Nell and Friends or Family

This photo of four ladies was taken in the 1930s or 1940s.  Detailed analysis of the clothing or the cars in the background might give clues that would narrow down the date further.

The lady second from the right is Nell Fitzhugh Edmonds.
Nell was born in 1897 and died in 1980.  She had 3 sisters:

• Audie Bell Fitzhugh Brownlee (Born 1885, Died 1964)

• Edna Jane Fitzhugh Brownlee (Born 1888, Died 1968)

• Nettie Wilma Fitzhugh Lessor (Born 1895, Died 1977)

(It appears that Audie and Edna married brothers: Pursur Benjamin Brownlee and George Harvey Brownlee.)
Could these ladies be her sisters?  Were they just friends?
Possible locations include Lancaster, Texas, where Nell grew up, and Waco, Texas, where she lived as an adult.
If you can identify any of the remaining 3 women, please comment on this blog entry.
[Nell Edmonds, Nell Estelle Fitzhugh, Nell Estelle Fitzhugh Edmonds, Mother Nell, Audie Bell Fitzhugh, Audie Brownlee, Edna Fitzhugh, Edna Brownlee, Nettie Fitzhugh, Nettie Lessor]

Duncan Davis

The photograph was taken in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, by FM Turner. It is a cabinet card.

This photo was part of a collection of photos in the possession of Amanda H Davis Edmonds.  Given the shared surname of Davis, presumably there is a family connection, but so far no such connection has been found.

I have found a William Duncan Davis who might be a candidate to be the person in the photograph, but the connection with Amanda Davis Edmonds is not apparent.

This William Duncan Davis was born in 1865 in Alabama, and shows up as a son of John J Davis (1825-1880) and Marcella Lunsford in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, in the 1870 and 1880 US Federal Census.  In 1900, he is shown living with his sister, Martha Jane Davis, and her husband John C Fair in Hill County, Texas.

Amanda Davis Edmonds was born in 1861 in Fayette County, Alabama, which is adjacent to Tuscaloosa County.  She was the daughter of William T Davis (1831-1863, son of Thomas Davis 1811-1857) and Emily Jane Melton.  She moved to Hill County, Texas, around 1892 when she married Augustus Newell Edmonds.

William T Davis had a brother John, but he was born in 1840, not 1825.

I have found no records on who the parents of Thomas Davis and John J Davis might be.  Perhaps they were brothers, with Thomas being the older brother.  Davis is such a common surname, and John, Thomas, and William are common given names.

Could this be the Duncan Davis of the photo?  I would love to find descendants who can confirm it.

Who is Aunt Mae?

This photograph is a tin type, labeled only “Aunt Mae”.

Given that I think the photograph might have been labeled by Amanda H Davis (1861-1902), daughter of Emily Jane Melton (1835-1910) and William T Davis (1831-1863), stepdaughter of William T Olive (b 1838), of Fayette County, Alabama, that makes sisters and sisters-in-law of her parents good candidates.

Sisters of Emily Jane Melton:

• Mary H Melton m. William Threet Poe
• Louise H Melton m. Joseph B Barnett
• Helen E Melton
• Amelia Franklin Melton m. Frank M Black
• Martha Ellen Melton m. James Hillard Olive

Brothers of Emily Jane Melton, with their wives:

• Jefferson Melton
• Meedy White Melton m. Mary F Cannon
• William Melton
• Melton Melton
• Willis B Melton m. Flora Hastletine South

Sisters of William T Davis:

• Sarah E Davis m. M C Davis
• Martha Davis m. Joel Gibson
• Maranda Saphira Davis m. Thomas H Angle
• Matilda F Davis m. Green R Gibson
• Mary E Davis

Brothers of William T Davis, with their wives:

• John Minor Davis
• James M Davis
• Willis  Davis

Sisters of William T Olive:

• Sarah J Olive m. William J Campbell
• Mary E Olive m. Michael Richard Tierce
• Samantha Ann Olive m. Thomas Jefferson Davis
• Permelia F Olive m. Rufus H Davis
• Matilda Olive m. William E Kuykendall

Brothers of William T Olive, with their wives:

• Lewis J Olive
• James Hillard Olive m. Martha Ellen Melton
• Wyatt J Olive
• Robert C Olive
• Julus Olive
• John C Olive m. Neoma E Stocks
• Richard Monroe Olive m. Rosa Best

None of these people make an obvious “Aunt Mae”, but Mae could be a nickname, and many of the sisters-in-law are not yet identified.

