Friday, December 18, 2020

J.C. Trader and Mrs. Lizzie Goolsby, Horton, Kansas 1902

“Taken May 30. 1902,
Received June 15. 1902.
Mr. L.C. Trader and Mrs. Lizzie Goolsby”

Emma Elizabeth Fries, or Lizzie, was born November 20th, 1879 in Speiser, Nebraska. She was the second of George and Rhoda Fries’s five children. In May 1898, at age 18, Lizzie married Howard Goolsby. That September, Howard was participating in a jackrabbit chase when he was thrown from his horse. His injuries proved fatal. Howard died at just 20 years old, leaving behind a pregnant Lizzie. Their only son, Howard, Jr., was born in December. By this time, Lizzie had returned to live with her parents and siblings in Speiser. 

Lizzie remarried in Horton, Kansas in 1903 to Louis Charles Trader, who worked as a railroad shopman. It seems that this photo was taken before their marriage, which may explain why Lizzie is labeled as “Mrs. Lizzie Goolsby” rather than by her new married name. Their first child, a daughter named Mary Elizabeth, arrived in 1907. Sadly she fell ill with pneumonia and died at just 9 months. In 1908, Lizzie finally had another healthy boy, Charles.

As a young man, Howard decided to take after his step-father and began an apprenticeship as a railroad shopman. Charles worked as a farm laborer and eventually as a carpenter for Chevrolet. He would be the only one of his family to leave Horton, moving from Kansas to Texas with his wife Evelyn in the 1940s. I believe it's through Charles that this photo ended up here in Texas, where I found it in an antique shop.

Lizzie remained in Horton for the rest of her life. During her time there, she was an active member of the Horton Methodist Church and the Rebekah Lodge. After their boys left home, Louis Charles continued to work- the 1940 census lists his occupation only as "labor," though he was by then in his late 60s. He passed away in 1955 at age 89. Lizzie joined him in 1967 at age 88. Her obituary noted that at the time of her death, she had one grandchild and three great-grandchildren. She was buried with Louis Charles in Horton Cemetery.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, December 4, 2020

Minnie Sand Hemmle, St. Louis, Missouri 1910s

Minnie Sand was born in Missouri in 1860 to German immigrant parents Heinrich (or Henry) Sand, a farmer, and Anna Margretha Todt. Minnie was the fourth of Henry and Margetha’s eight children. By 1880 the family had moved from Missouri to Loraine, Illinois. Minnie, then 20, stayed home with her mother and sister, Margaret, while her brothers Barney and Albert helped their father on the farm. Margaret’s obituary notes that she went to a “rural school” near Loraine, and I would guess Minnie attended as well. 

Ruth Hemmle, 1912
Minnie married Edward S.F. Hemmle in 1885 when she was 25, and the couple settled in Neosho, Missouri. Their first son, Irvin, was born in February the next year. Ruth was born in 1896 and Edward Jr. arrived in 1901. Edward supported his family in different ways throughout his life, including as a clerk at an electric company and as a coal salesman. In 1910, his occupation is listed simply as “Own Income,” which according to the 1910 Enumerators Instructions was put down for “all persons who follow no specific occupations but have an independent income upon which they are living.” In 1910, the family may also have been supported by 24-year-old Irvin, who, though still living with the family, was now married and worked as a clerk at a wholesale grocer. 

In 1913, the family relocated to St. Louis. It’s hard to tell if this photo was taken before or after the move- perhaps Minnie wanted a photo in their new St. Louis home. She seems comfortable in her home, surrounded by photos of friends and family. 1915 quickly became a difficult year for the Hemmles, as both Minnie and Edward lost their mothers. They then tragically lost their daughter, Ruth, who was only 18. I wasn’t able to find more on Ruth’s death, only that it was “unexpected.” A poem was published in the Times in April of that year,  “In memory of Ruth E. Hemmle, who died at St. Louis, Mo., Feby. 11, 1915.” A line of the poem says “Her sister met her at the gate, While father, mother, and brothers must wait,” referencing a fourth Hemmle child who may have died young. 

After suffering from tuberculosis, Minnie Sand Hemmle died on July 23rd, 1917 at the age of 56. Her funeral was held at the family home in St. Louis before she was buried in Salem Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery. 

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments! 


