Mysterious Monday - Are You My Great-Grandfather?

A few days ago, I posted a photo on Facebook, along with the following message:

HELP WANTED! HELP NEEDED!!!
Gen-friends, this photo is one of many that I got today on a loan from a cousin. I need to hear any and all observations that you might be able to make about this photograph – about the subjects, their possible/probable relationship, as well as the photograph, itself. Physically this is a 3.5 X 5 carded frame, which is layered. The oval-shaped photograph appears to be glued onto the card stock, but it seems to be professionally cut, so it probably came that way. Notice the scallop design around the edge of the frame, as well as around the rectangular box that the picture sits inside of. Also, take note of the black edges on each side of the photo.
Please share your thoughts/knowledge regarding approximate time frame based on clothing hairstyle, etc. Please offer any ideas or suggestions about the picture in general. I really need you to be as objective as possible, so I don't want to give any clues or hints about what I know and/or suspect about the picture. James Morgan III, I'd especially like to hear from you. I think you'll know why. :)Maureen Taylor, your expert opinion is also invited. :)

The back of the frame is blank. It is not a post card, and there are no markings.

Unless you ask me a question, I will probably stay silent until I have come to some kind of conclusions. Thank you in advance for your help, and please feel free to tag anyone you know who might be "expert" in this type of work.

Thank you, in advance! I can wait to read your input!

Here's the picture. (One is close up, and the other a bit further away, so that everything I described can be seen.)

As I'd hoped, the photograph generated a lot of interest. Many who commented wanted me to tell what I knew about the photo, but if I had, it would have biased the perception of others, so I refrained. But, now the time has come for me to reveal what I (kind of) know, and to share my wonderings and newly-developed theories about the photograph.

So, for starters, the only thing I know for sure about the photo is that the female, who has an "x" marked under her likeness, is said to be "Blonnie Green", according to the penciled notation on the back of the photo. (Okay, I know I said there was nothing on the back, but I was trying to get viewers to understand that there was no information that would help us to know more about the when/where/how the photo was taken. I didn't want to give the name, because I didn't want folks to set off researching my grandaunt - my grandmother's oldest sister - which is who Blonnie Green was. My goal here was to try to determine who the man in the photo was, what the relationship was between him and Blonnie, and what the circumstances of the photo may have been. So, to those folks who asked, in one way or the other, if I knew anything about the photo, I apologize for not sharing that I did, indeed, have a name and that I knew exactly who the female was said to be. 

So, here's the big "reveal" of the back of the photo. Other than some stains, it only has my great-aunt's name - Blonnie Green.

As I've said, Blonnie Green was my grandmother's oldest sister. She was born in 1887, probably in Wake County (Rolesville), NC to my great-grandparents, John Wesley GREEN and Susan DUNSTON. I know that Blonnie existed because she's shown in the 1900 Census with the family, who then lived in Franklin County - Harris Township.

In 1900, John, Susan, and the children

I find the family, again, in 1910, and I'm very sure it's them, even though the enumeration details are way off. Blonnie is listed as a male, "Lonnie", and all of the children's ages are wrong. Still, in all my years of searching, I've never found another family that even comes close to matching theirs; all of the children's names are listed, and in the correct order. Also, John is reported to have been married for 20 years, but is now widowed, which is exactly in line with my research. (I'm thinking that someone else probably gave the info to the enumerator.) The family is now living in Rolesville, which is where, according to family tradition, all of the children were born.  The whole family is noted to be white, for which I have no explanation. I'm told that Great-grandpa John looked white, and I've always assumed that Susan was darker, since some of their children had a bit more melanin than others.

Here we see John (widowed) with all of the children - Blonnie ("Lonnie"), Mabel, Annie, William, and John. (Notice that Joseph is no longer there. I don't know what happened to him, but I'm assuming he died. This was before NC began mandated death certificates. I haven't been able to find any other mention of Joseph in almost 20 years of research, and there is no family knowledge of him.

There are a lot of reasons why this photo has raised my curiosity so, and why it's really important for me to attempt to positively identify the male in the photo. What I really want to know is this: Is the man in the photo my great-grandfather, John Wesley Green? (And if not, who could he be?)

