Was it elephantiasis that killed Alvin Lamb?

Find a Grave photo

Alvin Lamb's stay in Chariton was relatively brief, in life at least --- about two years. But in death, considerably longer (about 40 years). He now is at rest near this impressive family stone in Marshalltown's Riverside Cemetery, however.

His widow, Amelia, had the deceased attorney and their infant son, Alvin Jr., moved from one location to the other during December of 1913, disinterred in one place on the 17th, reburied in the other on the 19th. Their burial in Chariton is noted with no further information in cemetery records here, but their removal is not. Riverside Cemetery records (many thanks to the staff for checking) provide the dates.

There's little left in Lucas County to serve as a reminder of Alvin, other than his brief will, written on Dec. 15, 1873, as he was preparing to undergo the surgical operation described in the following brief article published in The Chariton Patriot on Christmas Eve of that year:

ELEPHANTIASIS --- Forty-two years ago Alvin Lamb, then a boy of 6 years, at his father's house, in Franklin county, Vermont, had his left leg amputated below the knee. The disease that caused the amputation, having manifested itself when he was about three months old. For twenty one years he walked with a crutch, and twenty-two with an artificial leg. The remaining portion of the limb has been a constant source of trouble to him his whole lifetime and a score of physicians have been consulted in reference to its condition.

It remained, however, for Drs. Heed & Baird, of the Chariton Infirmary, to give a correct diagnosis of the disease, and assign its proper name, Elephantiasis --- so called owing to its resemblance to elephant skin --- a very rare and formidable disease, and one that never fails to destroy or deform its victim.

The Judge, after a careful study of all the works bearing on that subject became convinced that the doctors were right, and consented as a last resort to submit to an operation termed the Legation of the Femoral Artery, which was successfully performed last Wednesday by Drs. Heed & Baird in the presence of Drs. Cornett, of Knoxville, Everett, of Corydon, Burton, of New York, and Gibbon of this place. The Judge has since been somewhat prostrated by the loss of blood, and the appearance and removal of gangrene, but is gradually rallying, and at this time every symptom is favorable. 

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Although the symptoms may have been favorable at the time the article was written, the long-term outlook was not. Alvin died at home in Chariton on May 2, 1874, and following funeral services at First Presbyterian Church was buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

Was his trouble really "elephantiasis"? We'll never know. Did the gangrene that, according to the newspaper report, had been troubling him eventually prove fatal? We'll never know that either. 

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Alvin was a Vermont native, born during 1825, who had arrived at Norfolk in St. Lawrence County, New York, with his wife, Roxey, and daughter, Harriet, prior to 1850. His occupation as given in the census of that year was shoemaker. But between 1850 and 1860 he apparently studied law; in 1860, his profession was given as "judge." He always seems to have been known as "Judge Lamb" after that even though there's no sign he ever held the office in Iowa.

Two of the Lambs' sons, both named Charles, are buried in the High Street Cemetery in Norfolk, Charles D, who died at 8 months on Nov. 15, 1850; and Charles A, who died at 8 years on May 16, 1860. Daughter Harriet grew up and was married at Norfolk. Roxey, or Roxana, had been a widow some nine years older than Alvin when they married so she also had adult children in that area.

At some point during the 1860s, Alvin and Roxey moved west to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he established a law practice. Roxey died there at the age of 53 during 1869 and was the first buried on the Lamb family lot in Riverside.

A year later, on Oct. 19, 1870, Alvin married Amelia Crocker, whose family also lived in Marshalltown at the time, and their only child, Alvin Jr., was born during 1871. Amelia was the oldest sister of Frank R. Crocker, who arrived in Chariton at about the same time his sister and brother-in-law did, went to work for Smith H. Mallory, became the most trusted Mallory associate and during 1903, while serving as cashier of the Mallory family bank, First National, embezzled vast sums of money for illegal investment schemes, sending the bank into receivership and himself over the edge into suicide.

But that was in the distant future when, Alvin, Amelia and their son arrived in Chariton during 1872 and he joined the law practice of Col. Warren H. Dungan, offices located in the Dungan Building, a two-story wood frame structure that stood on the current site of Piper's at the intersection of Braden and North Grand. Their infant son died not long after and was buried in the Chariton Cemetery.

Amelia remained in Chariton for a year or two after her husband's death, then eventually moved to Minneapolis where the remainder of her life was spent. She died there at the age of 81 on Aug. 23, 1923, and her remains were brought to Marshalltown for burial in the place she had prepared, ordering an impressive family stone and new headstones for Alvin, little Alvin Jr. and Roxey, whose original stone remains in place. Unfortunately, Amelia had made no provision for her own tombstone and so her grave remains unmarked.

Russell's Samuel Hawkins: Mark every grave

Doris Christensen/Find a Grave

Doris Christensen

The death earlier this year --- on Feb. 9 at Mount Ayr --- of the Rev. Charles Hawkins at age 86 brought back a lot of childhood memories from the days our parents were neighbors and close friends in the neighborhood south of Trinity Church, near Russell.

Charles was considerably older, but I remember him as the kindly older kid who was patient with a little brat who turned 4 the year he graduated from Russell High School. He went on to study for the Baptist ministry and for a time, my parents along with his, Cecil and Alice Hawkins, were among his groupies, traveling from church to church to hear him preach.

I can't say that I remember any of the church services, but I do remember visiting after an evening service the big fancy house in Monroe --- his first call --- where he and wife, Phyllis, were living temporarily with parishioners. And the painted baptistry backdrop --- a mountain scene --- at Prairie Flower Baptist Church, north of Washington, his next call. For better or worse, I've always been more interested in decor than sermons.