Friday, November 13, 2020

Mary McLean, Mobile, Alabama 1860s-70s



Mary McLean was born in Mobile, Alabama on January 26th, 1851. She was the fourth of Susannah and James Bennett McLean's nine children. James was a butcher, a profession he passed on to his oldest son, James Madison. James M. was also the only one of the McLean boys old enough to enlist in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the Civil War, during which he fought with the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment, Company D.

In 1870, about the year this photo was taken, 18-year-old Mary lost both her father and her younger brother, Robert Benjamin. Her second oldest brother, John, became a butcher as his father and brother had, perhaps as a way to help support the family. James, who had married and continued his work as a butcher after the war, lived next door with his wife, Emma, and their two children. After Mary's older sister Elizabeth died in 1878, her four young children came to live with the McLeans. As the oldest surviving daughter, Mary would likely have taken on the responsibility of helping raise her nieces and nephews.

In 1888, 37-year-old Mary became the second wife of William Henry Farnell, a farmer and former Confederate soldier. From their marriage, Mary and William had daughters Carrie Ethel (born about 1890) and Susie Mae (born about 1893). William died in 1918 at age 82, leaving behind 67-year-old Mary and their two girls, who were then in their 20's. From what I could find, neither Carrie Ethel nor Susie ever married. Susie was the only one in the family to have a job, working as a railroad clerk to support her mother and sister. The two women continued to live with their mother until Mary passed away in 1940 at the age of 89.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!



Friday, October 16, 2020

Alice VanDusen Haehr and Family, Providence, Rhode Island 1900's



"Alice Heir nee VanDusen
Mother's Sister
in New York City
Clarence Nichols
Aunt"

Alice Mary VanDusen was born in New York in 1859 to Ezra and Lydia VanDusen. Ezra was a farm laborer from Canada who married Lydia after the death of his first wife Lorrinda in 1854. From her father's first marriage Alice had two half-brothers, Charles and Adelbert. Ezra and Lydia went on to have a total of 8 children, including Alice's older sister, Josephine, and her younger siblings William, Amelia, Frederick, James, Hobert, and Ida. (Ida would eventually marry Clemon Nichols and I believe she may be the "mother" referred to in the inscription.) The family lived together in Pittsfield, New York. 

Alice married William Haehr, a lithographer and the son of German immigrants, in Chicago on June 30th, 1894. (I wonder what brought Alice to Chicago?) From there the couple settled in Providence, Rhode Island. Their only child, Margaret, was born in 1901. William continued to work as a lithographer in Providence and judging by this photo, the family lived comfortably. Sadly, Alice died in 1912 at age 53 and William was left to raise their young daughter on his own. In the 1915 Rhode Island state census, William and 14-year-old Margaret are living with a housekeeper, Lillian Perry, and her son Robert. In 1925 Margaret married John S. Barry and William, now in his 60's, moved in with his daughter and son-in-law. He finally retired from his life-long work as a lithographer in his 70's. 

William Haehr passed away in 1944 at age 82. He was buried with Alice in Cranston, Rhode Island.

If you know who this family may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, July 10, 2020

Mrs. Henry Dearsman and Daughters, Ohio, 1900's



Writing on the back reads:
"Mrs. Henry Dearsman
Faye
Alice"

Before she was Mrs. Henry Dearsman, she was Ada Lucinda Garrett. Ada was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1877 to parents William and Elvira Garrett. She was the second oldest of the Garrett children, with one older sister, Viola, and four younger sisters, Estella, Mabel May, Nellie, and Hazel.
In 1895, 18-year-old Ada married Henry Dearsman, the son of German-born Adolph Dearsman, a respected farmer in Seneca County.

This photo was likely taken in the Dearsman home in Adams Township around 1901. At Ada's shoulder stands her eldest daughter, Faye, born November 22, 1898. In her arms, she holds Alice, born April 9th, 1901. Their third child, Homer, would not arrive until October 1905. Also living with the family at the time was Ada's younger sister, Nellie. 

Henry supported his family as a farmer until April 1924, when he died at the age of 61. A few months later, 24-year-old Faye married Clarence Kreh, a farmer. Clarence and Faye had been together only 8 months when Faye fell ill with pneumonia brought on by measles. She died on March 13th, 1925, at age 26. I can't imagine what a terrible blow this must have been to Ada, especially so soon after the death of her husband. Just days later, 23-year-old Alice married Harold Diehl Meyer in nearby Tiffin, Ohio. Ada's youngest, Homer, married Delphine Le Jeune in 1928. 

