Genealogy Through Pictures

This little boy, dressed in his nickers and Little Lord Fauntleroy jacket, is identified on the back of the photograph as Charley J Betzel. The photographer’s imprint indicates the image was made by Cheney, in Oregon City, Oregon. Is that enough detail for us to find information about this subject and his photographer? It should be enough because Betzel is not too common a name. If he were Charley Smith the situation might be more complex, since we could have several possibilities.

The style of the photograph can give us a good start. The brown mat, embossed imprint and embossed frame around the image, in dimensions larger the a Cabinet Card, suggest the image dates from 1895 to 1910. Charley’s outfit makes the late 1890s seem more probable, though it could still be very early in the 1900s.

Given the expected date range, the place to start is the 1900 census, and there is only one Betzel family in Clackamas county, where Oregon city is located. They have a son named Charles, who was born June 1895. A perfect match for our Charley. Since he appears to be about three years old in the photo, we can be confident the image dates from 1898, plus or minus a year.

Charley’s father is listed as Frank Betzel, born in Germany in March, 1863, and immigrated to the USA in 1880, his occupation is Music Teacher. He has been married 12 years to Jennie, who was born August 1866 in England, and they have had four children, three sons were still living in 1900: Irvin (born Sep 1893), Charles (born June 1895) and Dorian (born Nov 1896), all three born in Oregon. Frank is also listed in the Portland City Directories for 1896 and 1897 as a Music Teach in Oregon City, so the family was in that town before and after this photo was taken.

The family is still in Oregon city in the 1910 census, unchanged in most details, though the father is oddly listed as ‘J’ Betzel in stead of Frank. Apparently Charley’s parents had a falling out in the next few years, as the family appears in the 1920 census living at 1426 E 18th Street in Portland without Frank, and his mother is listed as divorced. Charles has married a woman named Myrtle, and they are living with his mother and brothers. Brother Dorian is now using the name Albert, probably his middle name.

To further confirm that this Charles from the census records is our Charley J Betzel from the photograph, I found his WWI draft registration, which shows his full name was Charles James Betzel, and he was born 17 June 1895, was residing at 1426 E 18th Street in Portland in 1917, and worked as a floor manager in the Meier and Frank department store. Here is his signature from that registration card:

Of course at ClassyArts.com we like to find information on the photographer as well — just who was this Cheney in Oregon City about 1898? The 1900 census reveals her identity as well — Ethel Cheney (Ethel M Cheney in the 1910 census), born December 1877, the daughter of Orin Alonzo Cheney (8 Apr 1833 Boston, NY – 1 Feb 1913 Portland, OR) and wife (md 6 Dec 1864 Janesville, WI) Nelly M Sare (Oct 1839 NY – 3 Jul 1907, OR). Of course all those details on her ancestry are not from the census alone, but from compiled genealogies found online. Living in the same household as Ethel Cheney was Bessie Krumer, who is listed in other sources as her partner in the photography business. By the 1910 census Miss Krumer is no longer in the area or has married and changed her name, and Ethel’s younger sister Edith C Cheney (born March 1882) is listed as a photographer.

Here is an interesting demonstration of how old photographs can contribute information to your family genealogy. I only spent an hour or two researching this gentleman, but found plenty of information. At first, I thought I had too much information — or at least too many Eli Hadley’s from which to choose.

I was a bit surprised the only Eli Hadley listed in Clinton county Ohio was too young (27 in 1860) to match this photograph from about five years later. We know from the tax stamp that his image was taken 1864-1866 — let’s call it 1865, but remember it could be one year either side of that. The gent is not elderly, but he appears older than 32 to me. So I checked the 1850 census. There I found three candidates! One was the same fellow as we saw in 1860, as a teenager. Another was a bit older, and he had the right middle initial — Eli L Hadley aged 28. The third was even older, 46 in 1850. The 28 year old would be 43 in 1865, while the 46 year old would be 61. I think 43 fits this image better, but considered the possibility that it was an 1865 copy of an earlier image. Doesn’t look like it, but that is possible — if so my identification is wrong. But I do have more evidence in favor of Eli L, the middle-bear who is ‘just right’.