This isn't about Charles, however, but about his great-great-uncle and aunt, Samuel and Perninah (Barton) Hawkins, who were only 35 and 27 respectively when they died in the 1870s --- a considerable age contrast to the age attained by Charles --- also buried in the Russell Cemetery. (For the genealogical record, Charles was the only son of Cecil Hawkins who was a son of James Harvey Hawkins who was, in turn, a son of James Clayton Hawkins --- Samuel's elder brother; most if not all of the Russell Hawkins family descends from James Harvey.)

Samuel penned a brief will just days before he died on March 3, 1879, that resulted in erection of a fine tombstone at his mother's grave in Des Moines County, the removal of his young wife's remains from their initial resting place half a state away to Russell and the fine tombstone erected after that in the Russell Cemetery to mark their graves. It's a distinctive document, offering insight into this young man's final concerns nearly 140 years ago.

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The Iowa pioneers responsible for this branch of the Hawkins family were William and Mary Ann (Coover) Hawkins, who married during 1839 in Fayette County, Ohio, and brought their three older children --- William H., James C. and Samuel --- to the vicinity of Danville, northwest of Burlington in Des Moines County, Iowa, during the early 1840s.

William Hawkins died relatively young during 1849, leaving Mary Ann to raise their family alone. Daughter Mary E. was born posthumously during 1850.

The sons were old enough when William died to farm so the family did OK. Samuel, as the youngest, was the last of the children at home with his mother when the 1870 federal census was taken.

Two years later, on the 14th of March, 1872, Samuel married Perninah Barton; a month later, on April 17, Mary Ann Hawkins died and was buried in what now is called the Blakeway Cemetery near Danville.

Samuel and Perninah moved after that to Fremont County in southwestern Iowa, but she died there on Jan. 22, 1876, at the age of 27 and was buried initially in the Riverton Cemetery.

Also during the late 1860s and 1870s, Samuel's brothers and sister (Mary was by this time married to Martin V, Barton) had settled near LaGrange, on the Lucas-Monroe county line. As Samuel's health began to fail, they most likely encouraged him to move to Russell in order to be nearer to them.

Little more than a week before he died, Samuel wrote the following will, witnessed by his brothers:

Find a Grave

"Russell, Iowa, February 22, 1879

"I Samuel Hawkins of lawful age and sound mind do make this my last will as follows, viz: First, the grave of my mother in More graveyard in Desmoines County, Iowa, to be enclosed with iron fence and marked with good head stone at a cost of $100. Second, the body of my departed wife which is in Raverton Semetery in Freemont County, Iowa, to be taken up and intered beside my body and the graves to be fenced with iron fence and marked with good stones at a cost of $100 each. The balance of my property to be divided as follows: $25 to J.C. Hawkins my brother and the balance divided between W.H. Hawkins and Mary E. Barton, my brother and sister ...."

The tombstone placed on Mary's grave appears to date from soon after Samuel's death, so that part of the bequest apparently was fulfilled promptly. Why Samuel made no effort to memorialize his father, I can't say.

The fine monument in the Russell graveyard that marks the graves of both Samuel and Perninah appears to be later and does not quite meet specifications --- one stone instead of two, for example. But it is a fine, expensive monument (granite was just coming into use and often was combined with marble, as is the case here, about 1890). So I think Samuel would be satisfied.

Eveline Allen allocates the family silverware

Eveline Allen's tombstone gives little away. The modest stone along the Chariton Cemetery's entrance driveway was placed soon after her 1881 death and in accordance with directions included in her will, "I wish a plain Marble Slab, not expensive. inscribed, Mrs. Eveline Allen (no more)."

There's actually a bit more, however, "Mother" in raised lettering across the top and the death date, 1881; and a bit less, "E." instead of "Eveline." It is identical in form to the stone marking the grave of her daughter, Hattie F., a young school teacher who died in 1872, immediately to the north.

A brief notice published in The Chariton Democrat of March 12, 1881, provides the circumstances of her death on March 6, but no biographical information: "Mrs. E. Allen, of this city, who fell upon the ice and injured herself so badly several weeks since, died of her injuries on Sunday morning. She was sixty-five years of age and had resided in this city for several years. The funeral came off on Tuesday afternoon."

What she did leave behind was a detailed will, written during 1874, that provides a little insight into her character, the belongings of a widow in modest but comfortable circumstances --- and into what she especially valued among them: her silverware carefully allocated among three of her four surviving children.

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Eveline, nee Carpenter and a native of Delaware County, Ohio, had been married there on April 19, 1834, to Harlowe David I. Allen, a farmer, mason and sometimes merchant, who died at the age of 52 on Nov. 30, 1862. They became the parents of eight children, two of whom died young.

Their eldest son, Heman, enlisted in Company G, 96th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but died of disease at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, on Feb. 12, 1863. While living in Chariton many years later, Eveline applied for the pension she was entitled to as his widowed mother and during November of 1879 received the retroactive amount of $658.57 --- a substantial chunk of change at the time --- and a modest stipend threafter.

The Allens' eldest daughter, Mary E., married Lyman S. Huntley on March 23, 1860, in Delaware County, but they soon were parted by the Civil War.  Following his discharge in 1865 after distinguished service that earned him the brevit rank of captain, Mary, Lyman and their eldest son soon moved west to settle in Warren Township, Lucas County.

It would appear the Eveline and her other children --- Mattie, Joseph C., Hattie and Lucy --- came along at the same time or soon thereafter and settled in Chariton. Hattie died during 1872 and on Oct. 22, 1874, Eveline sat down to write her will, carefully allocating her belongings, including what for the time was a substantial collection of silverware.

At the time of her death six years later, Mattie and Lucy still were sharing the family home in Chariton, but Joseph seems to have moved on. Here's the text of the will:

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I Eveline Allen of the County of Lucas and State of Iowa do hereby make and publish this my last Will and Testament.

First, I direct that after death I be decently buried. Second, I direct that all debts (if any) be paid as soon as may be, also funeral expenses as soon as convenient. 3rd, I direct that the remainder of my estate personal and real be divided as follows:

First, I wish and direct that Mary E. Huntley or her heirs be paid as soon as convenient Fifty Dollars.

