I'm sure this photo started me on the path to crazy. Crazy genealogy detective. I received it in about 2005 from the Stoutenburg family of Sandusky, Michigan. I could easily spot my great grandfather, seated in the middle row to the far left, my grandfather, with the Harold Lloyd glasses standing in the back row between the two ladies, my great great grandmother, seated smack in the middle row with an air of knowing, and my great grandmother and other close relatives. It's obviously marked "West Clan," so one thing is clear, these were my people. But who? Who the hell were the rest of these alleged "West" family members? And why were they all gathered on this day? What were they doing and why were they doing it?! I needed answers. Now!
But you know how genealogy detective work goes. Slow. It took a series of meetings, introductions, emails, and phone calls over the next 8 years to even begin to scratch the surface. And now, sitting here on this lovely April day in 2013, I have about half of the people identified. 19 actually. I started simply by figuring out the ages of the people, and then going to family files to see who they might be. This then led to those emails and phone calls I mentioned. One relative, a 94 year old 1st cousin 2x removed, identified himself and his brother while sitting in his Tucson home in 2007. Like a burst of light he said, "Oh, that's me and my brother sitting next to grandpa." Grandpa being my great grandfather, Raymond Allen West. The cousin's name? John Murdaugh. He's the boy in the second row kneeling in front of the baby, his brother Raymond sitting directly in front of him.
I then went down another family line and found John Martin West through phone records in Michigan. I called, had a very pleasant introduction, and within minutes I had sent the photo to his email. And then, while we were talking, he looks at the photo and says, "That's my father standing there next to my grandmother. Oh, and there's my aunt Vance and aunt Jean. And I think that's my grandfather with the hat on." His father, Benjamin Franklin West, is the young man wearing a suit in the top row, second from the left. His grandmother, Edith (McDonald) West, stands to the right of him. His young aunts, Vance M. and Jean Gardner West, are the two girls sitting in the front row, second and third from the right. And then, his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin West Sr., is standing in the back row, fourth person from the right, wearing a hat and blocked some by the baby. Within two minutes, five people of the forty have been identified. A huge number and an exciting moment.
Later, through a stroke of luck, I met a women, a very distant cousin, and not related to my West family, who happened to be friends with a woman whose uncle was a West man. This man, William "Bill" Vance West, was married to her blood aunt. As it turned out, this dear uncle of hers was my 1st cousin 3x removed, and both his brother and sister were in this photo. This woman, named Barbara Backus, living in Port Huron, Michigan, was able to identify two more people in the photo. And not only that, she had a pile of old photographs of this line of the West family, having received them after the death of this dear aunt. The old photos further helped identify those in the photo, and equally important, helped rule out others. Identified were Mary Ada West and her husband, Dean Peters. They are the couple in the middle row, first and second from the right. Ada is seated next to my great grandmother, Mary (Richardson) West, who is left of her in the photograph.
Unfortunately, at one time I thought I had others marked correctly, only to find out later that a niece, nephew or grandchild, thought the match was in error. But it's an ongoing process, certainly filled with hope, but mostly curiosity, as I keep going back to the photo. But I know, it's just one more email, one more note to a distant cousin I never knew existed, and the puzzle of this West Clan gathering of 1928 comes clearer into view.
Comments
Post a Comment