I wondered why Eli was not listed in 1860 — so I expanded my search a bit, and found him, along with the rest of his family, indexed as Hodley instead of Hadley. I found the family again in 1870, but Eli was not listed, and indexer mistook his wife Theodocia as Theodore (occupation, keeping house?). Most of the same children are listed (though the older ones had moved out of the household of course), but no Eli.

Next step was to look at the compiled genealogies, to see if anyone was searching this fellow. Indeed there were (or are) — quite a few in fact. They all list him as Eli L Hadley, son of William Hadley and Sarah Lindley. Aha, says I — that middle initial L is shown as Lindley on our photograph, and that was his mother’s maiden name. None of the compiled genealogies showed more than the initial — which is why I said at the start that photos like this can contribute information to your genealogy.

Most of the compiled genealogies listed his wife as Theodocia Thatcher, but one showed Theodocia Stanton Hadley Thatcher. That cleared up the oddity that two children, born before the given date of Eli and Theodocia’s marriage, were surnamed Stanton in the 1850 census, though they were listed as Hadley’s in 1860. Theodocia was four or five years older than Eli, and apparently their union was her second marriage.

Also, the compiled genealogies explain Eli’s absence from the 1870 census — he died 7 Sep 1868, just a few years after this image was taken.

According to the inscription on back, this is the wedding photo for Frank Timmermeyer and Catharine Josephine Curtis. We can see from the photographer’s imprint that the image was taken at Lawrence Kansas, and Catharine’s huge leg-o-mutton sleeves suggest the date was in the mid 1890s.

I didn’t have any great trouble tracking these two in the census records, having found both of them in each available census from 1870 through 1930. Timmermeyer was mis-indexed as Simmermeyer and Trimmerman, and in the earliest record was spelled Timmermeier. Curtis was spelled consistently, but there were lots of those to choose from, and the first names varied quite a bit — but in the end they could be sorted out based on the facts about Catharine found in later censuses.

There was also a genealogy compiled on Ancestry.com for this family, which provided some additional details — though it did have one glaring error, showing two children for this couple born two months apart in 1900 — one of those was actually born 1907.

Taking things more or less chronologically, Catharine was born Mar 8, 1868 in Monroe Ohio, eldest child of Jeremiah and Catherine (Murray) Curtis. Jeremiah, or Jerry was born in Ireland ca 1831, and his wife Catharine, or Kate, was also born in Ireland, in August 1846. Besides daughter Catharine, Jerry and Kate had: John, born June 1869; Jerry M born September 1872; William born November 1875; Thomas born August 1879; Anna E born November 1882; and James F born October 1886. There were two other children born who died young.

Kate Curtis and her brother John were born in Ohio, but by the time of the 1870 census the family had moved to a farm in Willow Springs township, Douglas county, Kansas where the family was still living thirty years later. Douglas county is where Lawrence is located. Kate’s father died between 1886 and 1900, as her mother is listed as a widow in the 1900 census.

Frank Timmermeyer was born January 17, 1870 in St Charles, Missouri, the fifth of nine children born to George and Mary (Kollister) Timmermeyer. George Timmermeyer was born October 4, 1828 in Dellbruck, Germany, the son of Joseph H and Anna Angela (Wigge) Timmermeyer. Mary Kollister was born September 30, 1841 in Hanover, Germany. Besides son Frank, their children were: Henry, born August 14, 1861 in Missouri; Joseph, born August 23, 1863 in St Charles, Missouri; Mary born February 10, 1865 in Missouri; William George, born January 22, 1867 in St Charles; Elizabeth born August 19, 1873; Fred born December 15, 1874; Katherine born April 17, 1875; and Anna born February 2nd, 1883.