Second, I give and bequeath to Joseph C. Allen one Silver Watch now in his possession, six Silver Tea Spoons mark(ed) E. Allen, one Silver Sugar Shovel and the Commentaries on the Bible, one third the value of the Homestead when sold.

Third, I give to Mattie C. Allen three Silver Table Spoons, Three Silver dessert spoons, Six Silver forks, six Tea knives and forks with a half of the remaining Pictures after her own are taken and one half the Books in the Library with one half of the furniture belonging in the house and the Extension Table, Two Beds and bedding and when sold, one third the value of the Homestead.

Fourth, I give and bequeath to Lucy E. Allen Six Silver Tea spoons marked E. Allen, Three Silver Table Spoons, 3 Silver dessert spoons, Six Silver forks, six Tea knives and forks, one half of the pictures and a half of the library, also the remaining half of the furniture, one round mahogany light stand, Two Beds and bedding, Photo Album. Alse one third value of real estate and the family Bible.

Fifth: The House and Lot to be kept for a home for Mattie C. and Lucy E. Allen as long as they remain unmarried and should they both marry it may then be sold and the value equally divided between Joseph C., Mattie C. and Lucy E. Allen, but it cannot be sold as long as they need a home in it, they to pay the taxes thereon while they occupy it. Should they want it sold and if they can all agree to it, it may be disposed of and the proceeds divided as before stated. In case of the death of either, they will dispose of their share by Will and in case there is no Will, it will be given to the remaining ones mentioned.

This is as far as I recollect the whole of my effects and I will now say I appoint J.C. and Mattie C. allen as Executors of the same.

I wish a plain Marble Slab, not expensive. inscribed, Mrs. Eveline Allen (no more). All moneys on hand will be divided between Mattie C. and Lucy E. Allen equally.

(signed) Eveline Allen, Oct. 22nd, 1874.

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By the time of Eveline's death, Joseph apparently had moved along and so Mattie served as sole administrator of the estate.

The homestead most likely was sold soon thereafter --- Mattie and Lucy, both school teachers, seem to have been independent minded women interested in moving on --- to the Dakotas. Mattie remained single; Lucy married Stephen Wilson. Both taught for some years at Hot Springs, South Dakota, but were living in San Diego, California, at the time of their deaths during the 1920s.

What became of Joseph isn't clear. He was living at St. Joseph, Missouri, in the mid-1890s, but his name and date of death, Sept. 23, 1897, are inscribed on the tombstone in Galena Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio, that marks his father's grave and also serves as a cenotaph for his brother, Heman. Whether Joseph was laid to rest there, too, I can't say.

And, of course, I have no idea what became of the family silverware, but it would be interesting to know if any of it still is in circulation.

Conspirare, Unclouded Day and Matthew Shepard

Considering the general state of things, this seems like a good morning for a rousing performance of "Unclouded Day," an 1879 gospel song by Josiah Kelley Alwood that in the years since has taken on a life of its own.

The performing group is Conspirare, directed by Craig Hella Johnson, and proof that some good things do come from Texas (Conspirare is based in Austin where its founder and director spent several years as director of choral activities at Texas State University; he's now resident artist in choral music at Texas State University).

Craig Hella Johnson also is the composer of the oratorio entitled "Considering Matthew Shepard," which Conspirare premiered during 2016 and which is featured currently during the ensemble's 2018-19 national tour.

Conspirare was on hand at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday for Matthew Shepard's memorial service to perform excerpts from the oratorio that along with other exceptional musical performances helped to weave that remarkable and moving service together.

Here's the trailer for a PBS broadcast of the oratorio, broadcast in Iowa last evening I think (I don't have a television) with a couple of repeat performances scheduled (check your listings).

"Unclouded Day" serves as a reminder of the need not just to dream of such a time, but to put that dream into action and work toward it. Be it the anti-Semitism demonstrated tragically in Pittsburgh yesterday, persistent racism, homophobia or any of the other ills that beset us as a society, it's long past time to end this bullshit and to call out those who practice and countenance it. Speak out, act up (peaceably) --- and vote.

John Salter Blue, a timeline and a coffin

John Salter Blue, 1805-1896, was the patriarch of Russell's Blue family --- I'm grateful to that inveterate photographer of tombstones, Doris Christensen, for the photo taken in the Russell Cemetery, at left, from Find A Grave.

John died on Aug. 11, 1896, at the age of 91, at the home of his daughter, Clara McMaster, in Chariton, and in part because of his age his passing was widely noted. Each reporter, however, took a slightly different tack. All steered clear of his marital history, however, which was a little complicated, noting only that he was survived by two daughters and three sons.

The Chariton Democrat's version of the obituary, published on August 21, was the most lyrical. "Thus, one by one, the way-worn and weary pioneers of life's highway reach the great river, and casting off all their burdens, sail silently away, o'er the still waters, to join the circle of the loved and lost that have gone on before," it commenced.

Basic biographical information was included here: Born March 1, 1805, in Fleming County, Kentucky; to Indiana at age of 21, then to Illinois; and finally to Lucas County in 1859. He was, The Democrat reported, "of a retiring but kindly disposition and was highly esteemed for his many noble qualities." 

The Patriot obituary attempted to put Mr. Blue's life into context by connecting it to an historical timeline, as follows: "When Mr. Blue was born, Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States and the Louisiana purchase --- that vast empire of which Iowa forms a part --- had just been completed, and he was three years old when the first steamboat on the Hudson was started by Robert Fulton, and eleven years old when General Jackson fought the famous battle of New Orleans, and was a voter when Andrew Jackson was first elected president."

