Friday's Photo: Anna Laura Martin - Family Photos

Anna Laura Martin and her cat - 1904

These are just a few of several photos of Anna Laura Martin and her family in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. All of these were found in the collection of Mary Martin Smith. Mary was the daughter of Anna Laura Martin and her husband Joseph Martin. There are a few more in Mary's collection, and others were found in Marguerite Cook Clark's collection. I will post those next Friday. 

Anna is pictured with her parents, Mary Ann Sledge Martin and Thomas Jefferson Martin II. The photo is badly marked. I've enlarged the family, and you can see Anna Laura's sweet face and her doll. 

Below, Anna Laura Martin is pictured with her sister, Emma Alice, and their father. 

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Diana

© 2024 

Anna Laura Martin family photos, photographs, ca. 1904-1924; scanned images from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004; original images photographed between 1973 and 1993.

Friday's Photo: Is this a family in Bienville Parish?

This unlabeled photo was found in the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Most, but not all, of her photos were taken in and around Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Does this house look familiar? 

These markings are seen at the bottom of the photo. Often these identify the photographer and/or location. 

The family's clothing shows styles that are indicative of those of the late 1880s and in the 1890s.  Photos of family members have been enlarged and can be seen below. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2023 

Unknown family photograph, n.d.; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016.

Edward Zapletal, Publisher and Editor, More Dating Old Photographs 1840-1929 (Toronto: Moorshead Publishing, 2011).

Friday's Photo: Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate - Is this the William A. Martin Family?

Marguerite Cook Clark's photo of Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate might be the William A. Martin family of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The second photo is the same photo edited and enlarged, but the features are still difficult to see. William A. Martin was over 20 years older than his wife, Catherine Evans. If this is his family, I assume most children are his. I don't know which one is his wife, but William would be the older gentleman on the left. 

According to the History of Bienville Parish, Volume I, William A. Martin was the son of John Nutt Martin and Matilda Bateman. If this is correct, William would have been half-brother to Rev. Thomas Jefferson Martin, whose parents were John Nutt Martin and Sarah Pittman. 

William A. Martin was a life member of the Mackey Lodge and, for several years, served as the chaplain. He died in 1902 and is buried with his wife in the  Social Springs Cemetery in Red River Parish. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2023 

Billie Jean Poland, The History of Bienville Parish Vol. I (Bossier City, Louisiana: Everett Companies, 1984), p. 311.

Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana Free and Accepted Masons, Eighty-Ninth Grand Annual Communication, February 11th, 12th, and 13th, 1901 (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1901), 90;  PDF download, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (https://library.la-mason.com/pastproceedings.html: downloaded 21 ‎March ‎2020).

Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate, no date,  digital image, 2016, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

 

Friday's Photo: Winfrey Albert Bryan of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

This is another wonderful photo from the Frye family's collection.[1] Winfrey Albert Bryan was found in the 1900 United States census as Winfrey A. Bryant, the son of William B. Bryant, and Mary O. Bryant of Bienville Parish, Louisiana.[2] In 1942, Winfrey Albert Bryan was living in Bryceland in Bienville and gave his date of birth as 8 January 1881 on his WWII Draft Registration Card.[3] 

Winfrey Albert Bryan is not a descendant of my Reddick Bryan family but of James Monroe Bryan, who is buried in the Mt. Olive Cemetery in Bienville Parish.[4] I have never found a relationship between the two Bryan families, but I am always looking. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2022 

    1. Winfrey Albert Bryan, photograph, no date; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019. Used with permission. 

    2. 1900 U.S. Census, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Ringgold, ward 2,  enumeration district 5, page 13, dwelling 203, family 206, William B. Bryant household; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5894940:7602: accessed 28 September 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 558.

    3. "U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/11120235:1002? : accessed 28 September 2022), Winfrey Albert Bryan; citing The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) For the State of Louisiana; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147.

    4. Public Member Trees, database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/18587955/person/292195959846/facts : accessed 28 September 2022).

Friday's Photo: John Sledge

This photo came from the collection of Mary Virginia Martin Smith. She wrote that this and other photos marked with "ne" were from a photo album given to her mother, Anna Laura Martin, by a Sledge cousin, Niler Edwards of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Although Mary wrote Niler, the cousin's name was probably Nila. The album originally belonged to Nila's father, Henry Collin Sledge. 