Frank’s father George died November 2nd, 1895. Frank Timmermeyer and Catharine Josephine Curtis were married in Baldwin City Kansas on November 17, 1896. Baldwin City is also in Douglas county, and is about 15 miles from Lawrence, where our picture was taken, probably within a couple days of the actual marriage. They settled on a farm in Wakarusa township, Douglas county, just outside of Lawrence. Their first child, Frances Mary, was born in December 1900, but died within a year. Another girl, Anna Katherine, was born December 3rd, 1902. Their only son, Leo Thomas, was born November 10th, 1904. The final child, Julia Eva, was probably born November 5th 1907, though the online genealogy shows 1900 (just one month before her sister Frances? — unlikely). Her age in the 1910 and 1920 give her age as 2 and 12 respectively, if her birthday was in November she must have born 1907.

Frank’s mother Mary (Kollister) Timmermeyer died July 17, 1918 in Wichitaw, Kansas. Sometime between 1910 and 1920 Frank and Catherine apparently sold the farm in Kansas and bought a house at 845 Martin in Longmont, Colorado. They are listed there in the 1920 and 1930 censuses, and in 1936 and 1938 city directories for Longmont. Daughter Julia Eva died July 11, 1936, a few months short of her 29th birthday. Frank TImmermeyer died November 28th, 1947 in Longmont. Catherine (Curtis) Timmermeyer died October 18, 1948 — also in Longmont. Their son Leo died July 5th, 1979 in Grants Pass, Oregon. Daughter Anna Katherine died July 27th, 1981.

The photographer for this image was Joseph L Morris, born May 1859 in Ohio to James P and Anna H Morris. James was a farmer, born ca 1831 in Ohio, the son of Joseph Morris, born about 1803 in Ohio. In 1880 Joseph was working on his father’s farm in White township, Macon county, Missouri. So far, we have no other record of Joseph working as a photographer before this photograph from 1896. His career was probably not very long, he is listed as a photographer in Lawrence in the 1900 census, but by the 1910 census he is in the same city but without any occupation listed, and in 1920 he is still in Lawrence, but his occupation is shown as mechanical engineer. He married a woman named Maggie (born October 1860 in Missouri) about 1890, but they had no children. She died in the 1920s as he is listed as a widower in 1930.

This is a fine high-school graduation picture from 1895 of William C Shute of Westfield Massachusetts. I found William listed five years later in the 1900 census, born January 1877, living in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with his new wife, Bertha (born Oct 1877). William was a draughtsman, and Bertha a china painter. Both list Massachusetts as their birthplaces, and apparently they went back there for a few years, since in the 1910 census, by which time they were living in Denver with three children — the eldest two (Henry and Marian) born in Massachusetts, ca 1902 and 1903. The youngest child then (Margaret), was born about 1907 in Colorado. They had another child about 1917, named William J, according to the 1920 and 1930 censuses. The 1910 through 1930 censuses list William as a school teacher, and by 1930 daughter Margaret was also a teacher.

The photographer is listed on the bottom front of the card as Knowlton Brothers, Westfield, Mass. The Knowlton Brothers were Franklin Smith Knowlton (1836-1920s), and Wilbur F Knowlton (Aug 1839 – ca 1918), both sons of Ammi Knowlton (1806-1888) a Master Mariner, and Maria (Loud) Knowlton (1806-1883). Franklin probably took up photography in 1859, as we first see him listed in the 1860 city directory for Portsmouth NH, where he is mistakenly listed as Frank B Knowlton — we know it is really Franklin S because his home address is the same as his father Ammi and his brother Wilbur. Wilbur was a Provision Dealer, and probably did not join his brother in the photography business until some time after they moved to Northampton Massachusetts in the mid-1860s.

Around early 1858 Franklin married Victoria Matilda Morton, and their first child was born on 13 December of that year. He was named Wilbur after Franklin’s brother.