And The Chariton Herald, while allowing that John was "a kind and genial companion ... beloved by all who knew him," added this bit of information:

"Several years ago, perhaps a dozen, he bought a coffin of Joel Adams, of Russell, and requested that when his mortal remains were recommitted to mother earth they be encased in that coffin. So it would seem that the old gentleman was somewhat peculiar in his ideas, albeit the world has been made better and pleasanter for his having lived, and many acquaintances and friends will, with the bereaved relatives, mourn his death."

It's not clear where the coffin was stored while awaiting its cargo or if he actually ended up in it, but presumably he did. All three accounts combine to make an interesting story.

And by the way, John Salter Brown had an older brother who was Famous --- Famous Mortimer Blue (1801-1869). What were his parents thinking?

Service of remembrance & a dynamic preacher

I'm looking forward to two upcoming live-streamed events, each worthy in its own right and both reflecting the progressive nature of and radical hospitality practiced by The Episcopal Church.

The first, A Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance for Matthew Shepard, begins at 9 a.m. (central time) today at the Washington National Cathedral (Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul) in Washington, D.C. You can follow this link to the service page and live stream access.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa will live-stream the Sending Eucharist  that will conclude the 166th annual diocesan convention at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown, 700 Grand, featuring as preacher the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. Here's a link to the page where access to the live stream will be available.

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Matthew Shepard, of course, was murdered merely because he was gay at Laramie, Wyoming, 20 years ago this month --- tied to a fence outside town and left to die on Oct. 6, passing finally on Oct. 12 at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Shepards --- Matthew and his parents, Judy and Dennis, and brother, Logan, were members of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Casper, Wyoming, where funeral services were held to the accompaniment of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church. But fears that his grave might be vandalized prevented the family from burying his ashes.

After today's service, his remains will be interred in the National Cathedral crypt. Officiating at today's service will be the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop.

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The dynamic Rev. Mr. Curry, the Episcopal Church's first black presiding bishop, gained a worldwide audience earlier this year after being invited to preach during the marriage of Britain's Prince Henry and Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Sunday morning's service at the Marriott (the nearby Cathedral Church of St. Paul is too small to accommodate everyone) is open to anyone who cares to attend. 

Those of us who won't be in Des Moines for the service will gather in the parish hall at St. Andrew's at 11 a.m. to watch the live-stream. This will be the only service of the day at St. Andrew's and, again, anyone interested is welcome to join us. The big-screen television there is very big indeed.

How Dr.Tom May came to be buried at Greenville

Greenville, southeast of Russell in Washington Township, is one of Lucas County's designated pioneer cemeteries and a challenge to get to sometimes, depending upon the weather. There is no road to it, surrounded as it is by fields and pasture; only a track.

One of the minor mysteries of Greenville is how Dr. Thomas R. May, who spent most of his career in Chillicothe, Missouri, and died at St. Joseph on Sept. 2, 1878, came to be there.

While looking for something else the other day, I happened upon a brief news item in The Chariton Patriot of Oct. 30, 1878, that provides the answer:

"The Allerton Republican says: The body of Dr. Thomas R. May, who died in the insane asylum at St. Joseph, Mo., passed through here on Saturday morning. Mr. May was the brother of H.G. May, of this county (Wayne), and Mrs. Greenwood Wright. He was a graduate of Asbury (Indiana) University and in medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio. He practiced medicine at Chillicothe, Mo., for nearly twenty years, acquiring considerable property, but lost his mind about two years ago, since which time he has been in the insane hospital at St. Joseph. He was buried at the Greenville Cemetery, Lucas county. He was aged 53 and unmarried." 

Thomas had never lived in Lucas County himself, but his parents --- Nancy and John May --- were pioneer settlers in the Greenville neighborhood, arriving there in 1852 along with sons William T. and John, among others. John, a first lieutenant in Company E, 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, was killed during the battle of Marks Mill, Arkansas, during April of 1864. Nancy died in 1857; John, during 1873. They're buried at Greenville, too, and a cenotaph for John is located there as well.

Thomas seems to have opened his practice in Chillicothe soon after 1860 and had considerable assets there when he died, assets shared by his surviving siblings since he had never married. To their credit, they decided to bring his remains to Greenville after his death for burial near his parents and erected a substantial tombstone in his memory.

They were able to transport his remains to Greenville in a timely manner thanks to the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad branch completed from Chariton to Leon during 1872. It was a short trip then from Chariton to Russell on the main line of the B. & M.R. Today's Cinder Path follows the old B. & M.R. railbed from Chariton to Humeston.

Autumn leaves ...

Lucas Countyans always have appreciated autumn's leafy display, although most these days who choose to bring some of it inside opt for dollar-store fabric recreations rather than the real thing. 

Here's a recipe for the real thing, published in The Chariton Herald during 1889: "Sparingly introduced, autumn leaves have a lovely decorative use which is all their own. Too many of them in an apartment vulgarize it and spoil each other, besides gathering dust and holding it. A few leaves, perfectly pressed and daintily disposed, are very charming with their whisper of outdoor breeze and sunshine.

"No better way of pressing autumn leaves has been discovered than the simple device of laying them smoothly, as soon after getting them as possible, between the leaves of an old book, or between newspapers. A heavy weight should be laid on them, and the papers should be changed every three or four days.

"When thoroughly pressed, says an authority on the subject, they should be wiped over, using for the purpose a piece of soft cloth, with a mixture consisting of three ounces of spirits of turpentine, two ounces of boiled linseed oil, and half an ounce of white varnish. Ironing, either with or without melted wax, changes the color and makes them very brittle."

Preserved leaves are good for some things, but not for others. By way of admonition, I found the following "filler" paragraph in The Leader of Sept. 11, 1880: "A woman in Jericho, Vermont, having heard a great deal about preserving autumn leaves, put up some, but afterward told a neighbor they were not fit to eat."

The burial of Mrs. Dallas Owsley (Colored)

Grates on a nerve, doesn't it, that word "colored"? After some thought --- devious manipulation maybe to grab your attention --- I decided to use it in the header of this little piece about the Owsley family and one of its matriarchs, Jane. 

