Mysterious Monday - What's Happening Here?

Back in 2010, I scanned this photo while visiting my cousin, Harold Green, in Louisburg, NC.  As you can see, the picture is "dirty", but still, it depicts a scene of some event, and I believe it may be of significant interest, if I/we could just figure out what that event was!

I posted the picture on Facebook, to the Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren Genealogy Group, and we've been having a good discussion, there.  Because of that, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the photo here, to get more opinions about it.

I have always thought that this was probably the scene of either a baptism or a burial.  At first, I also wondered if maybe there had (possibly) been a lynching, but I think I'm straying away from that idea.  What I do know/see is this:
1. Almost all of the people appear to be dressed in white/light-colored clothing.
2. There appear to be two main groups of people, walking in opposing directions.  A large group of mostly women are coming up the path toward the camera.  And, a smaller group (of what we can see) of men appear to be approaching the scene from the bottom left.
3. There are two carriages: One looks like it has a flatbed, and the other looks more like it might be a buggy.
4.  A lady with a small child stands alone in the center of the picture.
5.  It looks like there's at least one small child in a basket of some type near the center of the picture.
6.  There is (what we think is) an electric pole with climbing spikes in it near the forefront of the picture (on the right).

This appears to be a baby or small child (with a hat on) in a basket.
It also looks like there are a couple of darker-clothed people in this close up.

Although I can't prove it, I'm sure the setting has to be in Franklin County (Louisburg), North Carolina.  The picture was in an album that belonged to my cousin's grandmother, Mary Helen "Pidgy" Green, who lived from 1876 - 1959.  Other than this, the collection consisted only of family pictures.  This picture was an 8x10.  It was the only one of that size in the album.

My cousin (who is now 89 years old) was very reluctant to show me the pictures, or to discuss family history with me. (More on that, later.)  It had taken me years just to get him to allow me to see these, and other pictures that he has at his home, and to allow me to interview him.  I had taken my scanner with me, and I was going as fast as I could, because I knew that he was going to cut me off (which he did).  I want to try to get him to let me borrow the picture for a short time, so that I can get it professionally cleaned, but first I have to get my nerve up to ask him.

What do you see, and what do you think is happening, here?

Renate



Wordless (Wedding?) Wednesday



Jessie Green (maybe?)


Yes, this is supposed to be "wordless", but this time, I'm asking for your words!  I took a snapshot of this photo at a recent family reunion, but I'm hesitant to agree that it is the person who the owner of the picture had it labeled as.  If anyone can date this dress for me (even approximately), it would be very helpful in helping me to make my case.  Also, do you think it looks like a wedding dress?  I do.

Thanks!
Renate

Mystery Monday - Young Man In Uniform

Here's another unidentified photograph from my collections.  This picture was found between the pages of a cookbook (just pages, no book) that my Aunt Sue tells me belonged to her Grandma Susie (Dunstan) GREEN.



At first glance, I wondered if the young man could have been my Uncle Fred YARBOROUGH, my father's 1/2 brother, who passed away in 1947 at the age of 34.  (He was hit by a car.)  However, my aunt insists that the picture is not of Fred, so I have to believe her (for now...lol).  There is probably no connection between the picture and the original owner of the cookbook, since there was only a remnant of the publication left, and because Susie Dunstan never even lived in the house where it was.  Apparently, the cookbook came into her daughter's possession (my grandmother, Anna (Green) Yarborough), after her death sometime in the early part of the 20th century.  I discovered the picture after being given what was left of the cookbook, and bringing it home (it a plastic bag) a couple of years ago.  When I called my aunt to ask her about the picture, she didn't even know it was in there, so I'm sure that it ended up there quite by accident.

I'd really love to know who this is.  Perhaps there's a clue in the uniform that the young man is wearing.  My one guess is that it might be a Civilian Conservation Corps uniform, but I'm not sure about the thing on the cap.  (I haven't been able to find a clear picture online.)  I do know that some other members of my family did serve in the CCC, though, so this could be a possibility.  My only other thought is that perhaps this could be a school uniform of some type.

This young man would have most likely been from Louisburg/Franklin County, NC.  My guess is that he is between 15-20 years old in this picture, and that it was probably taken in the 1930's or 1940's.  What do you think?

Mysterious Monday - A Very Odd Photo

Today, I've decided to share one of the many photos I have in my possession of unknown (family?) folks.  I can remember seeing this one when I was younger, perhaps a teenager, in our garage where a couple of old photo albums were kept.  I have no idea who the people are in this picture, but it has always intrigued me, on a number of different levels.