John Sledge was the brother of Henry Collin Sledge. I have seen his name written as John A. and John Aaron. While looking for information about the community of Iverson, John Sledge was seen in some of the records. I know that he was a merchant and postmaster. According to information at Find A Grave, he was married three times. His first wife, Sarah, was the daughter of Miles L. and Sarah Lawson Bryan who may have been closely connected to my Reddick Bryan family of Bienville Parish. 

Looking at other photos in this collection, I saw two unidentified photos that looked very much like the man in the above photo. What do you think? 

John Sledge's obituary with an additional, but very fuzzy, photograph can be seen here. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2022 

Sources

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24290958/nila-edwards: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for Nila Sledge Edwards (22 Jun 1893–10 Jun 1969), Find a Grave Memorial ID 24290958, citing Providence Cemetery, Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Nancy E. Collins (contributor 47113696).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97619397/john-aaron-sledge: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for John Aaron Sledge (12 Apr 1840–14 Apr 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 97619397, citing Old Castor Cemetery, Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by KC (contributor 46825020).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106989397/sarah-sledge: accessed 22 July 2022), memorial page for Sarah Bryan Sledge (15 Jun 1842–28 Dec 1883), Find a Grave Memorial ID 106989397; Maintained by Samuel Taylor Geer (contributor 46925792)Burial Details Unknown.

JPERSONAL, The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana), 20 August 1898, p.5; database with images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106091932/j-a-sledge-of-iverson/: accessed 22 July 2022).

Narrative about 110A and the rest of Part 5, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Sledge Photos 117, 122, and 127, photographs, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Southern Postal Matters, The Times-Democrat (New Orleans), 7 March 1902, p.4; database with images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106091792/john-a-sledge-postmaster/: accessed 22 July 2022).

Friday's Photo: Mr. and Mrs. George Frye

The wonderful family photo below was found in the Frye family's collection. On the back is written Mr. & Mrs. George Frye. In Northwest Louisiana, there was a George Washington Frye, born in 1848, who had a son, George Edwin Frye, born in 1873. Could it be this family? These Fryes lived in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, but I have also seen Fryes living in Bienville and Webster parishes. 

Is this your family? Do you have this photo? 

Update: This family has been identified! In the photo are George Edwin Frye (1873-1911) and Minnie Elkins Frye (1878-1981). The children are Beatrice Frye Sparkman (1899-2003) and George Lovic Frye (1901-1994).

Other Frye Family Posts

Friday's Photo: Grover Frye of Louisiana

Friday's Photo: The James M. Frye Family of Northwest Louisiana

Friday's Photo: William "Bill" Evans and Hattie Frye

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Charles Jefferson Frye of Ringgold, Bienville Parish, Louisiana

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2022 

Mr. and Mrs. George Frye, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

Find a Grave, database, and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71596029/george-washington-frye : accessed 20 May 2022), memorial page for George Washington Frye Jr., Find a Grave Memorial ID 71596029, citing Gilgal Cemetery, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana; maintained by Robert Braselton (contributor 47224886).

Friday's Photo: Mrs. J. W. "Bunnie" Harrison and Friends

These photos were found in the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. In two of the photos, one woman is identified as Mrs. J. W. Harrison (or Mrs. J. N. Harrison) and as "Bunnie." Others are not identified but are found in all three photos. 

Locations are unknown but the identification of Bunnie is written by Maggie Martin Cook, Marguerite Cook Clark's mother. Maggie Martin was born in Bienville Parish where she married E. C. Cook and raised a family. 

If you can help with the location of the photos, the identification of the persons in the photos, or with information about Bunnie Harrison, please contact me. You can leave comments at the end of this post, on my Facebook page, or send me an email. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2022 

Bunnie Harrison and others, photographs, n.d.; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. 

Friday's Photo: Grandma Trott

I suspect this is Louisa Trucks (also seen as Cynthia Louisa Trucks) who married Benjamin Franklin Trott. If so, she would be the mother of William Jackson Trott of Bienville Parish and grandmother to his children Lillie Mae Trott, Allie Belle Trott, and William Bryan Trott. 

Louisa was born on 31 October 1848 in Alabama and died on 14 Jun 1925 in Bibb County, Alabama. She and her husband are buried in Six Mile Cemetery, Six Mile in Bibb County. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2022 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70859189/cynthia-louisa-trott : accessed 01 April 2022), memorial page for Cynthia Louisa Trucks Trott (31 Oct 1848–14 Jun 1925), Find a Grave Memorial ID 70859189, citing Six Mile Cemetery, Sixmile, Bibb County, Alabama, USA; Maintained by Betty (contributor 46824072). 