That's how the the editor of The Chariton Leader referred to his black neighbors back in 1904 when Mrs. Owsley was interred in the Chariton Cemetery, a form of casual othering that stated the obvious. There was no need for The Leader of May 12 to commence her obituary with the line, "Mrs. Dallas Owsley (colored), formerly of this city ...."

That was just the way it was.

Jane's grave is unmarked, so I've created a virtual tombstone for her (above). It's located on the approximate spot of her burial, the most southerly option among six spaces in the east half of Lot 5, Block 25, Old Division. Enter the cemetery's main gates and drive due west, take a left onto the second driveway south and look to your left. Mrs. Owsley is buried southeast of the big red granite stone commemorating Andrew, Hannah and Anna Hawkinson.

Jane is the only occupant of the lot, purchased by her husband on May 9, 1904, the day she was buried here. Dallas himself, who died in 1920, is buried in  Des Moines Glendale, where some of his children also rest.

There are several related stories centered on this gravesite, including an accounting of how the Owsleys came to be in Chariton in the first place, what they did here and why the decision was made to return Jane to Lucas County for burial once the family had moved on.

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Jane Young and Dallas Owsley both were natives of Cumberland County, Kentucky, born into slavery at Burkesville, Jane on Dec. 25, 1853, and  Dallas, on Sept. 15, about 1850. They were married in Cumberland County on June 2, 1873.

Dr. Joel Owsley, a Burkesville physician, and two of his sons, William F. and John Q., owned between them 35 slaves in 1860. Dallas Owsley and his kinfolk most likely were among them, taking their surname after emancipation from their former owners.

Dallas, Jane and their six eldest children still were living in Burkesville in 1880, alongside Henry and Martha Owsley and their family of four. Dallas and Henry probably were brothers, but I can't prove that. Both men were employed as laborers.

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During the early 1880s, the Whitebreast Coal and Mining Co., owners of the mines at Cleveland in western Lucas County, then among the largest in Iowa, began to recruit black miners, first from Kentucky and then from Virginia, to break strikes by their white labor force. That force consisted largely of immigrants --- from Wales, Scotland, England, Ireland and Sweden. The Welsh miners especially brought with them the concept of organized labor and when the mine owners figured out a way to cut wages dramatically, they went out on strike.

The Owsleys, Dallas and Henry and their large families, probably were among the first to reach Lucas County. All were living in the town of Lucas when the 1885 state census was taken. Later arrivals from Virginia would be housed by the Whitebreast company in an unincorporated area beyond the company town of Cleveland known as East Cleveland and that's where they are found in the 1885 census.

Although both men were miners, Dallas's occupation on the census sheet was given as "preacher." He would become a leader --- and preacher --- as Lucas County's black Baptists organized themselves into a congregation.

The brothers adopted differing spellings for their surname while living in Lucas. Henry's family generally styled themselves "Ousley"; Dallas and his family stuck with "Owsley."

Henry's wife, Martha, died at Lucas on June 9, 1895, and following services at the Methodist Church was buried in Fry Hill Cemetery. Henry and his family continued to live --- and work as miners --- in Lucas into the first decades of the 20th century. In old age, Henry moved to Aurora in Kane County, Illinois --- where some of his children had settled --- and died there on Nov. 28, 1922.

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Dallas Owsley, however, had decided early on that mining was not to be his career. By the autumn of 1886, he had moved his family into Chariton where he worked to organize a Baptist church, signed on as a farm hand for William B. Penick --- accompanying loads of livestock to market in Chicago now and then --- and took on any other job that became available to support his huge family. There were 13 surviving Owsley children of 15 born although all were never living at home at the same time.

Preaching services for his Baptist flock were held at the courthouse and elsewhere in rented quarters and, apparently, the Rev. Mr. Ousley had a reputation for being somewhat long-winded. The Chariton Herald of Oct. 28, 1886, reported for example that, "The Rev. Dallas Ousley, who is not overburdened with this world's goods, has had some sickness in his numerous family, and some friend, on last Sabbath, with his heart full of kindness, furnished him the material for a first class dinner of soup for his entire family. The zealous preacher however preached all day to his hearers and forgot to take the soup bone home."

For a time, Dallas worked in Ottumwa to support his family in Chariton, but returned to live full-time in Lucas County during 1894. During of April 1897, he purchased one of the miner houses then for sale at Cleveland --- the village now rapidly disappearing after the Whitebreast mines closed --- and moved it into Chariton where it was re-erected for his family on lots at the east end of Braden Avenue purchased from D.Q. Storie.

About 1900, however, Dallas and Jane decided to move their family to Des Moines, most likely because there were more work opportunities there for themselves and their families. Four of their younger children still were at home when the 1900 Polk County census was taken. Dallas's occupation was given as day laborer and two of the daughters were employed as servants.

During the latter part of 1903, Jane Owsley became ill and cancer eventually was diagnosed. During early 1904, she underwent surgery at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, then died at home overnight on Friday/Saturday, May 6/7.

The dramatic incident that resulted in Dallas's decision to bring her remains to Chariton for burial was reported upon in The Bystander, Iowa's pioneering newspaper for its black community, on Friday, May 14, as follows:

SAVES HIS WIFE'S BODY FROM THIEF

Unknown parties were interrupted and routed last Saturday morning in an attempt to steal the dead body of Mrs. D. Ousley, a colored woman who died Friday at her home at 981 West Second street.

She was lying near an open window, covered by a sheet, and the only person near the body was the husband. At a moment when the man's back was turned he heard a noise near the window. He started in that direction and a young man, hearing his approach, dropped from the sill to which he was clinging into the yard below. With his head ducked and his hat over his face he darted across the lot and had disappeared almost before the old colored man realized what was occurring. He was sharp enough, however, to get a glimpse of the face and he will know it if he sees it again.

