Photo Friday - Relatives?

During the month of March, I am shining the light on my Irish roots.

One of my favorite unidentified photos!

Because it was in a photo album passed to me through my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker, it is very likely these folks are part of my Irish family. But who were they?

Photo was captioned
Taken in Nova Scotia Canada

I tried to convince myself that I was looking at Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s brother Denis and family in Croom, County Limerick, Ireland.  However, the building does not look like what I would expect to see in Ireland although I’ve never been to Ireland so my observations are based on what I have seen online and on television, right or wrong.

 

Apparently, my great-grandmother and her children traveled to Nova Scotia around 1920, maybe earlier. The buildings in the two photos do not look exactly the same, but maybe it is just the angle. Could it be that Mary Theresa’s brother John Sheehan settled in Canada rather than New York like his sisters?

 

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: 2 Kids and a Pony

 Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a postman delivering the mail via horse and cart reminded me of this studio photo:

It is glued onto the black paper quickly chipping away in my grandaunt Helen Killen Parker’s photo album. The two children are just another of the hundreds of mysteries and unidentified friends and family gathered in photo albums and shoeboxes. Studying the faces, enlarging the photo, reviewing family units, and comparing to other photos have produced little to help me draw any conclusions about this charming pair.

The only REAL clues lie in the other photos on the 2-page spread.

On the same page is this phuzzy photo:  

Are they the same children a few years later?

The other photos are just chips, maybe half inch wide by 1”-1.5” long like this one:

The photos seem much older than others that Helen may have taken herself, so I wonder if the photos belonged to her mother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh. Maybe the pictures are of her as a young girl. However, she had at least 2 brothers and 4 sisters, so a photo of just 2 children does not seem likely. Nor does it seem likely she would have had a professionally-produced photo of only two of her own 8 children.

Another thought that just today occurred to me is that maybe the two children are Helen’s father John Joseph Killeen and his sister Bridget as children. That certainly matches the family makeup. Do the photos look like they date from the 1870s-early 1880s when they would have been children in Ireland?

What about this photo of a young boy with cow? The boy certainly resembles the child in the cart. Is that a thatched roof in the distance?

Thinking out loud here on my computer screen has brought me to a realization that should have been obvious before now: as a descendant of John Fleming Walsh, Mary Theresa’s second husband and Helen’s stepfather, I need to remember that in a blended family, those unidentifiables may very well be from the “other” family whose importance cannot be denied.

Quit horsing around and make your way to Sepia Saturday for more photo phun.

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

What struck a chord with me in this week’s Sepia Saturday photo is the simple act of affection displayed by the woman’s arm draped across the man’s shoulders. Maybe they were listening to some sweet melody on the radio or maybe breaking news that was about to change the world and their lives. Whatever it was, they were in it together.

In March, I like to celebrate my Irish roots. So here are my affectionate Irish family with arms wrapped around each other.

My great grandmother Mary Theresa
Sheehan Killeen Walsh
with her daughter
Catherine Walsh Barany
about 1937

Mae Killeen Holland and husband Cliff, with Helen Killeen
 (two of my great-grandmother's daughters from her first marriage to John Joseph Killeen)
1920ish

two of Mary Theresa's daughters by her second husband John Walsh
Steve and Catherine Walsh Barany
and Jimmy and Tate Walsh Crews
in the Barany home about 1936
Nice stockings, Cat!

Poor man -  got his head chopped off.
I bet he is the grandfather of these mystery children
John Jr. and his sister "Bob"
Photo was labeled Richmond Hill 1920

My paternal grandparents
Julia Walsh and Fred Slade about 1940

Even when they were older, Granny and Granddaddy sat just like that.

My Granny and Granddaddy Julia and Fred

I love these pictures of Granny with her sisters. The Killeen and Walsh sisters remained close throughout their lives.

Catherine Walsh (later Barany)
and my granny Julia Walsh (later Slade)

My granny Julia Walsh with her sister
Tate Walsh probably mid 1920s

“I-rish” you would visit my friends at Sepia Saturday. Give them all a hug for me!

Wendy

© 2017, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Julia's Cousins

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is of a woman hanging laundry. Laundry was never the focus of any of the old photos passed down to me. However, glimpses of mundane chores were caught in several photos, albeit not as artistic as the prompt unfortunately. The laundress appears almost to be floating in the dark, hovering between basket and line.

That same description can be applied to me. When it comes to learning more about my Irish great-grandmother’s sisters and families in New York, I continue to float in the dark, hovering between a “basket” of unidentifiable photos and no strong family “line” to hang them on.

from top to bottom:  Walsh sisters Julia, Catherine, Teresa (Tate)
about 1913 or 1914

Now admittedly, I do know SOME of the players. The day someone snapped this picture of my paternal grandmother and her two sisters Cat and Tate was the same day someone washed clothes. (Do you suppose it was a Monday?) Is that long-legged underwear on the line?