To help determine if the male subject could be my ggf, I put out the query (above) to get opinions about the type, time period, and content of the photo. I wanted to see if the observations of others would support, or deflate my suspicion that this man might be John W. Green. Right away, those who chose to comment began to suggest an approximate timeline for the photo. Everyone was in agreement that it was most likely taken at the very end of the 19th century, or the first decade or so of the 20th. Most people also thought the female looked to be in her early to mid 20's. Since Blonnie Green was born in 1887, both of those observations are in line with her age, and helped to confirm that she was the female subject, as noted (by someone) on the back of the photo.

Once I established that I believed the female was Blonnie, it was time to figure out who the man was. Readers of the post seemed just as baffled as I about some of the observations. Was this a wedding photo? What was going on with the man's tie? Did these two sit for the photo together, or were two photos put together somehow. And then came the ringer that I came up with on the second day of the post -- Was this a postmortem photo, taken after Blonnie died???? In trying to answer some of these questions (with the help of my readers), I hoped to come to a conclusion about whether or not I was looking at my great-grandfather.

Obviously, I've never seen a photo of my great-grandfather before, but I have been told by two family members that he was said to have "looked white", and that he had white hair and blue eyes. Having carried that description in my mind for at least 20 years, it was hard for me to immediately accept this younger, dark-haired man (with undetermined eye color) as John Green. So, what clues might there be? I asked my Facebook community to suggest ages for the pair, and most respondents indicated that they thought he was in his 40s. Well, John was born in 1864, so he would have been in his forties in the period 1904-1914. Since there is no death certificate for Blonnie, but she was enumerated in the 1910 census, I've ascertained that she died sometime between 1910-1913, probably between ages 23 to 26, since the 1913 is the year NC began mandated use of death certificates. During that time, John would have been "in his forties", and certainly, if my suspicion of this being a postmortem (for Blonnie) photo turns out to be correct, the timing seems right. (More on that, in a future post. This one is already going to be long!)

So, we know that the man is about the right age to be John W. Green, and the woman is his daughter, Blonnie. What other clues could help to determine if this is my ggf?  Well, the gentleman is wearing a pin of some type, and all of us seem to agree that it's probably a Masonic pin (although someone did suggest a church pin). This was actually the first thing that stood out and made me wonder if I was finally looking into the eyes of my great-grandfather, because I'd uncovered his Masonic membership years ago. John (along with my other paternal great-grandfather and a great uncle) was a member of "The Pride of Louisburg", a fraternal lodge that was part of the F.A.A.M.

I found this document many years ago in the record of the Proceedings of the fifty--fifth communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, F.A.A.M., showing several of my ancestors as members.

In addition to knowing that John Green was a Mason, I remembered that in the one picture I have of my paternal grandfather, Calvin Yarborough, he is wearing a similar pin, which I'd always assumed to be a Masonic emblem. This helped to further support the idea that John's pin is a masonic one.

This is my grandfather (my father's father), Calvin R. Yarborough (C.R. Yarboro in the document above). I've always believed that my ggf John's relationship as a lodge brother to the younger Calvin, was how he ended up marrying my grandmother (John's daughter). But, that's another story for another post. :)

Okay. So, now we have ages (check), time period (check), Masonic connection (check). What else could help me to confirm, 100 years later, the probability that this man is most likely Blonnie's father, my great-grandfather, John Wesley Green?

Well, there was one little detail that no one (except me) seemed to notice on the photo. If you look verrrrry closely at the top of the man's necktie, you will see a letter. For two days, I thought the letter was a "C", and because of that, I was leaning away from thinking this could be John Wesley, since he had no C in his name. But, late last night (Monday), while looking at the photo again, and discussing it with my cousin, Betsy, it hit me. What if it's not a C???? I blew up the photo, and looked closely at the letter. And, then I had it. (And, I hollered it in her ear.) "IT'S A G!!!!!!! G is for GREEN!!!! 

With that final observation, I made a decision. 

