in the album. The album is titled “Our Friends” and so it could be a hodge-podge of a acquaintances who are not related to each other in any way.

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1900 U.S. Census, Fairfield County, Connecticut, population schedule, Newton, page 10, dwelling 90, family 94, Albert Wilson and family; Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 May 2011).

1910 U.S. Census, Fairfield County, Connecticut, population schedule, Newton, page 15, dwelling 170, family 174, Geroge R Wilson and family; Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 May 2011).

1920 U.S. Census, Fairfield County, Connecticut, population schedule, Newton, page 14, dwelling 240, family 249, George R. Wilson and family; Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 May 2011).

Friends Album Finale: Photos 74 & 75

Below are the final two photos in the Friends Album. Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

Friend No. 74 is puzzlingly familiar:

Friend No. 74

Look familiar? If this isn’t Friend No. 71, than it’s his twin brother with a mustache. Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

Friend 74 on the left and Friend 71.

What kills me is their hair is parted and swept back in exactly the same manner. Even their ties are tied badly in the same way. The left eyebrow has the same arch in each photo. I’m willing to bet this is the same guy (as opposed even to an identical twin).

So which photo was taken first and how close together in time? I’m tempted to say he took one photo, shaved the stache and had the photo retaken (although I doubt that’s what really happened), given how similar the hair is in both photos. But… the photos were taken in what appears to be the same studio, with the same props!

While that puzzle drives me slowly mad, let’s take a look at the final photo in the album. He’s quite faded, but what a cutie!

Friend 75

I played with Curves a bit in Photoshop to darken up this photo and bring out more detail. The original is quite a bit more faded. This appears to be the one and only candid shot in the album. I don’t think it was professionally taken. Might it have been this baby’s first attempt at crawling that prompted someone to pick up a camera? This is a very flimsy print. I need to research the type of paper it’s on a bit more to see if I can date it.

Now, even though we’ve reached the end of the album, my work is far from finished. I still hope to find the living descendants of the YOUNG family members pictured in this album. I’ll continue to update you on my progress and most likely solicit your advice!

Friends Album: Photos 72 & 73

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

I believe that Photo No. 72 was taken at the same time and place as Photo No. 70:

Friend No. 72

Both photos are tintypes and have been trimmed distinctively, but what tipped me off to their being photographed at the same time is the arm rest in both photos. The style of dress in both photos is from the 1860s as well.

Photo No. 73 was stuck behind No. 72 in the album and I couldn’t take it out to scan it. Here is a photo of the photo:

Friend No. 73

This subject’s dress is quite adult, but I think she is barely a teenager. This photo is a small carte de visite.

[Photos 74 & 75]

Sunday’s Obituary: Steel in the Eye

In my research into descendants of the subjects in the Friends Album, I found the following obit:

“Ernest Hawley of Hawleyville, a grocer, 26 years old, died yesterday at his home in that village. He was struck in the eye by a bit of steel a short time ago and spinal meningitis developed. He leaves a widow.”

Not just a widow. Apparently, a pregnant widow — Cornelia. Their son Ernest G. Hawley was born in 1906. He and his mother are listed as living with her parents in the 1910 and 1920 censuses.

Cornelias’s parents were Frederick A. Young and his wife, Urania. I believe Frederick A. Young to be a subject of the Friends Album, pictured here.

I found memorials at FindaGrave for Ernest Hawley and Cornelia. So far, I’m having a bit more trouble picking up the trail for Ernest G. Hawley. I haven’t been able to find any military records for him, which I thought would be a sure thing. I did find a Social Security Death Index record for someone who may be him, but I need to strengthen the connection before I put too much stock in that record.

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“Obituary,” The Hartford Courant (1887-1922), 19 Feb 1905, p. 7, ProQuest Historical Newspapers Hartford Courant (1764-1985); (http://researchport.umd.edu : accessed 8 May 2011).

Friends Album: Photos 70 & 71

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

I have to admit, Friend No. 70 kind of freaks me out a bit:

Friend No. 70

It’s her eyes! The above is a scan of a tintype, which I’m tentatively dating in the early 1860s, due to her style of dress.

Friend No. 71 was quite the dapper dresser:

Friend No. 71

I couldn’t get this carte de visite out of the album, so I snapped a photo instead. I wanted to research the long coat he is wearing — that and his other clothing/accessories can help date the photo. I think the coat is called a morning coat, which according to this site became popular in the early 1880s.