That same year, Ada herself decided to marry again. At 51 she married 60-year-old Elmer E. Howey. In the 1930 census, Elmer is working as a carpenter while Ada is working as a chambermaid in a sanitarium. She later worked as a cook at a hospital. Elmer eventually fell into ill-health and was forced to retire. He died of a heart attack in 1942. Ada lived to be 89-years-old, passing away in Green Springs, Ohio in 1966 after an extended illness. Her obituary noted that she was a member of the Green Springs Evangelical United Brethren Church, the Grange, and her local Garden Club. At the time of her death, Ada had two surviving children, eight grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, as well as five step-children and 14 step-grandchildren. 

If you know who this family may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, July 3, 2020

Helen Sanner, New Jersey, 1940's



Recently, I was contacted on Instagram by Gina, who found photos of a woman named Helen Sanner in her grandmother's photo album and wanted to know more about her. I'm sharing the photos here, along with Helen's story, in the hopes that we can reunite the photos with her family! 


Helen and her brother, Ralph,
 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania

Helen, right, and
Gina's grandmother (also named Helen)

Helen and Helen,
on the beach in Atlantic City

Orpha Helen Sanner was born in Virginia in 1917 to Harry G. Sanner, a retail merchant and farmer, and his wife, Ruth. Ruth passed away in 1927 when Helen was 9. Her father remarried the next year to Clara Budd, a teacher. The family moved to Woodbury, New Jersey, where Helen’s half-brother, Ralph, was born in 1931. In 1940 Helen was 22 and working as a stenographer. Four years later, she married George W. Myers, a toolmaker for the RCA. The couple had two children, George Jr. and Ruth. 

Helen passed away in 1999 at the age of 82.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, May 22, 2020

Nancy and Iola Bass, Muskogee, Oklahoma 1910's



The writing on the back reads:
"Wife
Nancy Bass
Iola Bass
Daughter of
Z.H. Bass"


Nancy Jane Skinner was born in Meigs County, Tennessee in 1872 to parents Seaborn and Adaline Skinner. Nancy's father died before she was 7-years-old, leaving her mother to care for five children. In 1880, Nancy's 14-year-old sister Tennessee, her 12-year-old brother Samuel, and her 10-year-old brother Madison all have “farming” listed as their occupation. Nancy and her 5-year-old brother, James, may have been considered too young to work.

In 1900, Nancy is living in Bloomington, Illinois with her brother Samuel and his family. She is 27 and working as a housemaid. Also living in Bloomington at the time is Zephniah H. Bass, a 26-year-old blacksmith living as a boarder. Though they were unmarried and lived separately, Nancy and Zephniah had two daughters together. Their first child, Iola, was born in 1896 in Illinois and their second, Annabel, was born in 1899 in Missouri. The girls went to live with their grandparents, Robert and Millie Bass, along with their uncle Robert, on a farm in Cedar, Missouri. They came back to their parents after Zephniah and Nancy’s marriage in 1901. Zephniah became a successful blacksmith in Bloomington, and in 1903, the Freeman Newspaper noted his partnership with a Mr. Browning, "a wealthy white blacksmith of the city." Their cards read: "Browning & Bass, horseshoeing and plow works, carriage and wagon repairing."

Zephniah Bass's advertisement in the Muskogee Times, 1907
In 1910, the Bass family is living together in Muskogee, Oklahoma, right next door to Nancy’s brother, Madison, and his family. Zephniah has gone from blacksmithing to quickly become a successful veterinary surgeon and dentist. Nancy became a member of the Francis W. Harper Club, an African-American women’s service club named for writer Francis Ellen Watkins Harper. Nancy often hosted club meetings at the Bass home, where the ladies engaged in literary discussion and shared embroidery and crochet work. Iola and Annabel attended Manual Training High School, or M.T.H.S, the first high school in Muskogee for black students. In 1916, Dr. and Mrs. Z.H. Bass invited the entire M.T.H.S. Senior Class to an evening of whist at their home. Iola graduated in June but returned that fall to teach at the high school. She went on to teach at both the Langston and Douglass elementary schools in Muskogee.

In 1927, the Sedalia Democrat announced the marriage of Iola Mae Bass to George Reynolds of Sedalia, Missouri in Chicago, where the couple continued to live after the wedding. George worked there as a bell boy at a hotel while Iola stayed home to be a "homemaker." George and Iola were married 12 years before they divorced in 1939.  Iola married again in 1942, this time to George Winfred Halliburton, a pharmacist and the owner of the Emporia Drug Company. As far as I can tell, Iola never had children.