I've theorized a few different interpretations of this photo, but none with any level of certainty.  No one in my family seems to know anything about its orgins, but I'm assuming by the "x" mark over the head of the guy in uniform, that he must be the subject with whom we have a connection.  I am so baffled by the other character, the pose, and the ---- well, the EVERYTHING about this picture!



I don't want to give away any of my ideas, so as not to influence yours.  Please, dear readers, leave me comments on your interpretations of this photo, or if you have actual knowledge (like, perhaps, what kind of uniform the man on the right is wearing), please share it with me.

The photo is on a 3 & 1/4 x 5 & 1/4 postcard, and I did a bit of research to attempt to get a date range for it.  According to the information I found on the site Photos Made Perfect, this postcard was produced by Kodak between 1918-1930.  I was able to determine this by the AZO stamp box, which has two triangles pointing up, and two pointing down.  Also, it's obvious that picture is posed in front of a backdrop showing the US Capital building.  I'm not sure if that means it was taken in Washington, DC or not, but I guess it's something to consider. 

I welcome, and invite your ideas!

Renate

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.

Mysterious Monday (In a MAJOR way!)

Okay, genea-peeps, I really need your help!

Earlier today, I got a voicemail from a cousin of mine in Louisburg.  Actually, she is not a blood relative, but one of those cousin-cousins that we all have.  She was the "adopted" daughter of my real cousin, Geral Yarboro Sargeant, who passed away in 2006. 
Anyway, this cousin, whom I'll call "M", called to let me know that her son (who I didn't even know existed) would be contacting me soon because he'd come to town and gone through some of the pictures that belonged to my cousin Geral, and he'd scanned some of them.  M told me that her son is developing an interest in family history, and that she'd shared with him that this was my thing :), so she'd given him my number so that he could contact me and share the pictures he scanned.
Now, mind you, it had crossed my mind some time ago that my cousin Geral's home, which has been left untouched, probably holds some family history treasures for me.  After all, she was born in 1916.  Her mother was my grandfather's sister, and Geral also would have known my great-grandfather, Calvin (her grandfather) when she was a child.  I have made a yet-unanswered request to visit the property myself, but I'm still awaiting permission to do so.  But, none of that is neither here, nor there... tonight, I was given a gift, and I'm doing the almost happy dance!
Why the dance, and why the almost, you might be asking?  Well, just as M said he would, her son did call me tonight.  We had a good chat, during which he shared with me that he had, indeed, scanned the pages of my cousin Geral's photo albums, and that he would be sharing the photos with me!  I was (and am) so excited, I could hardly contain myself as I began question him about the pictures.  He told me that he didn't think any of the pictures were from slavery times, but he guessed that that oldest of them might've been from the early 1900's.  Immediately, I began to wonder there could be pictures of my great-grandparents, Calvin, Sr. and Pricilla, or of my grandparents, Calvin and Anna?  Pictures of any of my ancestral family members would be great, but if there were any of my direct grands - well I'd just be beside myself!
Before we hung up, I told my new-found cousin (who I'll call, "Cousin F") about my blog and my online trees.  He has already joined ancestry.com, so I gave him the usual warnings about not going too fast, and being careful to verify that he has the right folks before just adding them to his tree, etc., etc.  We also discussed the various spellings that he will run across for family names.  Before hanging up, I begged him to just send me at least one picture tonight, as I knew that I wouldn't get any sleep thinking about this.  And he did!
Cousin F sent me a scanned copy of a photo album page that had four (seemingly) unrelated photos on it.  (Cousin F had mentioned that he was told that these pictures were randomly placed into an album during the time that my Cousin Geral was ill.)  The top photo is the one that I'm most excited about, and which I am reaching out to the genea-community for help with. Here it is!

As I said, I can barely contain myself!  Sadly, none of the pictures that Cousin F found were labeled, and his mother was not able to identify the people in most of them.  But THIS fabulous photo, which I'm guessing is of four gentlemen who worked for the railroad, is one in with I think I might possibly be looking at my grandfather, and possibly some of his brothers!  The three tallest gentlemen all look like my father and brother in different ways, but the second one (without the band on his arm) looks almost exactly like both of them!  Even though I don't have any history of my grandfather working for the railroad, I'm not ruling it out.  Also, I guess I could be wrong about them being railroad men, but the "Southern" on their lapels seems a dead give-away.

There were three other pictures on the album page.  One was of a man standing alone, another was a large picture of a school of children, and the other was of a kitten.  I will feature these pictures at another time.  (Well, probably not the one of the kitten!)

Okay, genea-folks.  This is a Mysterious Monday that I'm sure some of you can help with.  I'm all ears (well, eyes)...lol.  What say you?