This man has to be my great-grandfather, John Wesley Green, son of Nathaniel Hawkins and Anna Green! Perhaps someday I'll find a later photo, showing him with white hair and blue eyes, but for now, I'm glad to "meet" this dark-haired offspring of my 2x great-grandparents, and to gaze into his (likely grieving) eyes, saying, "Hello, 'Papa John'!" :)

To learn more about John Wesley Green, please visit this post I wrote about him, back in December 2015.

I hope I'm right. For now, I'm going with it, but unless/until I find a confirming photo I know I'll always have that little wisp of doubt. This photo invites so many more questions, many of which were brought out in the Facebook comments, but I'll have to save that subject matter for future posts.

Three of the children of John Wesley Green and Susie Dunston
(L-R: Anna (my grandmother), William, and Mabel)

Before I close, I want to sincerely thank my cousin, Gail Fain Tyler, who is also John Green's great-granddaughter, Blonnie's great-niece, and granddaughter of Mabel Green (pictured above), for sharing this photo with me, and for now allowing me to keep it. I believe this is our ancestor, and I am eternally grateful to you for entrusting me with this photo, and the many others that you allowed me to bring home to digitize and research. 

Update 4/24/2020 - I'm second-guessing myself on this, again. I think what bothers me about this the most is the man's nose. No one in my family line has had that thin, narrow nose. Yep. That's the problem...lol. This photo is driving me nuts!

The photos in the post are the property of Renate Yarborough Sanders, and are not to be used, apart from the sharing of this post, without express permission of the owner.

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Sepia Saturday - Mom At the Beach

I think this is my first time participating in Sepia Saturday, but having recently rediscovered this picture of my mom, I couldn't resist.  This is my mother, Maryanne Hill Yarborough.  I don't know where or when the picture was taken, but my guess is that it was sometime in the mid- to late 1950's on one of the beaches here in Hampton Roads, VA.  (She would have been between 20 - 25 years old.) Since the beaches were still segregated at that time, she was probably either at Ocean Breeze or Sea View in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area, or (less-probably) at Bay Shore in Hampton.

On the slim chance that the picture was taken a bit later, say in the early to mid-60's, I'd most certainly say that this is Buckroe Beach in Hampton, where we moved in 1964. However, by that time, my mom would have had 4 children, and I just think she looks a little too relaxed for it to have been then.  But, you never know!

My mom is obviously "stiking a pose", and I think she looks very pretty, and even "sexy".  (Is one supposed to say that about one's mother?) :)  I plan to visit the area beaches to see if I can locate this spot, based on what I see in the background of the photo.  Wish me luck!

Renate

PS... To see a picture of my grandmother (my mother's mother) in all her swimsuit glory, please take a look at my previous post, "Fun in the Sun - Grandma Thomas, Back in the Day!" which was posted in 2010 for the 95th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.






  To participate in Sepia Saturday, click here!

                                              

Mysterious Monday - A Yarborough Ancestor?

On a recent trip to Louisburg, NC, I was given the opportunity to begin looking through some of the belongings of my deceased cousin, Geral Yarborough Sargent, the same cousin whom I wrote about in a previous post. My cousin Geral was a "double Yarborough", in that her mother was a Yarborough, and so was her father (though they were not related).  The Yarborough name is very common in and around Franklin County, in both the Black and White communities. The Caucasian Yarboroughs were a wealthy family of slave-owners, thus leaving a plethora of freedmen who chose to adopt the YARBOROUGH/YARBORO surname after 1865.  Cousin Geral's father, Hillard, was from one set of these Y's, and Cousin Geral's mother, Mattie Yarborough, was the daughter of my formerly enslaved great-grandparents, Calvin and Priscilla.

On the day of my visit, I found several photographs of people who may possibly have been my ancestors.  Most, I'll likely never know the identity of, but hopefully, my cousin Geral's "adopted daughter", Madie, will be able to help me with a few.  But, for this Mysterious Monday, I'd like to post what appears to be the oldest of the photographs.  I have no idea who this woman is/was.  She has some features that lead me to believe that she was probably an ancestor of Geral's, but on which side?  For all I know, I could be looking into the eyes of my own great-grandmother, Pricilla, but I think it may be more likely that this could be Cousin Geral's paternal grandmother, Matilda (Hill) Yarboro.  Matilda was born on January 1, 1844, and died 98 years later, on her birthday, in 1942.