Mr. Ousley told of the incident to friends, and in view of the circumstances preceding the discovery of the trespasser, he is positive that he interrupted a carefully laid plan to steal the body of his wife virtually from beneath his eyes, and sell it to a medical school for dissection by students and surgeons.

So positive in this belief is he that he yesterday decided not to inter the remains of his wife in a Des Moines cemetery. The interment will be made in another Iowa burial ground.

The nature of the illness of Mrs. Ousley and her condition during the the days preceding her death, were such as to make the body a desirable specimen for carving in the cause of science. For more than a week prior to her death, she lived without food, and physicians had no hopes of her recovery.

Three months ago, it was stated yesterday, she underwent an operation in Mercy hospital for cancer of the stomach. The operation is said to have been successful, and the effect of this ordeal had nothing to do with her death. She died because of a complication of diseases.

There has been no parallel of this case in Des Moines. It is a fact that is given no more circulation than possible, that there is a place for any dead body in any institution where the science of medicine and surgery is taught, and it is said that in greed for learning along this line, extreme measures are often taken for procuring the "stiffs" as they are called within the halls of science.

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Two days later, on Monday afternoon, May 9, the Owsley family brought Jane's remains to the Chariton Cemetery for burial, followed that evening by a memorial service with the Baptist congregation that Dallas formerly had served as pastor.

Her obituary was published on the front page of The Chariton Leader of Thursday, May 12, as follows:

MRS. DALLAS OWSLEY

Mrs. Dallas Owsley (colored), formerly of this city, died at her home in Des Moines on Saturday, May 7, 1904, after an illness of nine months with a cancerous tumor.

Brief services were held at the family home in Des Moines on Sunday afternoon at 5:30 o'clock and on Monday afternoon the remains were brought to Chariton and interred in the Chariton cemetery. In the evening at eight o'clock memorial services were held in the African Baptist church, conducted by Rev. Brewer of Osceola.

Miss Jane Young was born in Burkesville, Kentucky, on Christmas day, December 25, 1853. She was married there to Dallas Owsley on June 2, 1873. They came to Chariton about 1878 (actually during the early 1880s) where they resided until four years ago when they moved to Des Moines where they have since resided.

Mrs. Owsley was the mother of fifteen children, thirteen of whom, with the father, survive her. They are Tom of Logan, John of Iowa City, Wm. of Galesburg, Illinois, Leslie of Chicago, Mrs. Gertie Diggs, Mary, Beulah, Laura, Harry, Arthur, Ernest, Dallas and Albert of Des Moines.

Mrs. Owsley was an industrious, kind-hearted woman, respected by all who knew her, and the family had many friends in Chariton who will sympathize with them in their great grief.

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Dallas Owsley survived Jane by 16 years, dying of typhoid fever on Sept. 11, 1920, age about 70, at the Des Moines home he shared with his daughter and son-in-law, Gertrude and Fennel Diggs. He was buried in Glendale Cemetery, although the grave seems not to have been marked.

During 1960, to reclaim unused burial spaces from purchasers long since vanished from Lucas County, the city of Chariton filed a general lawsuit against dozens of them, including Dallas Owsley, dead then for 40 years, alleging nonpayment of annual fees for gravesite care. In that manner, the five remaining spaces on the lot where Jane is buried returned to city ownership although they've never been resold.

There's a good deal of green space and relatively few tombstones in this small section of the cemetery. Others are buried nearby in unmarked graves, too. But now you know that Jane Owsley rests here among them and that she carried with her to the grave stories worth remembering.

Consider those towering red cedars

City Manager Joe Gaa told me the other day how many ash trees we're going to lose at the Chariton Cemetery before this emerald ash borer disaster is said and done --- an alarming number that I can't recall precisely.

That's caused me to pay more attention to the trees that still are flourishing out there, including quite a number of towering eastern red cedars (juniperus virginiana) that as a rule do not get that much attention --- they don't turn pretty colors in the fall, their foliage is not as widely appreciated as that of other conifers and their shapes, while interesting, tend not to be especially symmetrical.

We actually know where these cedars came from and when they were planted. The Chariton Herald of Feb. 15, 1900, reported that "John W. Mauk has sold his entire stock of cedar trees --- some three hundred --- to Dr. Stanton for use in the cemetery."

John and his wife, Alice, farmed two miles west of Chariton and he had been advertising red cedars for sale for some years --- grown "from seed" on his farm. In addition to use as specimen trees, cedars were popular for fencerows --- and fence posts. John's cedars have long outlived him --- he was laid to rest not far from several of them during 1926.

Trees, you see, have history, too.

Obviously, there are not 300 cedar trees in the cemetery now --- but some of Dr. Stanton's less well thought out and overcrowded plantings were selectively cleared during the 1920s when the cemetery board was working with a landscape architect to develop a planting plan for the grounds --- the sort of plan that's lacking now.

The red cedar is the only evergreen native to this section of Iowa and it is extraordinarily hardy, so much so that it's sometimes considered "weedy" because birds eat its fruit then spread its seeds and they germinate rapidly along roadsides and in untended and uncultivated areas.

Cedars grow at a moderate rate --- our Chariton Cemetery examples are about 120 years old. Elsewhere in the state, specimen trees in excess of 450 years old have been found.

I'm not suggesting that we plant more red cedars in the cemetery as all those beautiful ash trees fall, only that we appreciate the ones we've got.

A career on stage cut short in the New York subway

Marvel (Best) Hamlin, age 29 and at rest in the Chariton Cemetery with her mother, Mabel, just to the north of this giant and somewhat enigmatic granite sphere, has the dubious distinction (most likely) of being the only person interred here whose death resulted from an encounter with a New York City subway train.

The story that accompanied her remains home to Lucas County during late March, 1924, was that while heading to her apartment in Manhattan on Tuesday, March 18, she disembarked from one subway car in order to catch another, but became dizzy and fell onto the tracks instead. The engineer saw her, but could not stop in time. She died at a New York City hospital on March 20, never having regained consciousness.

