After several years of research and a recent phone session with The Photo Detective Maureen Taylor, I now believe that the woman in this photo, dated about 1890, is probably my great grandmother Brita Johansdotter1 Dalin and her son Johan.
But let me back up a bit and fill you in. Continue reading
This very sophisticated looking fellow is my great grandfather, David Lyman Blacker. He was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania in 1829, the oldest son of Lewis Blacker and Margaret R. (Loury) Blacker.
According to the document below, he married my great grandmother, Ada Cordelia Buchenau, in Doniphan County, Kansas, in 1871. He was 28 years old at the time and she was 18.
Wait – what??? If David was born in 18291, he would have been 42 years old in 1871 – not 28.
Needless to say, the discrepancy between David’s birth date and the marriage record raises a few questions.
In any event, assuming David was 42 years old and not 28, and he appeared in person to obtain the license, I can only imagine the clerk may have thought he was stretching the truth just a bit.
NOTES
I have very few photos of Andrew and Brita, and only this one where they are standing next to each other. The image is cropped from a larger group photo, probably taken on August 3rd, Watermelon Day – year unknown.
They are buried side by side in Oddfellows Cemetery in Helena, Montana.
Early last month, I made a promise to myself to finally – and once and for all – get my family history records and photos in order. It seems I spend more time looking for that “perfect photo” that will beautifully illustrate my blog – or more time digging for that “perfect record” that I was sure I found six months ago – than I do blogging or researching. It’s making me nuts!
At first I thought I might participate in The Genealogy Do-Over proposed by Thomas MacAntee but somehow it didn’t seem a good fit for me at this time – although I see the value in his system and I expect I’ll explore that process once I’m more organized.
After some internet searching, I came across Dear Myrtle’s FINALLY Get Organized system, which seemed like a better fit. It’s been slow going but I’m seeing the benefits already. And her organization system makes a lot of sense to me. I’ve been doing family history since my teens and have never come up with a filing system that quite works. But so far, her filing recommendations for both hard copy and digital files are working well.
The biggest surprise has to do with transcribing documents, which Dear Myrtle strongly recommends. I’ve always known in the back of my head I would have to do this task some day – but I’ve been putting it off. And I’m actually pleased to report just how beneficial transcribing a document can be. In several instances so far, I’ve discovered “new” information in documents I’ve had for years, but have never taken the time to analyze.
Here’s just one example: the 1940 U.S. Census record for my father’s parents, Cid and Fran Dalin. Just by taking a few minutes to transcribe this document, I learned a few new things about my grandparents:
These are the little details that family historians love to find. Yes, they are facts – but they’re the kind of facts that help fill in a story.
This is a picture of the house where my father lived with his family in 1940. The photo was probably taken about 1946, several years before siding was installed on the main part of the house. Continue reading