Grandma Trott, photograph, before 1925; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019. 

Friday's Photo: Benjamin F. Trott and Daughter Annie

The back of this photo from the Frye family collection identified B. F. Trott and Mrs. W. A. Gibbons.[1] 

Benjamin F. Trott was the father of William Jackson Trott who married Lula Laura Cook in 1893 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Lula was the daughter of Josie Bryan and Joseph W. Cook.[2] 

Mrs. W. A Gibbons is the former Annie Trott, daughter of Benjamin F. Trott and sister to William Jackson Trott. She was married to Wylie A. Gibbons.[3]

I suspect that this photo was not taken in Bienville Parish but at the home of Benjamin Trott or Annie Gibbons in Bibb County, Alabama. There is no date on the photo but Benjamin Trott died at age 83 in 1924.[4]

Other posts about this Trott family can be seen by clicking on the links below. 

Friday's Photo: A Trott Family Home in Bienville Parish

Friday's Photo: William Jackson Trott and Lula Laura Cook Wedding Photo - Bienville Parish 1893

Friday's Photo: The Trott Sisters, Lillie Mae, and Allie Belle, of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Friday's Photo: The William J. Trott Family of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Lula Laura Cook Trott

Friday's Photo: Sam Trott

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

© 2022 

    1. B. F. Trott and Mrs. W. A. Gibbons, photograph, before 1924; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019. 

    2. "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4N1-GGS : 13 January 2022), William Trott in household of Benjamn Trott, Sixmile, Bibb, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).  Also, Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), 350.

    3. "Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J68C-H94 : 7 September 2021), Annie Trott Gibbons, 1952. Also, "Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JD51-P73 : 11 January 2021), Annie Gibbons in entry for Wiley Andrew Gibbons, 1936.

    4. Death of B. F. Trott, Centreville Press (Centreville, Alabama), 

31 Jan 1924, p.4; database with images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97861107/b-f-trott-obit/: accessed 18 March 2022).

From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Virginia T “Jennie” Hinton Beckham and her son, John W. Beckham

These newspaper clippings were found in the Marguerite Cook Clark collection.[1] 

 Virginia T “Jennie” Beckham was one of 12 children of John Woodard Hinton and Angelina Jane Knighton.[2] Jennie and her husband, William B. Beckham are buried in the Wimberly Cemetery.[3] 

John Wesley Beckham, son of Jennie and William Beckham was buried in the Bistineau Cemetery in Heflin, Webster Parish, Louisiana.[4]

Note that dates of death written on the obituaries do not agree with those found on the cemetery stones. Records indicate that Jennie died on 17 October 1956 and her son died on 21 February 1968. [5]

 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2021 

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[1]. "Mrs. Jennie Beckham Expires at Age of 82," newspaper clipping, 17 July 1956,  from unidentified newspaper, from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Obituaries were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. Also, "John W. Beckham [obituary]," newspaper clipping, 25 February 1968, unidentified newspaper, from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Obituaries were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

[2]. "From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: John W. Hinton of Bienville Parish, Louisiana," blog entry, 28 October 2020, Moments in Time: A Genealogy Blog, blog (https://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/2020/10/from-files-of-marguerite-cook-clark_28.html : accessed 29 May 2021).

[3]. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 07 January 2021), memorial page for Virginia T “Jennie” Hinton Beckham (10 May 1874–17 Oct 1956), Find a Grave Memorial no. 70393381, citing Wimberly Cemetery, Bienville, Bienville Parish, Louisiana; maintained by Derek Galbreath (contributor 47187152).

[4]. Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/92336157/john-wesley-beckham : accessed 29 May 2021), memorial page for John Wesley Beckham (30 Sep 1895–21 Feb 1968), Find a Grave Memorial ID 92336157, citing Bistineau Cemetery, Heflin, Webster Parish, Louisiana; maintained by Derek Galbreath (contributor 47187152).

[5]."United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPZH-NFZZ : 29 May 2021), John Wesley Beckham, 6 Feb 1919; citing Military Service, NARA microfilm publication 76193916 (St. Louis: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985). Also, "Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLHZ-KBSL : 29 May 2021), Jennie T Beckham, 17 Oct 1956; citing Ringgold, Bienville, Louisiana, certificate number 13016, State Archives, Baton Rouge; FamilySearch digital folder 004228873.

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