It was a little harder to follow her sister Annabel's story, which I lost track of after she appeared in the 1922 Muskogee directory as a dressmaker. I did find an Anna Bell Bass who married a Herman Lampkin in Jackson, Missouri in 1929, though the age given on her marriage records is 24. In 1929, Annabel would have been 30.

Dr. Zephniah H. Bass died in 1940 at age 67. Nancy passed seven years later at age 75. Sadly, Iola only outlived her mother by a few years, passing away in 1952 at the age of 55. Iola and her parents are buried together in Memorial Park Cemetery in Columbia, Missouri.

If you know who this family may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, May 1, 2020

Ruby Davis, Dallas, Texas 1900's



Ruby Dee Davis was born August 1890 in Italy, Texas, to parents Nancy Fleming and Daniel Davis, a farmer from Tennessee. She was their youngest, with four children having come before her: Effie, Mary Lee, William Thomas, and Daisy. Their grandfather, David Fleming, also lived with the family. By 1910, Ruby and her sister Daisy were the only Davis children left living at home.

Though not labeled, I believe this photo is of Ruby
and her older sister Daisy.
1915 was a complicated year for 22-year-old Ruby. She was married that year to Daniel F. Stellman, who worked on a dairy farm with his twin brother, William. The Stellman brothers were born in Kentucky to German immigrants. On his WWI draft registration card, Daniel is described as having brown eyes and black hair- he is also marked as being "physically unfit," though they don't give any further details.  That same year, in March, Ruby's only brother William died at age 36.  The next year, in 1916, Ruby lost her father to tuberculosis.

In 1920, Daniel was working at Bluff View Dairy Farm as a "milker." Daniel and Ruby had no children and lived together at their home on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas. Also living on Lemmon Avenue at the time was a man named Ed Halbert. Ed eventually moved in with the Stellman's as a lodger while working as a clerk in a phonograph store. Ed must have become close with the Stellmans. On his 1941 draft registration card, Ed listed "Miss Ruby Stellman" as someone who would always know his address. This makes sense considering the addresses given for Ed and Ruby are the same- 6919 Lemmon Avenue. Ed has also given his occupation as being self-employed at a dairy. Photos of Ed and his family were found with these photos of Ruby, and I will tell more of his story in a later post.

Daniel Stellman died in 1948 at age 73 after suffering from "Bright's Disease". By this time, Ruby's sister, Daisy, had moved in with them, perhaps to help out as Daniel's health declined. Daisy had never married and Ruby was now widowed. The two moved into a house together at 6634 Forest Park in Dallas. As far as I can tell, they lived together until Daisy's death in 1969.

Ruby Davis Stellman passed away in February 1978 at age 88.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, April 17, 2020

Jennie Hoag, Glens Falls, New York 1890s


At some point during her teenage years, Jennie Hoag had her photograph taken as she perched upon a paper moon in Glens Falls, New York, not far from her home in Amsterdam.

Jennie, born Jane E. Hoag, had a difficult start in life. She was born on December 17th, 1884 in Amsterdam, New York to Grace Arabella Fronk and William H. Hoag. William and Grace had been married just over a year when Jennie arrived; William was 36, and Grace was 27. A few days after giving birth to Jennie, Grace began to suffer from puerperal fever. She died on December 29th, 1884, leaving behind William and their newborn daughter. She was buried in Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam.

Two years later, William remarried. His new wife was 32-year-old Helen Catherine Day, who went by Ella. To Jennie, Ella was the only mother she knew. As noted in her obituary, Ella was an active member of the First Baptist Church, as well an ardent supporter of the temperance movement and member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. William, meanwhile, worked as a stove supply salesman.

In October 1907, 23-year-old Jennie married photographer Henry A. Marcellus- or "Ham" as he was often called. Their wedding announcement in the Fulton County Republican described Henry as "a popular and enterprising young man," and Jennie as "well and favorably known in her home city." After the wedding, the couple settled in Johnstown, New York, where Henry operated his photography studio. In an advertisement for the studio in Johnstown's Morning Herald, Henry referred to himself as a "photo craftsman." Jennie and Henry had only one child, a daughter named Grace. She was born on October 28th, 1914. Just days later, Jennie lost her step-mother Ella at age 58.