A later photo of my grandmother and some cousins captures a neighbor’s laundry hanging from an upstairs window on what appears to be a retractable clothesline.

Torn photo of Elmira, Julia, and Raymond
I wonder who is missing.

As interesting as that contraption is to me now, the real interest is the children and who might have been in the photo in its original condition.

Since the photo is of my grandmother with her cousin Elmira Christian, daughter of Delia Sheehan and William Christian, I can guess the little boy is Elmira’s brother Raymond, IF I’m correct in guessing the ages of the girls to be about 10-12 and the little boy about 2-3.

What is that cloth? A sheet drying on a rack?
from left to right: Probably Grace Christian,
Julia Walsh, and Elmira Christian

Adding this photo to another one of my grandmother and her cousins almost completes the Christian children. Missing is the baby of the family, William, who was perhaps either a newborn or not yet born at the time.

Another cousin photo was taken the same day, it seems, judging by my grandmother’s dress. It is Julia with Sadie Burns/Byrnes, daughter of Elizabeth Sheehan Burns/Byrnes. The rickety fence, perhaps an extension of the fence in the photo of Julia and the Christian girls, makes me think they were all there together at one time, wherever “there” was – maybe Sadie’s house in New York, maybe Elmira’s house, but would that have been in New Jersey or New York?

Julia Walsh and Sadie Burns

There is so much more to learn about my great-grandmother’s family. Yet the clues are limited. I have found only two descendants, both Delia’s grandchildren. However, neither one seems to know anything at all about their grandmother, not even her maiden name.

Or maybe they know more than they let on but just don’t want to “air the dirty laundry.”

It’s laundry day on Sepia Saturday. See who else is hanging out at the line.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Pay Attention to the Woman in the Hat

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

NOTE: The information about Josie Sheehan and Carl/Charles Krause is in error. This is a different family, not the Josie who was sister to Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh. You can read more recent research on Josie Sheehan HERE.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photograph of the travelers aboard the WALSH Royal Mail and Day Car has prompted me to revisit my mystery family in New York. My great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen WALSH made many trips from Virginia to visit her sisters and possibly a brother. However, I doubt she ever traveled to New York by postbus.

I can sit for hours trying to coax clues from the photos of Mary Theresa’s relatives in New York. I feel that I’m soooo close to identifying not just the relationship but also the names. Unfortunately, too often the clues lack the facts to support a conclusion.

Take this photo, for example.

1918 New York

The men in the front seat are unknown, but I can GUESS that the man riding shotgun is John Sr., last name unknown. Why? Because of photos from 1917 and 1918 with “John Jr” and the same poodle.

John Jr. 1917 New York

John Jr. 1918 New York

The two women with him are my grandaunt Lillie Killeen on the right and possibly John Jr’s grandmother on the left in a hat. I used to think the older woman was my great-grandmother Mary Theresa, but other photos make me second-guess myself.

1918 New York

In this view, the younger man has been replaced with an older man, who was likely John Jr’s grandfather. The same older gentleman is pictured with John Jr in other photos.

John Jr 1918

John Jr 1921

I know for a fact that Mary Theresa had a number of sisters:  Josie, Sarah, and Delia. There also might have been a brother, possibly named John, but that has not been confirmed. Supposedly there was another sister whose name is unknown.

Josie with John Jr.
and Bob/Bobbie/Barbie 1920

Because of this photo of her sister Josie with John Jr and his sister Bob/Bobbie/Barbie, I wanted to think that this was Josie’s family. Josie looks somewhat like the woman on the right in this group photo below.

New York 1921

If so, the older man in the first photo is NOT Josie’s husband Carl/Charles Krause. He was a carpenter, not someone who would wear a uniform. Besides, Josie was a widow and head of household by 1920. In that census, only one child was out of the house:  Hannah. But marriage records at Italiangen.com do not name a husband “John.” The three records for any Hannah Krause and variant spellings do not pan out since no appropriately named children appear in the 1920 census.

John Jr 1917 and maybe his grandmother

This photo from 1917 with John Jr shows a light-haired woman who might possibly be the grandmother. In 1920, the children seem to love this woman whose hair color makes me think they are the same woman. While she does not look particularly like the woman in the hat, she does resemble the woman at the beach with John Jr and Bob/Bobbie/Barbie – despite the darker hair – and the one in some Southern locale with the children.

John Jr and Bob/Bobbie/Barbie
and Unknown 1920

The children had whooping cough, according to the back of a similar photo.

So now assuming that the older woman and man in the car are the grandparents of John Jr and Bob/Bobbie/Barbie, the question is whether the couple are Mary Theresa’s sister and brother-in-law or brother and sister-in-law. If this is her brother, then which of the young parents is the direct relation? I doubt “John Sr” was a Sheehan because I cannot find John Sheehan Jr with a sister named Barbara, Barbie, Roberta, Bobbie in the 1920 or even 1930 census. Besides, the group photos seem to emphasize the women, suggesting that John Jr’s mother was the daughter, and therefore Lillie’s cousin.  (Still with me?)

