Dwight and Mary Brackett, Bellevue, Michigan, 1860s

This double-sided photo is actually, I believe, a page from a carte-de-visite photo album that has been torn out. One side shows a woman with an infant, while the other shows a man. Below his photo, written in pencil, is "Dwight Brackitt + wife." There is not much information here and I figured out that the surname may not be "Brackitt" but rather the more common spelling of "Brackett." So who is this gentleman and his family?

The closest match I've found is a man named Irving Dwight Brackett, who was born on May 4th, 1839, in Bellevue, Michigan. He was just one of Martin and Mary Brackett's 10 children. The Bracketts were considered a distinguished, early settler family of Michigan. Martin Brackett, described in his obituary as "the man most prominent, all things considered, who lived and died in Bellevue," was an attorney, a county clerk, and ran for state senator and lieutenant governor (losing each time). Irving Dwight didn't quite follow in his father's footsteps, instead working as a clerk in a dry goods store until his marriage.

On May 14th, 1861, he married 16-year-old Mary Goss. Mary Aristeen Goss was born on a farm in Convis Township, Michigan, on May 11th, 1845. Her parents, William and Chloe Goss, were early Bellevue pioneers, just as the Bracketts were. Dwight and Mary settled at the Goss family farm, where Dwight took up farming. Along with his work in agriculture and livestock, Dwight would also go on to conduct a general merchandise business, serve two years as treasurer of Convis Township, one year as township clerk, and four years as justice of the peace, among other things. Like his father, he stayed active in his community. 

The Bracketts had three children together: Rubie, Mary, and Clara. Tragically, none of their children lived past infancy. This tells us that the child we see in the photo with Mary (if this is the same Mary Brackett) likely did not live long after this photo was taken. 

Irving Dwight Brackett died on December 15th, 1919, at the age of 80. Mary would live another 18 years until 1937 when she passed at the age of 92. At the time of her death, Mary was considered the oldest resident in Bellevue. 

Do you think these are the right Bracketts? If you know who they may be, let us know in the comments!

Kollman Family, Effingham County, Altamont, Illinois 1911

Susie Kollman writes to her parents, Andrew and Christina, in September 1911:

"Dear Papa and 
Mamma and
all. We are all well and
hope the same from
you it is pretty wet
out here now it is
a little to ??? to
plow and how is the 
wether out there. I have 
got about 100 ??? of 
peaches canned the
trees were so full
they broke but the peaches
did not get very big.
From, Susie"

Susie's father, Andrew Kollman, was born in Germany in 1848 and immigrated to the United States when he was 18. He married Christine Stroot in 1875 and the couple had nine children: Herman, Mary, Suzanna (or Susie), William, Anna, Joseph, Louis, Clara, and Elizabeth. The family lived for many years on a farm in Effingham County, Illinois, near the town of Altamont.

In 1903, Susie married William Schell, a baker. They had one son together, Arthur, but the marriage was short-lived and the couple eventually divorced.

Sometime between 1900 and 1910, Andrew and Christine moved to Fairdealing, Missouri. Herman, Louis, Anna, and Elizabeth joined them in Missouri, while Joseph and Susie stayed behind to run the farm. 

Susie was 29 when she sat to write this postcard to her parents in Missouri. Unfortunately, she didn't identify the people in the photograph, probably assuming her parents would recognize everyone. I would guess that the photo includes Joseph and Susie herself, as well as her son Arthur, who would be 5 or 6 when this was taken. It might also include her brother, William, her sister Mary, Mary's husband George, and their son William, who lived nearby. Her sister Clara, who worked as a maid for a nearby family, may be pictured as well. As for all of the unhappy-looking children, it's hard to say who they belong to. 

After Andrew's death in 1913, Christine and her children returned to Illinois to be with the rest of the family. They would lose another member of the family, Anna, in 1917. 

Susie lived in Effingham County, Illinois, with her family until her passing in 1931 at age 49. I wonder if the Kollman family farm is still in Effingham County and if they still grow peaches there. 

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

The McIntire Family, Corydon, Iowa 1890s-1900s

Top, Left to Right: Ella, Florence, Emma

Bottom, Left to Right: Walter, Laura, David

Around the turn of the century, the six McIntire siblings gathered for a portrait in their hometown of Corydon, Iowa. From here, their lives would lead them down different paths to marriage, divorce, children, and difficult times to come. 

Their father, Samuel McIntire was a farmer, born in Illinois around 1850. With his wife Sarah, he had two sons, David Clarence (born 1877) and James Walter (born 1878), followed by four daughters, Ella Mary (born 1880), Florence Nellie (born 1881), Emma Louisa (born 1884), and Laura (born 1888). After Sarah passed away in 1890, Samuel went on to marry Mary A. Richardson in 1895. Samuel passed away in 1907.

The eldest McIntire, David, made a living as a farmer, just as his father had. He married Florence Sutton in 1899. With her, he had two sons, Everett and Lloyd. In 1900, his sister Emma is also living with the family. David passed away in 1905 at just 28 years old. 

