Today, I remember my 9th Great-grandfather, Samuel Sanford. He was born on 30 April 1643 in Milford, New Haven Colony (Now Connecticut). He died on 27 November 1691 in Connecticut Colony.
For more information on FULLNAME see:
My Blog: I have not researched Samuel Sanford personally, however I did write about the Sanford surname.
There are no known photos, paintings, or drawings of FULLNAME. If you have an image of Samuel or know more about his life, I would love to hear from you.
If Samuel Sanford is your ancestor, I would love to share information with you. Please let me know how we are related. Also, like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or comment at the bottom of this post.
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] My goal is to reunite the photos with family members who may have never seen the image.
Dr. Perley Lessard, circa 1934.
The envelope this negative was in says, “Dr. Lessard, 548 ½ Congress #24.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Dr. Perley Lessard, circa 1934.
The 1934 Portland City Directory lists Perley J Lessard as a dentist at 458½ Congress, rm 4, and living at 447 Cumberland. His wife is Rose.
The 1940 Census lists the 42-year-old Perley Lessard living at 16A Deering Street. His occupation is Dentist. Rose, his 36-year-old wife, is a dentist’s assistant. Both were born in Maine. Living with them is their 11-year-old daughter, Jacqueline,
This photo is of Perley Lessard about 1934 before he and Rose moved to Deering Street.
Ancestry has nine public trees that refer to Pearl “Perley” Joseph Lessard “Lessor.” Family Search has profile L5ZM-2TN for Perley Joseph Lessard. I uploaded two photos of him to his Family Search Memories.
Jacqueline Lessard, circa 1935 (age 6)
This negative envelope says, “Dr. Perley Lessard, Deering St., #820.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Jacqueline Lessard, circa 1935 (age 6)
Based upon the photo package number (#820), the photo was taken about 1935.
The 1940 Census lists the 42-year-old Perley Lessard, his wife Rose, and his 11-year-old daughter, Jacqueline living at 16A Deering Street. They lived in the “same house” in 1935.
This is a photo of Jacqueline Lessard about 1935 when she was about six years old.
Family Search has profile L5CL-ZQ6 for Jacqueline Lessard, born 12 July 1928 to Perley Joseph and Rove (Gagnon) Lessard. Jacqueline died in 1970, according to her profile. Interestingly enough, a search for Jacqueline Lessard yielded no results; however, Perley Joseph Lessard appears in five public Ancestry trees, one of them includes Jacqueline. So, it seems something is wrong with Ancestry’s record indexing. In any event, I uploaded a photo of Jacqueline to her Family Search Memories.
1934, 1935, and 1936 Portland City Directories list no Lillian Levesque and no one with the Levesque surname living at 551 Cumberland any of those years.
A review of the 1930 Census found 33 Lillian Levesque’s in the United States during 1930—three in Maine and one in New Hampshire.
Lillian, the 26-year-old wife of Omer Levesque, lives in Lisbon, Maine.
Lillian, the 19-year-old daughter of Joseph and Blanchette Levesque, lives in Auburn, Maine.
Lillian, the nine-year-old daughter of Louis & Mabel Levesques, lives in Van Buren.
Lillian, the 17-year-old-daughter of Anna Levesque, lives in Hooksett, New Hampshire.
This photo, taken about 1934 or 1935, is of a young woman probably in her late teens or early 20s. It could be either the Auburn or the Hookset Lillian. Also, it could be one of the many other Lillian Levesque’s in the United States and Canada. As such, I cannot identify the Lillian Levesque in this photo.
I have added her photo to Dead Fred. If you can identify which Lillian Levesque this is, I’d love to hear from you.
Mary Lekousi, circa 1935.
This negative envelope says, “Miss Mary Lekousi, 1005 Congress, #418.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Mary Lekousi, circa 1935.
The 1935 Portland City Directory lists Eustace, his wife Helen, and a George Lekousi living at 1005 Congress.
Ancestry Family Trees suggest this is Mary Eustace Lekousi, daughter of Eustace and Helen Lekouski, born 5 April 1916.
Although Mary’s face is slightly out of focus in this photo, the flowers and her dress are crisp. A view of the 1934 Portland High School yearbook confirms this is the same young woman.
Ancestry has four public trees that refer to Mary Eustace Lekousi. Family Search does not have a profile for Mary or her parents.
This negative envelope says, “Mrs. Elton Libby, 69 Sherman St #993.”
Why I believe this to be the individual.
Joan Libby, circa 1936.
The 1936 Portland City Directory lists Alton J. Libby and his wife Elinor C, living at 69 Sherman.
The 1940 Census lists Elton J Libby and his wife Elenor, living in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine. It also indicates the couple was living in Portland in 1935. With them is their six-year-old daughter, Joan A. Libby.
Ancestry Family Trees suggest this is Joan L Libby, born 20 July 1933.
This photo was taken about 1936 when Joan was about three years old.