Whatever the circumstances, this fatal encounter cut short the career of a young woman and accomplished musician whose aspiration since her late teen years had been to become a star of stage --- and screen.

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Marvel was born in Chariton on July 17, 1894, to Mabel (Myers) and Harvey E. Best --- Mabel a daughter of Dennis and Anna Myers (of a Myers family unrelated to mine); Harvey, a son of one of Lucas County's pioneer families and by trade a professional photographer.

They had married in 1888, but parted soon after Marvel's birth. He seems to have had no hand in her upbringing, high-tailing it to Detroit about 1897 where he continued to work as a photographer. Although very much alive in 1924, he was not listed among the survivors.

Following their divorce, Harvey married Ida Risk in Michigan during 1899; Mabel wed Harvey E. Means, of Russell and a real estate agent turned printer by profession, during 1901.

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During 1905, Harvey, Mabel and Marvel moved to Des Moines where he accepted the position of superintendent at a printing firm. After graduating high school there, Marvel studied music at Drake University and then, during 1909, graduated from the Kroeger School of Music in St. Louis.

During the next few years, Marvel seems to have made a modest name for herself as a professional pianist, composer and entertainer --- touring under contract to the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, a provider of chautauqua speakers and entertainers nationwide.

During 1913, for example, sheet music for the "Oak Leaf Shuffle," a ragtime piece composed by Marvel, was advertised for sale at Combs & Clouse Music on the west side of the Chariton square. During September of that year, Chariton newspapers reported that Marvel had signed a contract with Redpath for the 40-week 1914 chautauqua season.

During 1915, Harvey Means found a printing job in New York City and the small family moved there from Des Moines, perhaps mostly in the interests of furthering Marvel's career. Chariton newspapers reported during 1916 that Marvel was working as "a movie actress for a company in New York City." She also seems to have performed on the vaudeville stage --- at one point with an ensemble of six young women who played a variety of instruments, sang and danced.

During July of 1919, Marvel married in New York City a young salesman named Thomas M. Hamlin and they moved in with her parents at 601 West 164th Street, just off Broadway in Washington Heights.

The next reports regarding Marvel in the hometown press were published upon her death during 1924. Thomas Hamlin and Mabel and Harvey Means accompanied the remains to Chariton for burial. Thomas and his mother-in-law, Mabel, returned to Chariton a year later to observe Memorial Day. By that time he was living in Pittsburgh and I've not tracked him after that.

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At some point after Marvel's death, Harvey Means accepted a position with the Princeton University Press and the couple moved to New Jersey. They were living there, in Franklin Park, when Mabel died on July 29, 1931, of cancer. It apparently was Mabel's wish to be buried with her daughter in Chariton and her husband accompanied her remains to Lucas County to accomplish that task. He returned to New Jersey to live, but I've not tracked him beyond determining that he is not buried with his wife and stepdaughter in Chariton.

Mabel and Marvel have matching stones of the same red granite used for the massive sphere and it would be interesting to know the thought process that led to its selection and placement. That, however, is beyond us. There is no inscription on either the sphere or its base.

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Marvel's father, Harvey Best, seems to have been the longest lived of the bunch, and his career took the most interesting twist.

After selling his photography business in Michigan, Harvey and his second wife, Ida, eventually relocated to Kansas City and became affiliated with Unity, headquartered at nearby Unity Village. Eventually, they were licensed as Unity ministers and moved back to Michigan during the late 1920s to found the the Unity Church of Lansing, which they served until retirement in 1950. Harvey died in Lansing during 1955 and both he and Ida are buried there.

Hail and farewell, Kaye VanFleet

I've been kind of blue the last couple of days, after notices began to appear regarding the death of Kaye VanFleet, who died at age 71 on Wednesday at Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines. Kaye lived with respiratory and heart-related health issues, but had posted an upbeat note from the hospital earlier in the week --- she was doing well and planned to return home soon. Not to be, however.

I didn't exactly know Kaye, although we certainly greeted each other when we met. We graduated from high school at about the same time, but she was a Chariton girl and I was a Russell alumnus.  That's less an issue now, when everyone attends the same high school. And she and her family lived at Russell long after I'd moved on.

But we did communicate fairly often in the background of the Facebook groups she founded and administered, "You Grew Up in Chariton, Iowa, If You Remember ..." with some 3,000 members, and a similar Russell group, with about 750 members. Most often, consulting about this or that history-related footnote.

Because of those groups, the Chariton group more active than Russell's, Kaye became about as close as Lucas County comes to a social media star --- and thousands knew her through them.

Kaye and her groups proved that the social media and those who use them constructively can be unifying, too. There was neither politics nor religion and only the occasional disagreement, usually good-humored. We have shared countless vintage photographs, many stories, the occasional editorial, information about upcoming events, death notices and obituaries when someone with ties to these small Iowa places walks on. Celebrated together, mourned sometimes, too.

I'm not quite sure what will become of the groups, but for now we can celebrate Kaye's life and mourn, too. Here's a link to her obituary at Pierschbacher Funeral Home.

A village smithy (and knight) named J. French Smith

This fine tombstone in the Chariton Cemetery commemorates J. French Smith, a successful blacksmith at the time of his unfortunate death on Christmas Eve, 1879, due to carelessness with a gun.

Mr. Smith's surname, too, has been an accident victim. Back in 1981, when the Lucas County Genealogical Society published its book of tombstone transcriptions, the name was condensed as "Frenchsmith" and indexed as "French, Smith J." This was carried over many years later to Find A Grave, where there are two entries --- one for J. Frenchsmith and the other for J. French Smith, neither containing much useful information.

So here I am to see if I can clarify matters a little.

