Using Indirect Evidence to Identify a Photo - Part 1

If you look closely you can see the words, "For Frank" written in pencil under the picture. Frank was my great grandmother, Frances Lowe's nickname.

Have you ever wondered who the person in an old photo is and if you will ever figure it out? My great grandmother Frances Lowe had plenty of pictures in her old candy boxes where she stored photos, cards and letters. This one had me baffled for years. This is what Frances wrote on the back:

Recently, while looking for something, I ran across this picture once again. Immediately, light bulb came on. I think I know who this is! Follow along with me and see if you are convinced I have the answer to the question - Who is the woman in the picture? If not challenge me! Where else should I research? What else should be considered?

The clues:

• The photo was taken in Denver.
• The photographer is G.R. Appel, 1579 Larimer Street, Denver, Colorado.
• According to Frances, the woman is Walt Woods mother.

Back in the very early days of this blog, I wrote two pieces about Mary Ann Ballenger, including a timeline of her life. Right there is Walter Woods! Take a moment and at least read the second piece on Mary Ann Ballenger Woods. I'm not going anywhere...

It looks like the Walt Woods named on the back of the photo is Mary Ann Ballenger Woods son. It gets more interesting when I follow Walt through the census.

Re-examining the 1900 census we see that Walter and his sister are listed at the top of the page with his parents and another sister at the bottom of the previous page. Walter is 12 years old, born in Colorado, his mother is listed as born in Iowa which is consistent with what we know about Mary Ann. They reside in Montrose County, Colorado which is in the southwest part of the state, consistent with the Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, Boulder Daily Camera newspaper article.

In 1910, Walter is listed as the 24 year old head of household with no one else in the home. Further down the page is Milton, Mary A and Hazel. His birth year is a little different from that listed in the 1900 census but his mother's birthplace of Iowa is consistent.

So nothing directly proves the woman in the photo is Mary Ann (Ballenger) Woods but the evidence indirectly indicates that to be the case.

1. In December 1893, Mrs. Milton Y. Woods, the former Mary Ballinger, visits her sister, Mrs. Dan (Nancy Ballinger) Robinson in Boulder, Colorado with her 3 children. (Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, front page).
2. Mary was living in Telluride, Colorado at the time the news article was written and had moved to the southern part of the state about 15 years earlier.
3. The 1900 census shows the Woods family including Mary and son Walter living in Montrose County, Colorado.

We have tied Mary and Walter together. Tomorrow I will show how the provenance of the photograph ties these families together.

How is it looking so far?

 

Links from this series:
Using Indirect Evidence to Identify a Photo:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Elusive Mary Ann Ballenger
Mary Ann Ballenger Woods Continued

Photo Album Archiving & Digital Sorting - Part 1
Photo Album Archiving & Digital Sorting - Part 2
Photo Album Archiving & Digital Sorting - Part 3
Photo Album Archiving & Digital Sorting - Part 4

 

Sources:

“Returns After Many Years,” Boulder Daily Camera (Boulder), 7 December 1893, p. 1; digital images, Colorado Historical Newspapers (http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org) : accessed 28 September 2007).

1900 U.S. census, Montrose County, Colorado. Population schedule, California Precinct 10, sheet 13 B and 14 A, dwelling 229 & family 250, Milton Y. Woods family; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 21 February 2010), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 127.

1910 U.S. census, Montrose County, Colorado. Population schedule, Precinct 106 sheet 6 B, dwelling 139 & family 129, Walter Woods; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 26 November 2011), citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 123.

Walt Woods mother. Photograph. Original, privately held by Michelle Goodrum, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE]. 2010.

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Madness Monday - Mary Ann Ballenger Woods - continued

Last week for I introduced one of the oldest children of William and Lucinda Ballenger - Mary Ann Ballenger who was initially identified from an article in the Boulder Daily Camera, December 1893.

The next step I took in looking for answers to my questions about Mary, was to look in the 1900 Census where I found her with her husband and 3 children.  After some more census research the following timeline has been compiled.

Circa 1855 - Mary Ann is born - see 1856.

1856 - Mary Ann Ballinger is living with her parents William and Lucinda and siblings Nancy and John in Black Oak, Mahaska County, Iowa. She is one year old and listed as residing in Iowa for 0 years. Go figure. (Iowa State Census 1856 - Ancestry.com)

November 1866-February 1867 - She is listed as attending Central School in Boulder, Colorado with her sister Nancy Ballenger ("Items About Boulder's Early Schools," Boulder Genealogical Society Quarterly, February 1975).

Circa late 1870s - Mary Ann moves to the southern part of Colorado. One wonders why? (Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, front page).

1880 - A Mary Ballinger is listed in the Federal Census in Rico, Ouray County, Colorado.  She is living with the Walter Higgins family.  I can't be sure if this is my Mary or not.  Her age is 22 putting her birth year around 1858 and her birthplace is listed as Illinois.  This Mary is living in the part of Colorado that would be consistent with the Boulder Daily Camera article and at the right time.  Her birth year is close.  The state is not the same but close.

December 1893 - Mrs. Milton Y. Woods and her 3 children visit her sister, Mrs. Dan (Nancy Ballenger) Robinson, in Boulder. The article states that Mrs. Woods in her "girlhood" was known as Mary Ballinger. (Boulder Daily Camera, 7 December 1893, front page).

1900 - Mary A. Woods is living with her husband, Milton, and their 3 children, Blanche, Walter and Hazel in California Mesa, Montrose County, Colorado.  The federal census lists Mary's birthplace as Iowa and her birthdate as August 1860 which is slightly different from the 1856 Iowa Census.  It also states she is the mother of 4 children 3 of whom are living.  This is consistent with the Boulder Daily Camera article in 1893 which stated she was visiting Boulder with her 3 children.  The census also states Mary and Milton have been married for 18 years which gives me a time frame to go on when I look for a marriage record.

1910 - Mary, Milton and their daughter Hazel are listed in the federal census in Montrose County, Colorado.  Mary does not seem to be aging properly - her age is listed as 47 which would put her birth year at about 1863.  This is both Milton and Mary's first marriage and they have been married 30 years.  Again she is listed as mother of 4 children 3 of whom are living.

1920 - Mary and her daughter, Hazel, are living in Ouray County, Colorado.  Her age is listed as 58 and birthplace of Iowa.  She is widowed according to the census.  Mary works as a cook in a "mine boarding house." Hazel is a waitress in the same place.

I need to find Mary and Milton's marriage record and death certificates for both.  At least now I have more clues to guide me in that search.

Copyright 2010, Michelle Goodrum