Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a photo of two well-dressed
young men. Several family photos passed down to me show that my
great-grandparents and their sisters and brothers valued formal portraits. Oh,
I understand why they wanted pictures of their children, but some groupings
just seem odd.
For example, here is my grandfather Orvin Davis with his
cousin Raymond Clift. Both had brothers and sisters, yet it’s just the two of
them. Why were the others not included? I want to know.
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| Orvin standing |
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| Orvin Davis and Raymond Clift |
Here is another of my grandfather with someone whose
identity is unknown. Judging by the fullness of his lips, this young man could
be Raymond’s brother Leonard but he does not look enough like earlier photos of
Leonard for me to say conclusively. Possibly it is a cousin from “the other
side of the family,” who left few photos behind. Again I ask why THESE 2 sat
for a portrait.
One duo that I find particularly interesting is my
grandfather’s brother Millard Davis with the HUSBAND of their cousin Pearl
Sullivan: Clyde Strole. If they were together in a candid photo, I would think
nothing of it, but a FORMAL portrait begs the question “Why?” Apparently they
were very good friends.
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| L to R: Clyde Strole and Millard Davis |
For this blog, I realized I needed more information on
Clyde beyond the birth-marriage-death dates, so I entered his name in the
Search box at NewspaperArchive. I was shocked to read this:
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| from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 11 Jan 1933 |
Wow - here is a story I never heard! Could it be true? Or was he falsely accused?
There was no follow-up. Or at least I thought there was
none. Surely the newspaper and readers wanted to know the outcome. After all,
Clyde had married into a well-known, well-connected and much-loved family in
Shenandoah.
I then tried searching just the word “assault” with the
date range of January 1, 1933-February 28, 1933. I found an article. The quality
is so poor that I can understand why the name was not recognizable in the
Search.
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| from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 10 Feb 1933 |
PAGE JURY DEADLOCKED IN STROLE ASSAULT CASE
Luray, Feb 9 (AP) - After two hours’ deliberation the
jury trying Clyde Strole, Norfolk and Western railroad conductor, on a charge
of criminally assaulting a young Shenandoah girl, reported to the court it
could not agree on a verdict.
Strole based his defense on an alibi.
The prosecution contended that the alleged crime was
committed at the girl’s home near the Norfolk and Western yards.
Although the evidence was given behind closed doors, the
public was admitted for the argument.
So there it is – a hung jury. I still do not know whether
there was another trial that exonerated him or sent him to jail.
If you want to see more old photos, please visit the
well-dressed bloggers at Sepia Saturday.
Wendy
© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