Renate

The photo in this post is the property of the owner.  Please obtain permission before copying or using for any purpose by contacting yarsan@aol.com.

Mysterious Monday

1/5/2015 - UPDATE!!!!!

I've learned a lot more about the illusive William Green since writing about him in 2009, but today has been a banner day because I've positively identified a PICTURE of William!  Here he is!

Sargent William Adam Green
(October 1874 - February 21, 1940)

 I've actually had a picture of this picture for a few years, and I've long suspected that it could have been William. However, the first time I saw it, and took a shot of it, the military insignia wasn't as clear.  As a matter of fact, the "3" above the crossed rifles, didn't show up on that first picture, at all. So, for a few years, I've had that picture but didn't realize that there was such a clear identifier on it!

Yesterday, I returned to the home of my cousin, H, in Louisburg, NC, where this picture, along with several others of the white-looking ancestral members of my family, hangs in a private room, which few people even know about.  I convinced my aged and ailing cousin to allow me to go back into the room (escorted by his wife) to compare a picture of another mystery ancestor, to a baby picture that I remembered being in there.  He obliged my request, and so, while in there, I quickly took new photos of each of the pictures in the little room. All of the pictures are framed, and most are hanging on the wall.  The ones that aren't are sitting atop an antique piano, which belonged to the home's original owner.

When I returned home from my trip, and looked over my pictures, I immediately noticed that the military-looking insignia was much clearer than it had been in the first shot, and that the was a unmistakable number "3" above the crossing of the two rifles.  I began to get excited, because I knew that I'd found William Green, some years ago, in the THIRD NC Volunteer Battalion, during the Spanish-American War! Could this be him?  But, what was on the little medal under the guns?  I studied it and studied it, trying to determine if it had the letter H on it, since that was William's company.  But, all the blowing up and starting at it couldn't clarify that part of the picture. So, what did I do?  I turned to the genealogy community on Facebook! :)  Posting the picture and query instigated lots of discussion.  In the end, although no one could  make out what was under the rifles, everyone agreed that the rest of the insignia definitely represented the Third NC Battalion.  Because there was no one else in my ancestral family who served in the SAW, and no one else who would have have been age-eligible and who would fit the physical description of the young man in the picture, I knew I had William!

Close-up of insignia

So, there you have it! I am now able to look into the eyes of the youngest son of my great-great grandparents, Nathaniel Hawkins and Anna Green, whom I've never seen photos of.  Looking at William allows me to look at the two of them - or at least to imagine what they may have looked like. I see William, and I think about what it must have been like for him to have served in this particular military unit - an all black battalion, which was subjected to the worst kind of racism, in and around their camps. I imagine for William, looking WHITE in this segregated regiment must have presented a multitude of additional challenges, both from within, and from outside of the "protective" walls of his encampments. I wonder, for William, what it was like to (presumably) for the first time in his life be immersed in an all-black world, especially since even the officers in this regiment were black?  I wonder if he got bullied? I wonder if he got called, "white-boy" - if he was beat up, or teased for his appearance?  I wonder if he was the only one in his company who was like this? I do know that he mustered in as a Sargent, and that was probably due to the color of his skin. But, why wasn't he one of the "officers"?

In William's eyes, I imagine I see the painfully-gained, growing wisdom of a young man, who has had his first venture into a harsh world, away from his family. I feel as though I see the contemplative wheels a-turning, and he considers his next move(s), knowing that he will never see himself the same way he may have before he enlisted, and understanding in even greater depth than before, the juxtaposition he would face as a white-looking black man in the Jim Crow south.  And, for the first time since I learned of William Adam Green, who moved to New York, not too long after this picture was made, and lived out his life "passing" as white - I understood, and I forgave him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 9, 2009 (Updated on 1/5/2015)
Last week's mystery was about my gg grandmother, Anna Green. Today I'll introduce her son, William. William Green was born in 1873 1874 in Franklin County, NC. He was the fourth of Anna's mulatto children, whose father was Nathaniel M. Hawkins. (See last week's Mysterious Monday for the back story) I know very little about William, except that he looked white, and that he left NC at an early age and moved to New York, where he lived as a White man. According to my 90 (now 95) year-old cousin, Florine, he married a white woman, who she thinks may have been Jewish. It is unclear as to whether or not this woman ever knew William's ethnicity before his death, but Florine recalls that she actually came to Louisburg at some point afterward, said some choice words and dumped off a bunch of pictures and such - which have since disappeared. William's wife was actually Irish. I don't know anymore about the whole "coming to Louisburg thing, but something seems to have happened once either she (Margaret), or someone else in her family discovered William's ethnicity, because apparently they "outted" other family members who were also passing in NY, causing them to lose their jobs, and more.