[Photos 72 & 73]

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History in the Making, “Men’s Costume 1885 – 1910,” (http://www.historyinthemaking.org : accessed 2 May 2011).

Friends Album: Photos 68 and 69

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

We’re in the home stretch for posting photos from the Friends Album. These next two photos are from the last two-page spread in the album.

Here’s Friend No. 68, yet another tintype that I couldn’t remove and has proved a challenge to photograph:

Friend No. 68

What a jaunty, beachy backdrop! He looks completely overdessed for it, but I’m sure that was the norm for the age.

Friend No. 69 looks sooooo familiar to me and I thought this photo may even be a repeat or a second image of a friend who was already featured:

Friend No. 69

Alas, I went through all of the men previously featured and didn’t see an exact match. I chalk up the resemblance to the probability he is related to one or more of the friends already featured.

[Photos 70 & 71]

Friends Album: Photos 66 & 67

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

Photo 66 features a very somber, blurry little girl:

Friend No. 66

The above photo is a tintype, as is the next one.

I love the next photo and really wish I could get it out of the album to scan it because I’m having a really hard time photographing it:

Friend No. 67

I definitely think this is a hidden-mother shot. This is a young infant and there’s no way he/she is that tall (or able to sit upright unassisted). I’m assuming the voluminous robes are hiding mom, who is holding the baby upright.

[Photos 68 & 69]

Friends Album: Photos 64 & 65

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

I think Friend No. 64 is a sibling of Friends 62 and 63:

Friend No. 64

The above is a photo of the photo because I couldn’t remove it from the album to scan it. I was able to remove Friend No. 65′s photo, a carte de visite:

Friend No. 65

One note about the photo above: the fabric is very similar to that in Friend No. 63′s photo. Yet another sibling? Is this enough to say that the other photo was taken in Danbury too? Not really, but intriguing nonetheless.

The reverse of the above photo shows quite a different version of the imprint for the J. H. Folsom studio:

Reverse of Friend No. 65's photo

The address of 161 Main Street in Danbury is one we haven’t encountered before for any of the Danbury photographers. In 2009, it was Democratic headquarters:

161 Main Street in Danbury, Conn., on Google Street View

A search on Ancestry revealed the studio at this address in 1886 and 1887 (but known as Mrs. J. H. Folsom’s).

[Photos 66 & 67]

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Danbury, Connecticut Directories, 1885-1890. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 April 2011).

Friends Album: Photos 62 & 63

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

Photo 62 is a tintype:

Friend No. 62

Hmmm… Hair parted on the side, so probably a boy. The clothing is very distinctive and I wonder if it’s ethnic dress of some sort. He doesn’t look very happy, does he? Note that his cheeks are hand-colored to look rosy.

I’m so sad about the state of this next photo:

Friend No. 63

I dare not try to remove this photo from the album. This photo has a slight rise to it, kind of bubbling up from the page, which I think is part of why it has shattered. I think the glass is above the photo rather than this being a glass image. Unfortunately, the photo beneath has started to tear with the crack of the glass through the middle of the photo.

There are clues in this photo — this child’s hair is parted down the middle. Therefore, she’s probably a girl. She’s wearing a rather large pendant. The coloring is quite extensive, but I still think it was done by hand.

I think these two photo subjects are related and I believe the next photo we’ll see is another sibling.

I’m struggling to provide a date range for these photos. I’m going to go broad and say 1870s-1880s.

[Photos 64 & 65]

Friends Album: Photos 60 & 61

Read from the beginning here. **Click on the images below for larger versions**

We’ve now moved into a section of the Friends Album with much smaller photos. I wasn’t able to remove the next two pictures for scanning and so I photographed them instead. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if anything is written on the back of either one:

Friend No. 60 showing some leg.

Notice anything unusual in the photo above (other than the daring ankle shot)? This babe is tied in place:

There is a string holding Friend No. 60 in place.

It’s not as easy to tell if there’s anything holding Friend No. 61 in place, but that blanket could be hiding mom or braces:

Friend No. 61.

I also noted that Friend No. 61 is wearing a rather large crucifix.

[Photos 62 & 63]