Photo Friday – York & Young.

Ethel Wight Collection – Part 145
By Don Taylor

This week, for Photo Friday, I identified the people in five more envelopes from the Ethel Wight Studio Collection[i]. The envelopes typically contain the name of the person who paid for the photos, not necessarily of the individual portrayed in the image. 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.

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Mary Young, Student Nurse at Maine Eye & Ear Infirmary, 1934.

The envelope this negative was in says, “Miss Mary Young – ME. Eye & Ear Infirmary #235.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Mary G. Young as a Student Nurse at 79 Bramhall (Maine Eye and Eary Infirmary), residing at 804 Congress.
• The 1932 Portland High School Yearbook shows Mary Gwendolyn Young. The photo appears to be of the same young woman.
• The 1930 US Census lists Mary G. Young, the 16-year-old daughter of Harley and Bertha Young. Mary, her parents, and her siblings were all born in Canada.
• The 1937 Portland City Directory lists Mary G. Young as an Instructor at 79 Bramhall.
• New Hampshire Marriage Records indicate that Mary Gwendolyn Young was the 23-year-old bride of Alton E. Moody. Mary was a Nurse, R.N., and the daughter of Harley F. and Bertha J. (Davis) Young.

I am confident this 1934 photo is of Mary Gwendolyn Young, who was born on 11 January 1914 in Port Elgin, Westmorland, New Brunswick, Canada, and who married Alton Elwood Moody on 27 March 1937 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Ancestry has eight public trees that refer to Mary Gwendolyn Young. Family Search has profile LT7L-NNX for Mary. I uploaded a photo of “Gwen” to her Family Search Memories. I also uploaded two additional pictures of her to my Flickr PhotoStream (Photo 1, Photo 2).

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Mary Gwendolyn Young, Nurse, 1935.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Mary Young Me. Eye & Ear Infirmary #949.”

It is always great when someone liked their photos one year and returned to Ethel Wight Studio. In this case, the photo package 949 indicates it was taken about a year later than #235, as reviewed above.

I am confident this 1935 photo is of Mary Gwendolyn Young, who was born on 11 January 1914 in Port Elgin, Westmorland, New Brunswick, Canada, and who married Alton Elwood Moody on 27 March 1937 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Ancestry has eight public trees that refer to Mary Gwendolyn Young. Family Search has profile LT7L-NNX for Mary. I uploaded a photo of Mary to her Family Search Memories. I also uploaded one additional photo of her to my Flickr PhotoStream.

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Nita Young, circa 1934.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Nita Young, 120 Free St. – Y.W.C.A #481.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Nita Young residing at 120 Free.
• The 1935 Portland City directory lists Nita Young as a bookkeeper at 95 Parris and residing at 57 Deering.
• The 1937 Portland City Directory lists Nita Young as a bookkeeper at 95 Parris and residing at 306 Brackett.
• The 1938 Portland City Directory lists Nita J. Young as a clerk at CCP&L, 443 Congress, residing at 306 Brackett.
• The 1940 Portland City Directory lists Nita J. Young as a clerk at 449 Congress, residing at 306 Brackett. 449 Congress is the address for Cumberland County Power and Light Co.
• The 1940 US Census lists 27-year-old Jane N Young as a Stenographer at the Electric Power Company. She lived in the “same place” in 1935 and was born in Maine.

I am confident this 1934 photo is of Nita Young, daughter of Henry and Maude Young, born in Mars Hill, Maine, on 20 February 1912, when she was about 21.

Ancestry has 15 public trees that refer to Anita Jane Young. Family Search has profile LKPM-C1P for Anita J. Young, daughter of Henry E. and Maud (Drost) Young. I uploaded this photo of Nita to her Family Search Memories. I also uploaded two additional pictures of her to my Flickr PhotoStream (Photo 1, Photo 2).

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Patricia Louise Young, circa 1934 (age 6).

This negative envelope says, “Miss Patricia Young, 1638 Forest Ave #425.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Augustus S. and Catherine L. Young living at 1638 Forest Ave.
• The 1940 US Census enumerated Augustus and Katherine Young owning their home at 1638 Forest Ave. Living with them are 18-year-old Nathan, 12-year-old Patricia, and 73-year-old mother-in-law Katherine Meservey.

I am confident this 1934 photo is of Patricia Louise Young, daughter of Augustus L. and Katherine (Messerey) Young, born 15 January 1928, when she was about six.

Ancestry has two public trees that refer to Patricia Louise Young. Family Search does not appear to have a profile for Patricia Louise, so I uploaded her photo to Dead Fred. I also uploaded a second photo of Patricia to my Flickr Photostream.

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Vera York, Portland, Maine, circa 1935/1936.

This negative envelope says, “Miss Vera York, State St Hospital #956.”

Why I believe this to be the individual.

• The 1939 and 1940 Portland City Directories list Vera L. York as a nurse living at 304 Spring.
• The 1940 US Census lists Vera York as a registered nurse in private duty lodging at 304 Spring. She is 25 years old, born in Maine, and lived in the “same place” in 1935.

I am sure this is a photo of Vera York taken about 1935 when she was about 21 years old. Vera was born in Wells, Maine, to Carl and Maud (Hardison) York on 10 August 1914.

Ancestry has seven public trees that refer to Vera York; Family Search has profile GFZ4-1T7 for her. I uploaded this photo of Vera to her Family Search Memories. Based upon the photo package number, #956, it appears to be from a few months after the earlier 1935 photo I wrote about last week. It is from probably late 1935 or possibly early 1936.

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Conclusion

I identified all five individuals. Four have Family Search profiles, so I uploaded their images to their Family Search Memories. One did not have a Family Search profile, so I uploaded her photo to Dead Fred.

I would love to hear your reaction if any of these photos are of your family member. 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 quality than those linked to here.

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

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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.