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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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