Florine tells a story of going with her aunt, William's sister, to New York for his funeral, but not being able to attend because she was "too brown" and would have given away the "secret". (Interesting, because Florine is very light, but not light enough to pass.) So, she stayed at the house - which I'm assuming was her Aunt Betty's (Elizabeth GREEN Miller's) house. Betty was also living in New York and passed for White. This was sometime in the 1930's. (She, along with her sister, Ruby, were the two, mentioned above.)

What I know for sure:... (Not much!)
1. William's middle name was Adam. Now, this is complicated, but I have a Family Group Record from familysearch.org that shows William's 1904 marriage in Manhattan. This marriage was to Sally Lou Johnson, who was also from Louisburg. (Florine says this is not the white woman, but a first wife, and I'm guessing she was Black.) On this document, William lists his parents as Anna Perkins and Nathaniel Green. If this is my William, which I believe it is, this document corroborates the oral history that Anna was originally a Perkins before she came to Louisburg. Nathaniel also matches the first name of the person I was told was Wm's white father, but I have a different surname. I'm assuming that William may have been guessing at this, because his father died when he was six and he was just probably assuming that his mother got her last name (Green) from him, but she didn't. They were never married. The other thing about this document is that I can no longer find it or pull it up on Family Search! Thank goodness I printed it out when I originally saw it, but it's a mystery as to why it no longer seems to be there. The middle name, Adam, was also confirmed on William's WWI Draft Registration (see below), and on his service record from the Spanish-American War.

William's WWI Draft Registration

2. William died in New York. William died on February 21, 1940, in the Bronx, NY. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, New York.  His niece, Ruby Green, was the informant on his death certificate.  William's wife, Margaret Boyle, had long predeceased him, having passed in 1929.  I have not found evidence of them having any children, but I'm told that they may have had a son.  

3. William's sister, Betty, also lived in New York and was passing for White. She was a "hairdresser to the rich folk", according to Cousin Florine, until William's wife found out that they were Black and went and told everyone. Then she lost all her clients. Florine says she lived in the Riverdale section of NY. Bettie married Roy Miller, a postal worker. According to Florine, my cousin H, and my cousin Virginia, Betty was also Doris Duke's personal stylist, and "traveled with her everywhere she went".  I do have a picture of Betty relaxing on a ship deck, and others of her wearing furs, so perhaps this is true. I tried to verify this a few years ago, but I'd gotten the name wrong, and ended up writing to Doris DAY's people, instead of Doris DUKE's. A followup is on my to-do list. :)

Conflicts:
William names his father as Nathaniel Green on the fs.org document. Our oral history gives the name Hawkins. (What the heck - that's the name. Nathaniel HAWKINS.) Well, this goes to show what a short time it's been since I discovered and uncovered my Hawkins ancestry!  There's no further conflict on this.  William's father was Nathaniel Hawkins.
Questions:

1. Did William ever have any children, either by Sally Lou, or by his white wife? If so, what happened to them, and how can I find them? The whole Sally Lou thing is still a mystery, although I have a few suspicions. However, I don't find her anywhere else, in Louisburg, where it says she was from, or in NY. Florine insists that William had a child, but I'm thinking that if that child was in Louisburg, we'd know about him/her, so I don't know.

2. What was William's wife's name? (the white one) William married Margaret Boyle before 1918, in NY.  I had a source for this, but can't find it, right now.  Margaret was born in Ireland, in 1876, to parents John Boyle and Bridget Nolan.  She immigrated (with her parents) to the United States in 1907.

3. Where is William buried?  William is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Westchester, NY

4. Did William maintain any type of communication with his mother, Anna? (Was she even still living, when he left NC?)

5. Did Anna ever visit William in New York? Could she have gone to live with him? (Perhaps as a servant? Remember, Anna disappears from my census findings after 1880.)


Today's mystery question: How can I find out more about William Green? The work continues...

