Clippings from The Baylor County Banner - Seymour, Texas - January 26, 1926

My grandparents, Redic E. Bryan and Myrtie Hairston, and my great-grandparents, Phillip A. Hairston and Lodema Criswell, moved to Baylor County in 1905. My father, Whit Criswell Bryan, was born in Seymour in 1920. He was the youngest of seven children born to Redic and Myrtie. 

In April 2019, I visited the Texas State Library and Archives to read Baylor County Banner issues that could not be found online or on microfilm. I photographed articles with information about my father's family, who lived in Seymour. While sorting through my family finds, I realized I had photos of articles that might interest others looking for family. I have pictures of numerous articles from 1923 and a few from other years. I will post as time allows. 

Thank you to Matt Gwinn at the Baylor County Banner for permitting me to post these clippings.  

Grandma Skinner was Clarinda Flora “Clara” Jones Skinner. She was the daughter of Milton Jones and Rhoda Lessenbee of Johnson County, Illinois. Her husband was Esau Skinner, who was killed in Throckmorton in 1894. 

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

Sources 

O. C. Harrison, The Baylor County Banner (Seymour, Texas), 26 Jan 1926, Vol. 31, Number 19, print; Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, Texas, 2019. 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68067973/clarinda-flora-skinner: accessed 04 April 2023), memorial page for Clarinda Flora “Clara” Jones Skinner (5 Feb 1840–28 Jan 1926), Find a Grave Memorial ID 68067973, citing Old Seymour Cemetery, Seymour, Baylor County, Texas, USA; Maintained by Mark Schmidt (contributor 47148723).

Why I Join Genealogical Societies

The first genealogical society I joined was 2,700+ miles from my home AND in a state where I had no family history. I joined the Southern California Genealogical Society to receive a discount on their conference fees and to have access to their webinars. It's been more than 12 years since that first conference. I attended several more conferences, continue to enjoy their webinars, and often take advantage of the external genealogical resources for use from my home. Fold3 Library Edition, Newspaper Archives, and History Geo are just three of several resources I regularly use for a membership fee of only $35. 

For many years I never considered joining a local genealogy society. Big Mistake! With work and family, I didn't know where I would find the time, and I had no research interests in my home state of Virginia. The Virginia Beach Genealogical Society moved everything to Zoom during the pandemic, so I joined. Its meetings and activities are now one of my favorite post-retirement pastimes. 

By joining a local genealogy society, I met nice people who share my addicting hobby. And although the society is based in Virginia, speakers and programs are seldom about Virginia resources. I learn something useful at every meeting.

If you live in or near Virginia Beach, you might want to check-out
this FREE event on April 15th. 

Also, consider joining genealogical societies in the areas you are researching. This allows you to connect with members who may know about your family and be able to answer questions about the area. 

I am a dues-paying member of seven genealogical societies.  I joined these societies for various reasons and have benefited from genealogical education, access to archives and journals, and free look-up services. 

To find a genealogical society near your home or in an area where you research, use the search form at the National Genealogical Society website. Or, as most genealogical societies have a Facebook page, search Facebook. 

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 

Friday's Photo: A Confirmation from Related Faces

My father told me the child in this photo was his father, Redic Eli Bryan, born in 1870 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. How did he know? Dad's father died when he was eight years old in 1929. His mother died before his father, and no extended family was nearby. Dad was raised by his older sisters. Did they know? 

Studying the photo, I could see that the child was a boy. He was wearing a high-necked, long sleeve shirt or jacket and trousers. He is leaning on a fringed armrest, indicative of other family photos seen in the 1860s and 1870s. If this is Redic, it would be the early 1870s, and he looks about four years old. 

I have found more than a few of this family's photos with incorrect identifications, so I decided to try the free trial at Related Faces to confirm this identification. 

Related Faces uses AI to scan photos and compare faces with their entire database. For this project, I used Related Faces to compare the photo of the young boy with many photos of known family members. 

I had questions about comparing photos to known family members and contacted Related Faces. My questions were answered quickly by Founder and CEO, Tina LaFreniere. She wrote that Related Faces would not give me a definitive answer but would point me in the right direction. Tina also suggested I ask myself the following questions when looking at the suggested pairings:

• Is the date of the photo correct for my person? 
• Is the age of my person correct for the photo?
• Is the gender correct for my photo? 
• Is the clothing correct for the period?
• Is your person making pairings with other people from their family (i.e., are family traits coming through)?

I knew from reading the FAQ page at Related Faces that children often made pairings with many non-family members due to those cute, round faces that don't yet have the hard bone structure of adults. Knowing this, I did not expect to find pairings with high resemblance scores; however, I was pleased with the results. 

My grandfather's best match was that of a very poor-quality photo of his sister Hollon (the pairing at the top). Hollon and Redic share some of the same facial features. However,  the photo could not be of Hollon as I have seen young photos of some of her sisters, who were all dressed in very girlish styles. 

