Tombstone Tuesday - October 29, 2013 - Hiram Best

Hiram Best was the son of Coonrad and Catherine (Louks) Best. He was born on January 30, 1830. He died July 25, 1904. He is buried in the Best Cemetery in the County of Elgin, Ontario, Canada.

This week I received a surprise email from a man named Steven Zronik from London, Ontario. He told me that he had a photo in his collection of old photos of Hiram Best. Hiram is the brother of my GGGGrandfather, John L Best. He sent it to me this week. He found my family tree which included Hiram Best on Ancestry.com.  He sent me an email thru ancestry.com requesting my email so he could share this photo with me.  The first photo is cropped from the original photo of Hiram and his wife Alice but is a nice close up of an aging Hiram Best.

Hiram Best - 1830-1904

 
The original photo was found in an Antique store in Canada.  On the back of the photo, someone had had clearly written  “Hiram Best and Mrs Hiram Best- Hiram died 1904”. This appears to be a turn of the century photo, but it could be as early as the 1890's. During this time period he was married to Alice Thomas. His first wife Agnes died in 1874.  This photo is likely not that old.  Alice was 23 years younger than Hiram.  I would say that with his gray beard and her still dark hair I am conluding that she is quite a number of years younger than he is.  Alice was his wife listed on his death certificate. So with all this as evidence, I am assuming that Alice Thomas Best is the woman in the photo with him.  She was born in Australia in 1853. She died in 1936 and is buried with Hiram in the Best Cemetery.

Alice (Thomas) and Hiram Best

 Happy Hunting,

Jan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding a photo...

A couple of years ago my cousin sent me a small paper weight which had been saved in her Mother's china cabinet for many years. I wrote a blog about the paper weight when I received it.  I tried to research what it was and who had made it with the hopes of uncovering more information about what it  might have meant to my great, great grandmother, Emma Crites.  Obviously it was a special family treasure or we would not have it still today!  

While in Uniondale in September, we drove by the church and visited Emma's old home. It was quite an experience to stand in the living room which she and John spent so much time in. I talked about it in a previous blog.  During my September visit, Shane Brown told me that I needed to visit a newly reopened antique store in Uniondale.  The antique store had reopened with new owners and is called  Minnich's Antiques & General Store.  It is located at 1123 Otto Street, Uniondale, Indiana. Check them out at minnichsantiques.com  Labor Day weekend was their Grand Opening.  I hoped that it was open on Sunday and planned to visit it.  Shane had informed me that they owned an early 1900 photo of the people of Uniondale.  I planned to visit the store on my way home from my research weekend. 

I visited the store.  It is a cute store in a home which is located down the street from the Uniondale United Methodist Church. Upon entering the store, I introduced my self to one of the owners, Kim Minnich and told her that I had been visiting with Shane Brown and that he said that you have an old  Uniondale photo which I might be interested in.  She said, "well yes I do !"  She went behind the counter and retrieved it.  It is large photo which measure about 36 inches by 11 inches.  The glass in the frame is broken.  It had been dropped at some point when someone was looking at it. The photo is not for sale but often people come in and ask to see it. It is a treasure for this small local farming community.  It is a historical gold mine.  I wish all the people could been identified. 

It did not take me long to find my great great grandmother, Amanda Crites (Emma).  She is front and center with her daughter and granddaughter standing nearby!

Emma is front and center in this photo

Emma Crites, Velma Meeks and Dessie Meeks

Emma is the woman dressed in black, the second to the left.  Her granddaughter, Velma Meeks, is the girl with her hand on her hip and the woman to her right is Velma's mother, Dessie Meeks, daughter of Emma.

At the time of my visit to the antique store, I told Kim that this photo was likely a photo from the 1917 dedication of the Uniondale Church. I told her about the paper weight which I still owned.

More about what I have learned about the Dedication service and more photos next week.

Happy Hunting,

Jan

Tombstone Tuesday – October 22, 2013 – William Harvey, Dora Belle (Smith) and Charles Jackson

This is Hoverstock Cemetery in Zanesville, Indiana.  The grave stone of William Harvey Jackson and Dora Belle (Smith) Jackson.  Dora Belle is the daughter of James and Oella (Denney) Smith. She was born in March of 1877.  She died on January 15, 1953.  She married William Harvey Jackson on June 30, 1893 in Wells County, Indiana.  William Harvey Jackson was born in March 26, 1872.  He died on February 15, 1968.

This is the only family photo that I have of  the Jackson Family.  It is of  William(1871), Oscar (1895) and Dora(1877).  It was likely taken in 1899 before the birth of Charles. I have other photos of their daughter, Ruth and each of the  surviving family members were in the photo which I had in my blog last week but this is the only family type photo that I have of them.

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Charles Jackson was the son of William Harvey and Dora Belle (Smith ) Jackson.  He was 4 months old when the census was counted on June 26, 1900. He died in 1901.  I do not know the details of his death.  I will have to try to find an obit  or a death record for him.  He is buried in the same plot as his parents.

Happy Hunting,

Jan Smith