Ethel Wight Collection – Part 94
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.
Patricia Joan Merrill, circa 1936 (age 6)
This negative envelope says, “Mrs. Wm Merrilll, 230 Spring St. #1005.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
- The 1935 Portland City Directory lists William S Merrill, Jr., and his wife, J. Patricia, living at 230 Spring.
- The 1940 US Census lists William Merrill, his wife Patricia, and his ten-year-old daughter, Joan, living with Patricia’s father, William Kelley, at 230 Spring Street.
I am confident this is a photo of Patricia Joan Merrill, born 1 June 1929 to William Stephen and Josephine Patricia (Kelley) Merrill, about 1936, when Joan was about six years old.
Ancestry has seven public trees that refer to Patricia Joan Merrill. Family Search has profile G91G-B17 for Patricia Joan Merrill. I have uploaded a photo of Joan to her Family Search Memories.
Zula (née Crone) Valle, circa 1935.
The envelope this negative was in says, “Mrs. Donald Valle, 108 Newbury St, #552.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
- The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Donald D Valle and his wife Zula living at 108 Newbury. Zula is the proprietor at 660 forest Ave and 151 Woodford. Donald is a manager at 151 Woodford.
- The 1940 Census lists Donald and his 30-year-old, Canadian-born wife, Zula B, living at 79 Chenery Street.
I am confident this is Zula (Crone) Valle about 1935.
Ancestry has 19 public trees that refer to Zula B Crone. Family Search has profile G8RN-FRH for Zula B Crone. I have uploaded two photos of Zula to her Family Search Memories. I have also uploaded a third photo of her to my Flickr Photostream.
Richard L Valle, circa 1935 (Age 4)
This negative envelope says, “ Mrs. Donald Valle, Son, 108 Newbury St, #551.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
- On the same day, Zula Valle had her photo taken; she also had a photo of her son taken.
- Ancestry Family Trees suggest the son was Richard, born 2 May 1931.
I am confident these photos are of Richard Della Valle (1931-1995) about 1935.
Ancestry has nine public trees that refer to Richard Della Valle, son of Donald and Zula (Crone) Valle. Family Search does not have a profile for Richard, so I have uploaded his photo to Dead Fred.
Frances Veazie, circa 1934.
This negative envelope says, “Mrs. Wm D Veazie, 286 State St #100.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
- The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Rev. William D Veazie and his wife Frances R, living at 286 State, apartment 2.
- The 1930 US Census lists Francis R Veazie, the 29-year-old, Massachusetts-born wife of William D Veazie, living at 56 Morning Street in Portland.
- Ancestry Family Trees suggest this is Frances Russell Chase (1901-1988), the wife of Rev. William Dawes Veazie.
I am confident this is Francis Russell (Chase) Veazie (1901-1988) about 1934.
Ancestry has 17 public trees that refer to Francis R Hinkley (Chase) Veazie. Family Search has profile 9KX8-J5J for Frances Russell Hinkley Chase. I have uploaded two photos of Frances to her Family Search Memories.
Photo confirmed to be of Frances Veazie by a grand-child of Frances.
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Private Larry Vitone, USA, 26th Infantry Division
This negative envelope says, “Private Larry Vitone.”
What I tried to identify this individual.
- I searched for Vitone and Vitore in the Portland area from 1935-1945 without success.
I looked at alternate individuals.
There were four Lawrence Vittones who registered for the WW II draft.
- Lawrence Vittone was born on 16 Feb 1892 in Gastonville, PA. He is too old in the 1940s to be the man in these photos.
- Frank Lawrence Vittone was born on 18 Dec 1906 in Gastonville, PA; however, a photo of him was clearly of a different individual.
- Lawrence Vittone was born on 18 May 1909 in Gastonville, PA.
- Lawrence H Vittoni was born on 21 Oct 1909 in Derry, PA.
I have found no records that indicate the last two served during World War II.
The patch on the soldier’s sleeve indicates he was attached to the 26th Infantry Division.
I’ve searched for anyone with the surname Vitone, Vittone, Vitoni, or similar and have found no one with a similar name in the 26th Infantry Division during WWII. Hopefully, someone with better WW II roster search skills can identify this soldier.
I am not confident that I have read the surname correctly, which contributes to my not
identifying the individual in this photo, so I’ve only uploaded it to my Flickr photostream. If identified, I can contribute more pictures of this individual.
Conclusion
- I fully identified four of the five Three of them have Family Search profiles, so I uploaded their images to their Family Search Memories
- I identified one individual that did not have a Family Search profile but did appear in Ancestry trees, so I posted his image to Dead Fred.
- I failed to identify one person. I uploaded his photo here.
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, Dead Fred, 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.