Ancestry has five public trees that refer to Joan L. Libby. Family Search has profile G88N-J6Q for Joan A Libby, daughter of Elton J and Elinor (Tebbetts) Libby. So, I uploaded this photo of her to her Family Search Memories.
Confirmed to be Joan Libby by a grandson.
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 her image to Dead Fred.
There was one individual that I could not differentiate from several people with the same name in the same location. I uploaded her photo to Dead Fred.
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.
Today, I remember my 4th Great-grandfather, Asa Taft. He was born on 29 April 1774 in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts Colony.
Asa married Sarah Whitney on 18 September 1794 in Peru, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. After Sarah died in 1813, Asa married Lucy Fuller in Triangle, Broome County New York. Asa may have married a third time, to Lucy Wilson, sometime after 1825.
He died on 17 March 1839 in Triangle, Broome County, New York and was buried in the Taft Cemetery in Triangle.
For more information on Asa Taft see:
My Blog: I haven’t researched Asa yet, however I have looked at the Taft surname here.
There are no known photos, paintings, or drawings of Asa Taft (1774-1839). If you have an image of Asa or know more about his life, I would love to hear from you.
If Asa is your ancestor, I would love to share information with you. Please let me know how we are related. Also, like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or comment at the bottom of this post.
This week, for Treasure Chest Tuesday, I look at clippings from a page of the Donna Darling Collection.
Clipping: Plaza – Let’s Go – Donna Darling Collection
“Plaza – Let’s Go” showed the movie “The U. P. Trail” from Zane Grey’s great novel. For Vaudeville, “Donna Montran and Her ‘Bathing Beauties’ is the headliner. This ad doesn’t say when or where the show occurred. However, Donna went by Montran in her Bathing Beauties shows during 1920 and 1921. Along with Donna on the bill were:
Billy and Eddie Gorman – Passing Songs of 1920
Bo Peep and Jack Horner – Kathlyn Arnold and George L. Cohan.
Bart Doyle – Chesterfieldian Entertainer
The Great Richards.
It also mentions the show played Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. And in the margin between two clippings was a handwritten note that said “Worchester Mass.”
Image rotated horizontally for readability.
Analysis
Worchester Evening Gazette 27 Dec 1920 via Genealogy Bank.
My review of available online newspapers found an ad, via Genealogy Bank, from the Worchester Evening Gazette, 27 December 1920, that is almost identical. It advertised “Plaza – Let’s Go” and included the same vaudeville acts. Other newspaper issues and pages indicated that Donna’s show played at the Plaza in Worchester on December 27, 28, & 29, 1920.
That fills a gap I had in her show schedule from her playing at the Palace Theater in Hartford, CT, December 22-25 and playing the Plaza Theater in Bridgeport, CT, between 30 December 1929 and 1 January 1921.
Actions
I added the following to her list of shows:
December 27-29, 1924 – “Donna Montran and Her ‘Bathing Beauties’” played Plaza-Let’s Go in Worchester, MA.
There are four more clippings from the Donna Darling Collection which relate to this show. Additionally, I found six articles in three newspapers on Genealogy Bank that document the show even more. I will include them in detail when I write about this show in detail.
After lack of success in finding the mother of my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Manning) Brown, I decided to do what I call a deep dive. “Grandma Brown” was born in Kentucky, probably in 1876 or 1878. Her father was John William Manning, who may have also called “Joe.” Her mother (name unclear) likely died before 1885. She and her sister Phoebe probably traveled to Minnesota in 1882 and was undoubtedly in Minnesota, living with her grandparents Enoch and Minerva Mannin by 1885. So the window that Grandma Brown was in Kentucky was short, 1876 to 1885 at most.
A quick look at my tree and I discovered I have 431 people in my family tree with events in Kentucky, so I decided to create a Kentucky Research Toolkit to help with my research of these many Kentucky ancestors.
Looking at the locations of particular interest based on the life events of Mary, her father, John William, and her grandfather, Enoch, I need to look at:
Kentucky from 1823 to 1888
Bath County 1823-1860
Bath County, Owingsville 1823-1860
Carter County, 1845 – 1888
Carter County, Grayson – 1843-1865
Rowan County c. 1880?
Rowan County, Pine Grove – c. 1880?
Next, I typically print a Family Group Sheet from my Family Tree Maker software to have “What I Think I Know” handy. It can help determine if a document concerns the “right family.”
Besides knowing the dates to research, I need to learn more about Kentucky and its counties.
Kentucky was the 15th state in the Union, admitted on 1 June 1792.
Bath County was formed in 1811 from Montgomery County; its capital is Owingsville.
Carter County was formed in 1838 from Greenup and Lawrence Counties; its capital is Grayson.
Rowan County was formed in 1856 from Fleming and Morgan Counties; its capital is Morehead.
All three counties are in the Eastern Coal Field region of Northeast Kentucky. Coal mining is the primary industry in the region.
This week, for Photo Friday, I identify the people in five more envelopes from the Ethel Wight Studio Collection