Parker Grandkids

The adults in this photograph are Kemp Hawkins Parker and his wife Amanda Bell McKinnon Parker of Alice, Texas.

The boy on the left is Lester Loyd Edmonds Jr, and the boy on the right is Lee O Edmonds.  They are grandsons of Kemp and Amanda Parker, and brothers.  Based  on known dates for those two boys, I would estimate that the photograph was taken in the mid-to-late 1920s.

I presume that the other four children are also grandchildren of Kemp and Amanda, but I don’t know who they are.

[(Adults) Kemp Hawkins Parker, Amanda Bell McKinnon Parker; (children, left to right) Lester Loyd Edmonds Jr, Unknown boy #1, Unknown boy #2, Unknown girl #1, Unknown toddler #1, Lee O Edmonds]

Help and comments appreciated!

Taken in San Antonio

This photograph, a cabinet card, was taken in San Antonio, Texas, by D. P. Barr according to the photographer’s markings.

While following “shaking leaf” hints on ancestry.com, I found another copy of the photograph attached to a member tree.  The date was noted as 1887.

The people in the photograph are:

[(adults) Jessie Mercer Alldredge, Margaret Melvina Melton Alldredge (children, oldest to youngest) Oscar Alldredge, John Mills Alldredge, Lillian Alldredge)]

I contacted the person who had uploaded the photograph to her Ancestry Member Tree and made a connection to a distant cousin.

Margaret Melvina Melton Alldredge was a first cousin of Amanda H Davis Edmonds, the “original” owner of this photograph.

Two photos, same family

These two photographs are clearly of the same family, but until a few years ago they were unidentified.  They almost look like they were taken at the same sitting.  The parents and the baby seem to be dressed identically, but the children are dressed differently and look a little taller in the second photo.  .

In the summer of 2011, I noticed that the family profile (father, mother, son, 3 daughters, baby) fit the profile of a family in my family tree.  Interestingly, I had made contact via Find A Grave with a descendant of the parents in the family. Although she had no other photographs of the couple, the older boy bears a resemblance to her grandfather.  Together, we felt assured that we had identified the family in the photograph.

[Photograph #1: (left to right) Charles William Edmonds, Leon Curtis Edmonds, Hestra Edmonds, Abba Gertrude Edmonds, Celestial Urline Edmonds, Minerva Josephine Davis Edmonds, Augustus Hill Edmonds]

[Photograph #2: (left to right)  Leon Curtis Edmonds, Charles William Edmonds, Hestra Edmonds, Celestial Urline Edmonds, Minerva Josephine Davis Edmonds, Augustus Hill Edmonds, Abba Gertrude Edmonds]

Unfortunately, not my great-grandmother

For many years, I wondered who the lovely young lady in this photograph was.

I had long wondered if this might be a photograph of Amanda H Davis: born in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1861; married to Augustus Newell Edmonds in 1892; mother of Lester Loyd and Blanche Belle Edmonds; died in 1902.

I even posted a question on genealogy.stackexchange.com for help in dating the photo, which I thought would help me identify her.

Eventually, I found an identical photograph on ancestry.com.  This copy of the photograph had the name written on it: Della May Poe.

Della May Poe Wright was a first cousin of Amanda H Davis Edmonds.  Della was born in Arkansas in 1880, married Arthur Stanton wright in 1907, and died in 1951 in Oklahoma.