Sometime after 1930, Henry and Jennie relocated to nearby Gloversville. From their studio apartment, Henry continued to operate his photography business. Jennie, meanwhile, discovered a love of dress-making and decided to start a business of her own, which she called Judy's Alteration Shop. It, too, was operated out of their apartment. Henry's failing eye-sight and a leg injury eventually caused him to give up photography. He decided to take up painting instead, describing his work as "self-expressionism." According to an article on the couple's golden wedding anniversary in 1957,  Jennie was "just as enthused in her husband's work as the artist himself." After years of declining health, Henry died in 1968 at the age of 88.

Jennie Hoag Marcellus lived to be 94. She died at home in Gloversville in 1979.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Monday, March 23, 2020

Ethel Webb, Brunswick, Maine 1880s-90s



Ethel Moulton Webb was born in Brunswick, Maine, on October 6th, 1877. Her father, Franklin, worked as a grocer, while her mother Elizabeth stayed home to care for Ethel and her little brothers, Harold and Frank. Also living with the Webbs was Ethel’s paternal grandmother, Cynthia.

An 1893 article from the Portland Daily Press noted Ethel’s “pleasing” piano performance at a teacher's convention held at her high school.
Ethel in the 1899 Smith College yearbook
She was also an exceptional student and the valedictorian of Brunswick High School’s class of 1895. It must have been no surprise when Ethel was accepted to Smith College, a women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts.
After graduating from Smith in 1899, Ethel returned home to Brunswick to live with her family. It was during this time that she met Ralph Bushnell Stone, a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Like Ethel, Ralph was intelligent and studious, especially excelling in math and science. After graduating from Bowdoin in 1902, he went on to receive his Master's degree from Harvard. He then returned to Brunswick to teach.
It was also during this time that Ethel tragically lost her youngest brother, Frank, to heart disease. He died in 1909 at only 26 years old.

Better times came in 1913 when Ethel and Ralph were married. Their first and only child, Franklin, was born in 1915. When Ralph was offered a job as a mathematics professor at Purdue University, the family packed up and headed to West Lafayette, Indiana. Just three years later, Ralph was appointed registrar of the university. Ethel stayed busy in West Lafayette, becoming a member of the Current Topics Club and the Purdue Women's Club, and hosting the other wives of Purdue faculty members at her home on Russell Street, close to campus. After Ethel's mother passed away in 1932, her father joined them in Indiana. He died there two years later after a period of illness.

Ralph served as Purdue's registrar until 1947 when he went back to teaching mathematics. He retired in 1952. In February 1959, Ralph fell ill. He passed away at the age of 76. Ethel passed two years later in 1961. She was 84.

If you know who this may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, March 6, 2020

William N. Beeman, Jackson, Michigan 1890s-1900s


William Noah Beeman was born in Eaton County, Michigan in 1858. He was the only son of farmer Gilbert Beeman and his wife, Phoebe Wright, both of whom were originally from New York. William grew up in a house of girls. He had three older sisters, Caroline, Mary, and LaVancha, and one younger sister, Stella. In 1880, 21-year-old William was working with his father on their farm in Chester, Michigan. The very next year, William married Hattie Adele Sullivan of Jackson, Michigan.

Hattie was very socially active and seems to have been in every club in Jackson, including a
Chautauqua reading circle, the Home Culture Club, and the Jackson Camera Club. In fact, she won second place in their amateur photography competition in 1899, which makes me wonder if she took this photograph herself! I have a feeling that's William standing proudly in front of his wood and coal business with his dog at his feet. William operated the W.N. Beeman Wood and Coal company in Jackson from the 1890s into the 1900s. Then in 1909, William and Hattie crossed the border into Canada and settled in Calgary-East, Alberta. Here, William became a farmer.

Finally, after years of living in the North, the Beemans were ready for a warmer climate. They permanently moved to Los Angeles, California, where they lived out their later years together. Hattie passed away in 1931 at the age of 71. William lived to be 85. He died in 1943.

If you know who these people may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, January 24, 2020

The Enis Family, Arkansas, 1900s





"Silver shines and so
2 does tin four 2 love
you- it is a sin"


It's a strange thing to write on the back of a photo of children. The only thing I found about this poem was that it was one of many popular verses written in autograph books around this time and that it may have originated in the Ozarks. That makes sense considering the photo comes from Arkansas, though I still wonder who would have written it.