Based on the hatted-woman’s general appearance and body-type, I guess she is Mary Theresa’s sister. Not Josie. Not Delia. Possibly Sarah. I can confirm only one child for her - Sadie, who became a nun – but it is possible she had other children.

That said, I fear the worst – that this is the sister whose name has been lost to history.

Hop aboard a postbus, wagon, or open car and take a ride to Sepia Saturday.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Wall of Fame or Wall of Shame?

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is almost too easy:  damaged photos. Welcome to my world. How much time do you have? Several boxes and five photo albums are filled with damaged photos that keep me occupied for hours on end looking for signs of familiarity, searching for clues to family relationships, and gleaning insight into my family’s daily lives.

When I remodeled the bonus room over the garage this past winter, I wanted to make it my “Gene Cave” (although the hubster has tried to hijack it with a “Man Cave” big-screen TV and antler mounts). Bookshelves were decluttered not just to HOLD the old albums and books of research, but also to DISPLAY them artistically. They are fine, but the focal point of the room is one wall reserved for old photos of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

As expected, some of my favorite photos are also the most damaged. Wrinkles and creases, missing corners, mildew, stains and faded images can be repaired with software like Photoshop. To restore a photo means to repair those flaws in order to return it to its original appearance. I am no pro when it comes to Photoshop, but I can remove random spots and stains; a crease is easily erased as long as it doesn’t pass through anything intricate. My brother-in-law, on the other hand, is a champ, so I put him to work restoring several photos for “The Family Wall.”

However, there has been quite a bit of conversation in the genealogy world about the ethics of photo editing. In one camp are those who believe any alteration to a photo is wrong. They hold that wear and tear is part of the life of a photo. They doubt anyone’s ability to assume or know what the original even looked like. On the other side are those who want to preserve old photos as a way to remember and honor their ancestors without the distortions caused by stains and cracks. They argue that a photo with a “nice” appearance is easier to understand and enjoy.

I side with those who favor restoration. How could anyone not prefer the restored version of my lovely great-grandmother, Mary Sudie Rucker?

Maybe because I have created so many traditional scrapbooks in which I cropped photos either to highlight a subject or simply to make it fit on the page, I’m rather cavalier when it comes to manipulating old photos. I think nothing of editing out a lot of sky as I did with this photo of my great-grandfather Walter Davis.

Did my use of the cropping tool ruin the picture? Purists would say yes – just because we CAN do it doesn’t mean we SHOULD. However, I disagree. I did nothing to alter the essence of the photo since whoever took the picture (likely my grandaunt Violetta) was focusing on Walter, not the sky. Truth be told, I would feel no guilt editing out that pole for the sake of aesthetics, but I chose not to.

This photo of my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett could not be enlarged to fit in a 5x7 frame without cutting off his feet. My brother-in-law deftly cloned some landscape in order to “stretch” the photo to fit. Did we go too far in altering the geography of the photo? I do not know what was REALLY there, and honestly, I do not care. Maybe I should, especially if there was a historically significant building or person in the background. Since I don’t know, I am comfortable assuming the background was just more of the same.

This photo of my paternal grandmother Julia Slade is just bad. The dress is totally blown-out without a sign of detail. Was it a print fabric? Lace? Were there pin-tucks on the bodice? With enough time, my brother-in-law could have fashioned quite a nice dress, but even my cavalier sensibilities said no to that. Dress notwithstanding, it is the best photo of my grandmother as a young woman so it made the Wall.

In a seeming contradiction, I cannot be more pleased with a restoration project than my brother-in-law’s masterful manipulation of the one and only photo of my great-grandfather John Fleming Walsh. It is actually two little cardboard chips, each smaller than a dime.

He “created” a jacket based on the clues in the photo. He also straightened John Walsh’s head, probably out of necessity to align with the collar. Of all the restorations, this one probably pushes the boundaries, but I have no objections. The coat seems true to the original.

Maybe I’m wishy washy. Maybe I simply rationalize in order to feel good about my decisions. But I hope I am faithful to some rather conservative standards for photo restoration:

• Scan photos at a high resolution and save in TIFF format as a digital master.
• Save any alterations including changing the color, cropping, or applying more sophisticated techniques such as removing stains and creases as JPEGs with unique names.
• Stay true to the original as much as possible. That is, avoid the temptation to Photoshop something in or out that would significantly change the truth (for example, adding a person to a group shot, deleting a cigar from someone’s hand).
• Consider how changes to a photo might change the story.

Please visit the Sepia Saturday “family wall” of bloggers, of whom none have been digitally altered.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.