In 1900, the second McIntire son, Walter, is working as a farm laborer for the Cutler family in Union, Iowa. He would go on to farm his own land in Wayne County, Iowa. In 1909 he married teacher Grace Johnston. With her had four children: Verda, Twila, Leo, and Marvin, who died at just two days old. In 1922, Walter died of influenza at 44 years old. 

Ella McIntire married in 1897 to Charles Dorrah, a carpenter. The couple had eight children: Lennie, William, Walter, Ernest, Mabel, Robert, Everett, and Claude. They seemed to have moved often, first from Iowa to Kansas, then to Minnesota, where the family farmed. The Dorrahs would eventually return to Kansas, where Ella lived until her death in 1950 at 70 years old.

In 1900, Florence McIntire is living with her aunt and uncle, Thomas and Minerva Murphy, in Center, Iowa where she is attending school. In 1907 she married Benjamin Smith, a waiter, in Spokane, Washington. Florence would eventually divorce her husband and become a public health nurse. In 1930 she is living in Shelton, Washington as a lodger in the hotel of George Yamamoto and his wife, Shezuko. Florence worked as a nurse for 25 years before she passed away in Shelton in 1955 at 73 years old.

Emma McIntire married Thomas E. Lewis, a baggageman at a depot, in 1903. They had five children: Lawrence, Harold, Helen, Jack, and Raymond. Emma passed away in Los Angeles, California in 1962 at 78 years old.

The youngest McIntire, Laura, seems to have been raised separately from her siblings in the home of John Peter Sallman and his wife, Mary. Why exactly is unknown, though a note attached to her on Ancestry states that she "had a temper and was hard to get along with." I don't have any other details on Laura's early life. In 1919, she married Lewis B. Oakes, a carpenter, in Spokane, Washington. The couple would soon divorce. Laura took in lodgers at her home in Pasco, Washington in order to support herself. She continued to be a landlady until she passed away in Seattle in 1949 at 62 years old. 

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

Ila Mae and Doris Virginia Swartz, Rochester, New York 1922

"Doris Virginia Swartz
at the age of four months"

This is a Real Photo Postcard of 4-month-old Doris Swartz and her lovely mother, Ila Mae. 

Ila Mae Smith was born in New York on May 9th, 1902 to parents William and Dora Smith. At age 18 she married 34-year-old James Cleveland Swartz, Jr., in Cattaraugus, New York. He worked various jobs in his life, including as a molder in a foundry and as a carpenter. Doris was the first of their children together. She was born just a few days before her mother's birthday on May 6th, 1922 in Rochester, New York. 

In the following years, Doris gained 3 siblings: Frances Leona (b. 1923), Norman Stoney (b. 1927), and Duane Richard (b. 1938). 

Just like her mother, Doris was married at age 18. She married 32-year-old Max Floyd Mann in 1941. Over the course of their 53-year marriage, Doris and Max had 7 children. Doris's obituary notes that at the time of her death, she had 30 grandchildren, 58 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren.

Doris Mann passed away in Arizona in 2008 at age 85. 

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

Sarah Parsons Bascom, New Haven, Connecticut 1890s

"Mrs. Horace Bascom
Aug 1890"

The woman in these two photographs is labeled as both "Sallie Parsons Bascom" and "Mrs. Horace Bascom." The portraits were probably taken a few years apart- the first in August 1890 (when she was 49), and the second sometime in the mid to late 1890s based on her large sleeves. I knew she must have been somewhat well-off based on her fashionable clothes and the fact that she was able to have 2 formal portraits done so close together.

Sarah Elizabeth Parsons was born in Massachusetts in 1841 to parents Justus Smith Parsons and his wife, Mindwell.  Sarah was the youngest of their 3 children and had 2 older brothers, Charles and Henry. 

"Sallie Parsons Bascom"

On January 4th, 1871, 29-year-old Sarah married Horace Sheldon Bascom in Huntington, Massachusetts. Horace was a dentist from Southampton. He had studied dentistry in Batavia, New York before returning home to Massachusetts. After Sarah and Horace’s marriage, the couple settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where he continued to practice dentistry. They had 3 daughters: Bessie (born 1876), Jessie (born 1878), and Helen (born 1879). Also living with them in 1880 were Horace’s mother, Betsy, and a 22-year-old servant, Mary Parker.

In 1900, the Bascoms held the wedding of their daughter, Jessie, in their home on College Street. According to the Morning-Journal Courier, the front parlor was filled with palms, ferns, and white roses as Jessie married John Henry Hill.

The youngest Bascom daughter, Helen, decided to follow in her father's footsteps and attended Pennsylvania Dental College. In 1902,  she was granted a license to practice dentistry in the state of Connecticut. She would go on to marry a fellow dentist, Fred Strong Frary, in 1909.

Their eldest daughter, Bessie, also married a doctor, Dr. William P. Lang, in 1910.

Sarah Parsons Bascom passed away at home in September 1904 at the age of 62. Her brief obituary notes that funeral services were held in the home before she was buried in Southington, (though I believe they mean "Southhampton") Massachusetts. Horace followed her in May 1908 at age 63. 

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