Karnes, Kasper, Katz, & Kearney

Photo Friday
Ethel Wight Collection
By Don Taylor

This week, for Photo Friday, I identify the people in five more envelopes from the Ethel Wight Studio Collection[i]. The envelopes contain the names who paid for the photos, not necessarily of the individual portrayed in the image. As such, it is vital to analyze the pictures and information to identify the individual therein.[ii] Ultimately, my goal is to reunite the photos with family members who may have never seen the image.

Nurse Eileen W. Kearney, circa 1935

The envelope this negative was in says, “Miss Eileen Kearney, ME Eye & Ear Infirmary #260.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Eileen Kearney as a student nurse at 79 Bramhall (Maine Eye & Ear Infirmary) and residing at 804 Congress.
• The 1936 Biddeford City Directory lists Eileen Kearney as a nurse working in Portland and residing at 42 Orchard. Meanwhile, the Portland City Directory lists Eileen Kearney as a graduate nurse.
• The 1940 US Census places 36-year-old Eileen living with her father (Patrick), two sisters (Ethel & Rose), and two brothers (J. Emmel and Michael) at 42 Orchard. She is a trained nurse in private duty.

According to Ancestry public trees, Eileen W Kearney was born in Maine in 1903 to Patrick and Catherine (Healey) Kearney. I am confident this is a photo of Eileen about 1935 when she graduated from nursing school.

Ancestry has three public trees that refer to Eileen. Family Search has a profile for Eileen W. Kearney, daughter of Patrick Carney “Kearney” and Katherine Welch or Healey.  So, I  have uploaded two photos of her to her Memories G9RH-JZ2.

Jean Katz, circa 1936

This negative envelope says, “Miss Jean Katz, 79 Cumberland #1096.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1930 US Census lists Lewis A. Katz as the head of the household living at 79 Cumberland. Living with him are four sons and two daughters, 19-year-old Ida and 17-year-old Nettie. Lewis was born in Austria, and all of the children were born in Maine.
• The 1920 US Census lists Isaac L (age 50) and Bessie Katz (age 35) living with their six children (Jessie, Moses, Harry, Ida, Nettie, and Reuben) at 230 Fore Street, Portland, Maine. Nettie was five-years-old (born in 1914).
• The 1940 Census lists 26-year-old Nettie Katy (Katz) living at 79 Cumberland with her father Louis, two brothers, and her sister Ida.

Alternative Individuals

The name written on the envelope might be Jenn, Jenu, or Jena. If so, I still haven’t been successful in finding either Nettie or Ida ever was known as Jenn, Jenu, or Jena. (Ida’s birth record indicates she was born Ida Sarah Katz on 10 Feb 1911 in Portland.) None of the records I’ve encountered include Nettie’s middle name.

Family Search does not appear to have a profile for Ida, Nettie, or Jean Katz. However, it does have a profile for I Louis Katz (GCYH-MC2) that includes Isaac, his wife Bessie, and three of his sons, Jessie, Moses, and Harry, but does not link to any siblings, parents, or his daughters.

I was unsuccessful in finding any Ancestry public trees that refer to the Isaac Lewis Katz family of Portland, Maine. I have added one photo of Jean/Jena to Dead Fred. I uploaded a second photo of Jean Katz to my Flickr photostream.

Miss Kasper, October 1942

This negative envelope says, “Miss Kasper – Oct 1942.”

Rather than a standard photo, this group of seven photos appear to be copies of pictures brought in for reproduction in October 1942.

What I found out regarding this individual.

• The 1942 Portland City Directory lists only one family named Kasper, Fred & Mildred, who lived in Old Orchard Beach.
• The 1940 US Census lists Mildred Kasper living at 45 Fern Ave, Old Orchard Beach, with her daughters Isabell (age 21) and Helen (age 16).
• A youthful image of Isabell Kasper of Old Orchard Beach does not look enough like this Miss Kasper, in my opinion, to be correct.
• Similarly, the 1943 Portland city directory failed to yield any “Casper” surnamed candidates to be this Miss Kasper.

I failed to identify Miss Kasper any further than her surname. I uploaded two photos of “Miss Kasper” to my Flickr photostream.

Miss Kasper, October 1942

This negative envelope says, “Miss Kasper – Apr 6 – 1942.”

This is a second package of three negatives of Miss Kasper brought in for reproduction in April 1942.

Again, I have been unable to identify Miss Kasper other than her surname.

I uploaded two more photos of Miss Kasper to my Flickr photostream. 

Ruth Karnes, Nurse, circa 1936.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Ruth Karnes, St Barnabas Hosp #775.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1937 Portland City Directory lists Ruth Karnes, a student nurse at 231 Woodford (St. Barnabas Hospital), residing at 20 Norwood.
• The 1938 Portland City Directory lists Ruth A Karnes living and working as a nurse at 485 Cumberland, Apartment 11.
• Ruth A Karnes married Russell E Severance on 23 May 1938 in Maine.
• Ancestry public trees indicate Ruth Anna Karnes, wife of Russell Evert Severance, was born 21 Jul 1915, Haynesville, Aroostook, Maine, to Samuel Henry and Mildred Lovina (Reed) Karnes.

Ruth Anna Karnes is found in 20 Ancestry public trees. Family Search has profile LRN1-ZT7 for Ruth A Karnes. So, I  have uploaded two photos of her to her Family Search Memories.

Conclusion

This was one of the worst weeks I’ve ever had in my photo identification project.

• I identified only two of four individuals and uploaded some of their images to their Family Search Memories.
• I confirmed one individual’s name and residence; however, I could not place that individual within a family. As such, I updated her photos to my Flicker photostream.
• Finally, there was one individual (two negative packages) for whom I couldn’t determine the first name. I uploaded four of 10 photos of her to my Flickr photostream.

If any of these photos are of your family member, I would love to hear your reaction. Especially if this photo is of a loved one for whom you hadn’t seen this photograph before.

Due to software limitations, the images uploaded to Family Search and Flickr have a higher image quality than the images linked here.

For all postings of the Ethel Wight Collection, please see here.

Endnotes

[i] The Wight Studio was in Portland, Maine. Many thanks to Ethel Wight’s family for access to and permission to use the collection of their great aunt.

[ii] These images were converted to positives using a lightbox, a Nikon camera and computer software.