The mother of these children, Sallie Thomas, was the second wife of Samuel V. Enis, a dry goods merchant in Crawford, Arkansas. They married in 1883 when Samuel was 47 and Sallie was only 16. Their first son Tine (short for Valentine) was born in May 1889. A year later came Everette, followed by Etta in 1893 and Clayton in 1895. In 1896, just a year after Clayton was born, their mother passed away at the age of 29. The children were soon sent to live with their Aunt Lou and Uncle Wily Enis, as well as their eight cousins. Their uncle was a farmer and former school teacher. All of the boys- with the exception of 6-year-old Clayton and his 5-year-old cousin Oliver- are listed as farm laborers. Where their father was in 1900, I'm not sure. He died in nearby Onyx, Arkansas in 1902 and was buried there with Sallie. 


Tine and Everette eventually set out for Oklahoma and found work in the town of Cravens. In 1910, 20-year-old Tine is working on the farm of Jess Neavoll, while 18-year-old Everette is working on the farm of George W. Pate. Also living on that farm were Pate's two daughters, Ollie and Minnie, with whom the Enis brothers must have become well acquainted. Everette married Ollie in April 1911 and Tine married Minnie in September 1913. Tine and Minnie had seven children: Bertha, Orville, Otis, Betty, Otho, and twins Ronald and Donald. Everette and Ollie had three: Ethan, J.D., and Edeth.


16-year-old Etta married William S. Wagner, a blacksmith and farmer, in 1909. Soon after the marriage she moved in with her husband's family on their farm in Jones, Scott County, Arkansas. According to his WWI Draft Card, William was of medium height and build, and had light blue eyes and light brown hair.  Etta and William eventually had a farm of their own, which was run with the help of their nine children: Geneva, Hershel, Ada, Arthur, Floyd, George, R.V., Udell, and Eugene.

Like his sister, Clayton remained in Arkansas. In 1916 he married 20-year-old Eula Mae Ammons and together they had nine children: Devola, James, Ora, William, Roy, Jewel, Eskew, Peggy, and Donald.

A photo I found on Ancestry shows Tine and Clayton as older men. Though they lived apart, the siblings must have stayed in touch. Etta passed away in 1949 in Parks, Arkansas. Clayton passed in McAlester, Oklahoma five years later. After a long illness, Everett followed them in 1958. The eldest of the Enis siblings, Tine, lived to be 86-years-old. He died in 1975. If you know who these folks may be, let us know in the comments!

Friday, January 10, 2020

Edd and Mary Tuggle, Texas, 1890's


The inscription on the back reads:
"Aunt Mary + Uncle
Edd Tuggle
To my dear Aunty-
Mrs. Lizzie Cooper"

Edward Hamilton Tuggle was born in Comanche, Texas in 1866 to parents Alex and Lucy Tuggle. His father was a stock raiser and farmer. Ed, as Edward was known, was one of 8 children. Like his siblings, he began working on the family farm as soon as he was old enough.

On June 15th, 1890, 24-year-old Ed married 16-year-old Mary Cass. Mary was from Tennessee, the daughter of farmer William B. Cass and his wife Cordelia. Ed and Mary had five children: Ella, Elena, Cordia, Carroll and Mary Elizabeth. In 1900, Ed was working as a traveling salesman while the family lived in Temple, Texas. Around 1905, the family relocated to Chickasha, Oklahoma, where Ed started a grocery. Sadly, Carroll died in 1907 at only 18 months. That same year, Ed became ill with typhoid fever and was forced to sell his grocery while he recovered. The Tuggles, meanwhile, were active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mary was a Sunday school teacher and a member of the Woman's Home Mission Society, often hosting meetings at the Tuggle home. Ed was a member of the church's temperance committee.

In 1913, Ella Tuggle married John Aloysius Ryndak, a bookkeeper. Ed opened E.H. Tuggle Grocery, where he employed his second oldest daughter, Elena, as a clerk. During the First World War, the entire Tuggle family became very involved in buying War Savings Stamps, even 8-year-old Mary Elizabeth. Ed was noted in the paper as being the first in Chickasha to purchase them.

On Jan 24, 1922, a fire destroyed the Tuggle grocery. According to the Chickasha Daily Express, the loss was "estimated at several thousand dollars." Good news came the next year when Elena married Elliot Doggett. When Elena and Elliot moved to Oklahoma City, Mary Elizabeth joined them and found work as a stenographer there.

Ed and Mary remained in Chickasha for the rest of their lives. Mary passed away in 1948 at age 74, and Ed followed in 1957. He was 89.

If you know who these folks may be, let us know in the comments!