Renate

*The picture of William A Green is the explicit property of this writer, and should not be copied without my permission.  You may, though, feel free to share this post, in its entirety. :)

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Mysterious Monday

As I'm getting more into this blogging thing (lol) I've been trying to figure out what catchy label I would use for my Monday posts, and finally I've come up with "Mysterious Monday"! I will dedicate these posts to my brick walls - those ancestors who've mysteriously disappeared into thin air, or whose stories elude me beyond a certain point. Also, on Mondays, I'll share some of the BIG QUESTIONS that I have about my ancestors, with hopes that presenting them to other researchers will result in a "meeting of the minds" that will take me down new roads in my research and help me find the answers.
Today I will begin with my great-great grandmother, Anna Green. Much of what I know about Anna has been passed on to me in an oral telling by one relative, my now 90 year old cousin Florine, who is Anna's granddaughter. According to Florine, Anna was originally a Perkins who fled from Tennessee because "the man kept on bothering her". (It's a bit fuzzy, but it may have been Anna's mother who was being bothered, not Anna.) Florine also tells that Anna's mother was a "full-blooded Indian", but I have nothing to verify that yet. Anyway, Anna (and her mother??) somehow ended up in Franklin County, NC, and somehow took on the surname, Green. Here, my cousin always tells me that she thinks it had something to do with some auto dealer in Franklinton, but this doesn't make sense to me because the automobile as we know it was not yet invented.) Anyway, Anna, who was born in 1844 apparently became the woman of a white man, X, and bore 6 children by him. The oral history states that X loved Anna, and put her up in her own home on his family's property. However, when he died in 1879, his father, promptly put Anna and her children out, and thus begins what is seemingly a legacy in my family of single women being left to raise their children on their own.

Here's what I know for sure:
1860- 29 year old X still lives at home with his momma and younger siblings. He is listed as a "Negro Trader."

1870 - 26 year old Anna (listed as White) is head of household. She has her son, John (5) and daughter, Elizabeth (2). The children are listed as Black. None of the neighbors' names seem to be connected to us, but most of the neighbors are black, except for one family two doors down.
38 year old X is listed living alone, however he is completely surrounded by blacks. His occupation is listed as "Trader." (This is post Emancipation, so what is he trading???) Interestingly enough, the census taker had first written "B" for Black, but wrote over it, "W". Apparently X never married, which would be strong support for his relationship with Anna.

1880 - 37 year old Anna (now listed as Black) has all of her children; John (14), Bettie (12), Annie (9), William (7), Mary (4), and Esther (1). She also has three children in the home who are "something other than a direct relationship". They are Bat (13), William (9), and Lucy (3) Wood. ALL of the children in the house are listed as Mulatto.

I never find Anna again in any census. For some reason, I have her death date as 12/6/1927, but I don't have this sourced. However, I feel sure I must have actually found this somewhere early in my research, so for right now I'm holding it as true.

*Cousin Florine knew all of Anna's children except for John (my great grandfather). All of them were very light, and several could (and did) pass for white. (I have brick walls on them, too, but that is not my focus for today.)

* My grandmother was named for her grandmother, ANNA GREEN.

Conflicts:
Currently, I have the entire family of X on my tree, however, I am uneasy about it because there are parts of the oral history that don't match with the facts on his family. The main one is that his father, a very prominent figure in Franklin County, died in 1856. This would be well before Anna would have taken up with his son, and way before X's death in 1879. So, none of that stuff about the father putting him out would make sense, although it could have been his other family members who did so.

Questions:
1. What was Anna's ethnicity? Obviously, she was of mixed blood, but was it black-white, white-indian, black-indian????
2. Was Anna ever a slave?
3. Where did Anna actually come from? The oral history says TN, but in 1880, Anna tells the census taker that she was born in VA, and so were her parents. I find this more believeable because it is now 15 years past Emancipation, and Anna probably has no fear of telling the truth, as she might have in 1870 if, by chance, she'd been a runaway slave. Is there any hope of me finding her family of origin (Perkins??).
4. How did Anna get the name Green? She didn't seem to have ever married.
5. What happened to Anna after 1880? Unfortunately, we don't have the 1890 Census. Anna just seems to disappear. I do find a few Anna Greens outside of the area who match her in age, but I have nothing to go on to verify that either of them is her.
6. Even though X's father died in 1856, probably before he and Anna hooked up, X is completely excluded from his father's will. Why was he left out?
7. I have seen X's will at the state archives. He left everything to his mother and siblings (supposedly - if not tampered with). Comments, please.

Well, this has gotten much longer than I'd expected it to be, so I'll stop here. There are a few other tidbits, but not of great importance. The reason I've decided to use "X" for my gg grandfather's name right now is because of all of the conflicts and because so much is unverified. I'd rather not lock anyone into a name if you think you can help me with this. I have attempted to make contact with several people who have him on their tree, but no one knows any more about him than his name and d.o.b. and NO ONE knew of him having any offspring.

I look forward to hearing about any insight anyone might have into this! Thank for reading!

Renate

MYSTERY QUESTION: How can I find out more about ANNA GREEN?