The subsequent two pairings are those of young girls. The young girl in each photo is Redic's oldest daughter, Marie Bryan. I believe that the photo of the child is too old to be that of Marie, who was born in 1901. And I have only seen Marie dressed in girlish fashion in her childhood photos.

The last three pairings show the child paired with men. All three men are photos of my grandfather, Redic Bryan. The first photo was taken in 1900, the second in about 1890, and the third in 1910. 

These pairings convinced me that my father's identification of the child as his father, Redic Eli Bryan, was correct. 

Related Faces

I first heard about Related Faces at a local genealogical society meeting. Tina LaFreniere's presentation came at the time I was reexamining some unidentified photos. I began with a free trial and now have a subscription. Using Related Faces, I put a name to a photo that I thought would never be identified and confirmed the identity of a few others. Watch for more posts revealing my successes with Related Faces. 

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 

Friday's Photo: Dunguaire Castle, County Galway, Ireland

Since today is St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to post something from last year's Ireland trip. Pictured is Dunguaire Castle, sometimes seen as Kinvara Castle. This castle is just outside Kinvara, and although I made several trips to Ireland and always visited Kinvara, I only stopped at the castle on this last trip. 

As we walked the grounds and inside the castle, I wondered about my husband's Quinn ancestors - they lived just down the road and could probably see it from their home. The castle was in ruins when his grandfather lived nearby. Had he walked the same paths?

The castle has a fascinating history. Read the signs pictured below or check out this informative post - Dunguaire Castle – Celtic Legends and Celtic Revival.

 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 

Driscolls Living in Cohoes, NY between 1870 and 1900

 

In 2000, I visited the library in Cohoes, New York, and copied most pages from city directories naming Driscolls living in Cohoes. Helen Driscoll, daughter of John and granddaughter of Simon, was my husband's maternal grandmother. That same year, I transcribed these Driscoll entries and, under each year, grouped them by address to see possible families. 

In the last month, I have recopied the transcribed list, corrected many mistakes, and added a few years from directories found at Ancestry.com. The remainder of this list, from 1901 to 1935, can be found here. 

Notes: Abbreviations and punctuation were copied from the directories. Deaths and any notes can be seen in red. An asterisk [*] can be seen next to the Driscoll entries I believe MAY be the family I am researching. 

Some abbreviations found in the directories are as follows:

h. is home

n. is near

b. or bds. are boards

opp. is opposite

1870 (Cohoes, page 198)

• Driscoll Dennis, laborer, house 26 Garner
• Driscoll James, overseer, h. 28 Willow *
• Driscoll Simon, shoemaker, h. 28 Willow *
• Driscoll James, laborer, h. near reservoir
• Driscoll John, Mrs., h. 18 Congress
• Driscoll John J., Clerk, bds. 18 Congress
• Driscoll Samuel, laborer, h. Vliet n. Willow *

1871 (Cohoes, page 199)

• Driscoll Dennis, laborer, house 26 Garner
• Driscoll James, overseer, h. 28 Willow*
• Driscoll James, laborer, h. near reservoir
• Driscoll John, Mrs., h. 18 Congress
• Driscoll John J., Clerk, bds. 18 Congress
• Driscoll Samuel, laborer, h. Harmony opp. lock 16 *
• Driscoll, Simon P., shoemaker, house Harmony opp. lock 16 *
• Driscoll Simon, laborer, h. Harmony opp. lock 16 *
• Driscoll John, laborer, bds 16 Strong Pl.

Friday's Photo: Nine Unidentified Photos that Once Belonged to Henry Collin Sledge of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Mary Virginia Martin Smith wrote that these photos came from a photo album given to her mother, Anna Laura Martin, by one of her Sledge cousins, Nila Edwards. The album belonged to Nila's father, Henry Collin Sledge (1851-1928) of Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 

To the many readers of this blog who have Bienville Parish ties, do you have identical or similar photos? If this is your family or you can identify the photos, please reply to this blog or contact me on my Facebook page or via 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. 

.

Diana

© 2023 

Sledge Photos, photographs, n.d.; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of Mary V. Smith, Alaska, 2004. 

Friday's Photo: A Trip to Jones Beach in Daddy's New Buick - November 1937

My mother (right) was 5 years old in this photo, and her sister (left) was 4 years old.  
The car is an eight-cylinder Buick Special. 

Mom said that her parents, Edith Giddens and Claude Davis, purchased a new 1937 Buick with the last of my grandmother's money left from her inheritance. My grandfather did not know how to drive, but the man who sold the car to him taught him to drive it in a few sessions. My grandmother took lessons but never got her driver's license. 

Mom remembers visiting family in New Jersey and upstate New York in the car as well as a short trip to Connecticut and Rhode Island. They often took Sunday drives, but the rides were shorter and less frequent when gas was rationed during WWII.  

The back of the photo identifies this as November, and my mother later wrote 1937. The sign in the photo below confirms the year to be 1937. 