Wordless Wednesday - Somewhere, An Ancestor

Another photo from the album of my Cousin Geral Yarboro Sargent, courtesy of my Cousin F.  Somewhere in this picture, I have an ancestor...

Renate

Somebody's Ancestor

Slowly, but surely, I'm making my way back to the blog.  I write posts in my head often, especially whenever I have new finding or aha moment in my research (which I also haven't been doing a ton of, lately).  I just wanted to "creep" back in tonight to share something that I ran across while having brunch with my daughter yesterday.  We were in a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Richmond, VA, and we just happened to be seated at a table just under this portrait:

From the second I sat down, this young woman had my attention.  (And, given the fact that it took the waitress ten minutes to even come and greet me while I was sitting alone waiting for my daughter to arrive, I can say that I was definitely feeling like she and I were making a connection!)  No matter how hard I tried to look away from her, and busy myself with something else, like checking my email on my phone, or just doing some people-watching, I couldn't stray away from her gaze.  She had me. 

So much was going through my mind, most of which, I'm sure needs no explanation for most who are reading this.  Who was this woman?  When was the picture/portrait made?  Had she been a slave?  A free Black?  Who made this picture of her?  Was this the original frame?  How did Cracker Barrel get this?  WHO IS HER FAMILY?

Yep, that was the big one.  Who is her family?  Would they even know who she was if they were the ones sitting under her portrait?  Could she even be an ancestor of mine?

Finally, I averted my eyes away from the portrait and began to look around the restaurant.  I hadn't been into a Cracker Barrel in years - not since before 2004 when the infamous mouse-in-the-soup fiasco occured in my area.  My family and I used to eat in CB when the kids were young, but I'd never paid much attention to the decor in any of the restaurants back then.  But now, as I glanced all around me, I noticed that, in amongst the many antiquities that graced the walls of the eatery, there were scattered portraits of many ancestors - men, women, and children of all ages, all appearing to be in 19th century (or earlier) garb!  WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE?  WHO DO THEY BELONG TO?

I turned my attention back to my lady, who seemed to be begging me with her eyes to do s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g, but what?  Just about this time, my waitress finall made an appearance.  I ordered coffee and a manager. (I'll bet she was skeeered!)  The gentleman appeared promptly, and my inquisition began.

As it turns out, the manager didn't know exactly where the portraits came from, but he did point out to me that each one is tagged with a number and other identifying information, and that if I was interested in knowing more, I could contact their corporate office to find out where each one came from, and if there is a name or any other identifier associated with a particular portrait.  I asserted my suspicion that the pictures may have been acquired from thrift shops and/or estate sales, and Mr. Manager agreed that this was a possibility.  He also offered that he has been told that an effort has been made to see that the decor for each restaurant is reflective of the area in which it is located, and he suggested that perhaps the portraits had been acquired locally.  Hmmmm....

So now, I have yet another item added to my "to-do" list.  I don't know when I'll get around to it, but I certainly will contact the CB Corporate Offices to find out more about this, and I urge anyone reading this to pay close attention to the wall hangings on your next vist to Cracker Barrel!

Addendum: (November 3, 2010)

I did send a communication to Cracker Barrel's Corporate Office (Customer Relations) to inquire about the portrait.  Here's the disappointing (and less than helpful response I got:

Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with all of us here at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. We're always pleased to hear from our guests.
The tag numbers are inhouse inventory numbers for tax purposes so that we can identify which store has what decor items. However, the decor peices have been purchased throughout the years at estate sales and auctions.
We look forward to seeing you in one of our locations again soon.

Sincerely,
Jason Hill
Guest Relations Representative
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.

Well, of course I sent a reply, clarifying my original questions, but I haven't heard anything back yet.  It seems my mystery lady might remain just that... a mystery.

Renate