Craig’s Daguerrian Registry shows that Frank S Knowlton also operated photographic studios in Sanbornton and Rollinsford NH in 1860. The registry of Civil War veterans shows Frank Knowlton enlisting in Company D, New Hampshire 12th Infantry Regiment on 15 Aug 1862 from Sanbornton, New Hampshire. He was promoted to Full Corporal on 17 Mar 1863, and mustered out on 02 Jul 1863 at Gettysburg, PA. Since Franklin S Knowlton was associated with Sanbornton, one might think this was him — but the 1860 census shows another Frank Knowlton, son of Oliver and Lucinda Knowlton, whose age better matches the government record, which showed Frank as 28 at enlistment.

From 1870 through 1920 we find Franklin and Victoria in each decennial census, living in Northampton Massachusetts. The 1900 census shows they had five children, only four of whom were living by that year. We have mentioned the eldest, Wilbur F born in 1858, he was followed by Frederick G 1863, Charles F 1865 and Elizabeth A 1879. Elizabeth married Charles Thompson about 1909, but continues to live with her parents in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. By 1930 she and Charles Thompson are living in Northampton, with her widowed mother (90 years old).

So how did the Knowlton Brothers come to have a studio in Westfield Massachusetts, and when did it operate? Well, from the Westfield city directories we learn that the Knowlton Brothers are first listed there in 1895, the year of this photo. The 1896 directory gives us a clue as to why — Franklin S Knowlton is listed as resident in Westfield — and so is daughter Elizabeth, ’student’. By the 1898 directory we find an ad for N M Austin, Photographer, “Successor to Knowlton Bros” — so the studio was quickly sold, probably when Elizabeth graduated, and they returned to Northampton.

We last see the Knowlton Brothers Northampton studio listed in 1917. Wilbur (Franklin’s brother, not his son) probably died around then, as we can not find him in the 1920 census, so Franklin closed the studio. Franklin is listed in 1920, but retired from business (he turned 84 that year).

Today, I thought a little stronger challenge was about due, rather than simply finding people for whom we have lots of clues. So I took a look at the photo of E Butler. It is a cdv on green cardstock, with an inscription on back that reads: “Truly Yours, E. Butler, July 2, 1880″.

There is no photographer’s imprint on back, but there was one on front — however — most of it was trimmed off when somebody decided to shorten the card. So that is where the detective work began. A close look at the name convinced me that it must be Barker or Parker. Only the tips of letters were left on the right, where the location is usually shown, but enough remains of the first letter to be fairly sure it is a W. That is followed by another mark, and some space — so it looks like the location is upper and lower case, with only the longer letters leaving marks. The first letter after the W is one of those long letters, and the possibilities are: Wb, Wh, Wk, or Wl. The Wh is of course the most probable, since town names beginning with the other prefixes are rare.

Next I turned to the ClassyArts.com Database of Photographers, a list of historic photographers approaching 60,000 records and still growing. I looked first at all the Parker listings, but none of the towns for those photographers began with Wh. I checked Barker, which had fewer listings, and there was listed James Barker of Whitehall, New York, who was aged 35 in the 1880 census, and born in Vermont. Well that not only places a photographer Barker in a town beginning with Wh, but it places him there the very year we are interested in — 1880.

Now, to confirm the probable identification of the photographer, I filled in the letters for Whitehall, New York under the marks on the cdv, to see if the tall letters match the marks:

They match perfectly! There can be little doubt then that James Barker of Whitehall was the photographer for this image.

Now, what about E Butler? Are there any candidates for him in or around Whitehall, New York? Again we turn to the 1880 census, since that is the same year as the photograph. Our photo shows a man in middle-age, his hair is greatly receded, but he doesn’t appear very wrinkled, so my guess is that he is between 35 and 55.

There is only one E Butler in Whitehall, Ebenezer Butler, age 46, a school teacher, born in New York. I searched various online resources, but could find no other photograph of Mr Butler to confirm this identification. I suspect this is Ebenezer, but we do not have enough evidence to say so with a high degree of certainty. It could be Edward Butler, age 27, who also lived in the same county, though not the village of Whitehall. Or it could be any of hundreds of E Butler’s who lived elsewhere in the country, and may have had some reason to visit Whitehall. For this one, we can only say ‘probably’ — until more evidence surfaces.