Betty (left) and Janet (right)

CENTRAL MALL

FOOD BARS AND COMFORT 

STATIONS IN WEST CENTRAL

MALL BUILDING OPEN

PARKING FREE UNTIL

MAY 30TH 1938

GAMES ARE OPEN DAILY

CHARGES ON SATURDAYS

SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS

OTHER DAYS FREE

FREE ROLLER SKATING DAILY

I easily recognized the above photo as Jones Beach due to the wooden structure around the base of a flagpole I remember from my childhood. My brother and I had a similar photo taken in 1963 - click here to see it. 

The following photos were taken at or about the same time. 

My grandfather sold the car when my mother was in college, but both girls did practice driving it. Mom said he purchased a used Packard. My grandfather's last car was a 1964 Buick LeSabre - the one I drove in high school.  

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 

Photos of the Davis family and the Buick; scanned images, from the privately held photo collection of E. M. Bryan, Virginia Beach, VA, 2023. 

Friday's Photo: It Worked! Using a Wildcard in my Search to Identify this Photo of Henry Green Davis of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Until yesterday, this photo was labeled "unknown." There was a name on the back of the photo, but it was written in pencil on the gray card and not readable. However, enlarging the scanned image and playing with the filter colors allowed me to make out Henry and a D at the beginning of his last name. In hopes of finding this photo at Ancestry.com, I searched for Henry D* in Bienville Parish using a wildcard - an * after the D indicating that there were multiple letters after the D. 

It worked! I filtered the search to "Pictures" and found an identical photo on the first results page. Thank you to the Bienville Parish family researcher who shared an identical photo on Ancestry.com and at Find a Grave. And thank you to the Frye family, who allowed me to scan and share their photos. 

Henry Green Davis

Henry Green Davis was born on 12 March 1874 in Bienville Parish. He married Carrie Maude Helfin in 1901, and they had at least seven children. Henry owned a mercantile store in Hope (now Fryeburg) in Bienville Parish. He died in 1928 and is buried in Bistneau Cemetery along with his wife, his parents, and many other family members. 

Using Wildcards

In my search for the identification of the photo, I used a wildcard at Ancestry.com. Many sites allow the use of wildcards to improve search results. However, each site may have different rules for using wildcards. The next time you visit a genealogical site, read the help pages for search tips and information about using wildcards. Check out the helpful links below. 

Find easy-to-understand explanations of how to use wildcards, quotation marks, and Boolean Operators at FishWrap The official blog of Newspapers.com. 

At the Find My Past Blog, see nice examples of using wildcards and suggestions for using wildcards in more than just names. 

Julie Cahill Tarr's blog post Are You Reading the Help Section? has links to help sections of many genealogy and related sites. 

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 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50230323/henry-green-davis: accessed 16 February 2023), memorial page for Henry Green Davis (12 Mar 1874–26 May 1928), Find a Grave Memorial ID 50230323, citing Bistineau Cemetery, Heflin, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Nancy E. Collins (contributor 47113696).

Henry Green Davis, photograph, n.d.; scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of the Frye Family, San Francisco, 2019.

ponderosalady, "Edwards, Davis, Thomas, Tooke," public tree, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/4254831/person/-778306430/facts : accessed 16 February 2023).

Clippings from The Baylor County Banner - Seymour, Texas - November 29, 1923

My grandparents, Redic E. Bryan and Myrtie Hairston, and my great-grandparents, Phillip A. Hairston and Lodema Criswell, moved to Baylor County in 1905. My father, Whit Criswell Bryan, was born in Seymour in 1920. He was the youngest of seven children born to Redic and Myrtie. 

In April 2019, I visited the Texas State Library and Archives to read Baylor County Banner issues that could not be found online or on microfilm. I photographed articles with information about my father's family, who lived in Seymour. While sorting through my family finds, I realized I had photos of articles that might interest others looking for family. I have pictures of numerous articles from 1923 and a few from other years. I will post as time allows. 

Thank you to Matt Gwinn at the Baylor County Banner for giving me permission to post these clippings.  

__________

These are the last of the 1923 articles. I made some copies of 1926 issues on that same trip and will begin posting those in March. 

R. E. Bryan was my grandfather. He was Redic Eli Bryan and lived in Baylor County from 1905 until his death in 1929. He never really settled on an occupation. He was a teacher, a farmer, a merchant, a bartender, and a restaurant owner. I know that he did business in the oil fields and my father said he was a truck farmer.  He also served as the Tax Assessor for two terms in Baylor County. However, I never knew he worked for a newspaper until I found the following article. 

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

Sources 

Redic E. Bryan, photograph, ca. 1910; scanned image, original photograph from the privately-held collection of Diana Bryan Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2023. 

O. C. Harrison, The Baylor County Banner (Seymour, Texas), 29 November 1926, Vol. 8, print; Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, Texas, 2019.