Mr. Smith and his wife, Ellen, appear first in Chariton during the mid-1870s when he was manager of the Hatcher House hotel, located at the southwest corner of the square. By 1879, however, he had returned to what probably was his primary profession, that of blacksmith --- and if the tombstone is any indication, he was a very successful one.

The Chariton Leader published the first report of the accident that proved fatal in its edition of Dec. 20, 1879, and sounded an optimistic note:

"SERIOUS ACCIDENT --- On last Sunday, Mr. J. French smith, an industrious blacksmith of this city, started with his wife and Mr. Harper on a visit to the country, traveling in a wagon. Mr. Smith laid his double barrelled shotgun in the wagon before starting, fully loaded, with the muzzle pointed towards the front end of the wagon. From some cause or other one of the barrels was discharged, the contents going through Mr. Smith's left ankle inflicting a terrible injury. After considerable delay he was brought home, where on the same evening his leg was amputated just above the ankle. Drs. Fitch, Cahey, McKlveen and McCullough performing the operation. The patient is in a fair way to recovery."

Sadly, The Leader report was too optimistic and on December 31, The Patriot reported, "We regret to learn of the death of Mr. J. French Smith which occurred on the 24th inst. He leaves a widow who resides in this city. The funeral took place on Christmas day under the auspices of the Knights Templars, the Osceola members participating in the mournful ceremonies."

I've not been able to find out more about the Smiths' background --- Smith is just too common a surname, we don't known what the "J" stood for and the couple seem not to have had children.

Ellen continued to live in Chariton, however, and during early May, 1883, married the recently widowed William C. Prince, a gentleman of roughly her age --- mid-40s --- with a 3-year-old daughter named Maggie. The Patriot reported on May 16, "Mr. W.C. Prince and Mrs. J. French Smith were united in the holy bonds of matrimony last week. They have both experienced the ups and downs of married life, and were well enough satisfied with its blisses to try it again. The Patriot extends congratulations."

The first wife, Elizabeth, actually had died only a month earlier, on April 4, and it would appear that Mr. and Mrs. Prince were friends of Ellen Smith. She was buried on the north end of the lot Ellen had purchased three years earlier as a burial place for J. French, whose remains had been placed at the south end.

Mr. and Mrs. Prince eventually, about 1891, moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where Ellen died on July 20, 1899. William and his children returned her remains to Chariton and she was buried next to J. French, although there is no inscription for her on his grand tombstone. Instead, a small headstone just north of the big stone marks her final resting place.

Little Maggie Prince, age 3 when her mother died, did not remember her birth mother. But she dearly loved her stepmother, Ellen, and many years later when she died in Chicago on June 8, 1930, at the age of 50, she asked her husband, Walter W. Sneathen, to take her remains back to Chariton for burial between her mother and stepmother. That mission was accomplished two days after her death although no tombstone ever was erected to mark her grave.

Although forgotten --- even misidentified now and then --- 140 years after his death, Mr. Smith was until about 1900 one of only two members of Chariton's Immanuel Commandery, Knights Templar, buried in the Chariton Cemetery. As such, fellow knights dutifully visited and decorated his grave every Ascension Day. After that, his name faded into obscurity.

"King" Solman exits life's stage after too short a run

Time and the elements have not been kind to this modest marble log in the oldest section of Chariton's cemetery that marks the grave of young Charlie Solman, who exited life's stage far to young during 1903, age 27.

It was consumption that killed him down there in Pecos, Texas, just after Christmas that year --- this aspiring entertainer and and promoter of all things theatrical who, depending upon the occasion, also styled himself "King Solman," "Grundy Solman" and, now and then, "C. Antoine Solman." No deception was intended, Charlie was just experimenting with his persona.

Only the date of death, Dec. 28, 1903, is clearly visible now in late afternoon sunlight, 113 years later. His given name, Charles A. Solman, is badly eroded; and the central section of the inscription on the marble curve has for the most part washed away.

Charlie was born in Chariton on October 28, 1876, the first born of Maria Thorpe and her ne'er-do-well husband, Anthony Solman, who had eloped the preceding year --- much to the consternation of her family of respectable lawyers. The Thorpes eventually embraced Anthony, a somewhat exotic young man who identified himself as Austrian and appeared in Chariton during the early 1870s to open a furniture store, added an undertaking sideline, sold out, took to traveling as a salesman and then simply vanished, abandoning Maria and their four children. 

This happened sometime during the mid- to late 1880s, but Maria didn't bother to sue for divorce on the grounds of desertion until 1900. She was alone with her children, however, when her youngest daughter, Roselle --- known as Babe ---died at age 8 during November of 1890. Babe's grave is just south of Charlie's. There also was another son, Moses, and another daughter, the musically talented Juanita.

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Charlie was an artistic young man who went to work first in Chariton when he was 18 or 19 as a creator of posters, billboards, theatrical costumes and backdrops. A reporter for The Chariton Democrat visited his studio during July of 1895 and filed the following report: 

"By the brilliant colored litho-tints posted on our bill boards, we have been led to read the numerous advertisements of our business men. Charley Solman, more commonly known as "Grundy," is the originator of this novel mode of advertising. In many respects this boy is a genius. In his studio, as he calls it, one can find almost anything from stage costumes to patent medicines. Here his pictures are painted. To illustrate his ingenuity in overcoming obstacles in his line of business, the following is given: A rival artist put out some pictures which for a time Charley could not equal. Not disheartened he procured a magic lantern, and by throwing the pictures on a large sheet of paper he was able to trace them. Having the outlines he easily filled them with paint. Soon his competitor was compelled to quit business. The shadow picture is his latest idea. What will come next we are unable to conjecture."

What came next was Charlie's decision to take to the road as a front man, posting his own bills and drumming up business for some of the traveling troupes of entertainers that passed through Chariton on a regular basis, most performing at Mallory's Opera Hall, others bringing along their own tents and larger retinues. 

Sometimes this worked out for Charilie and other times it didn't. This report published in The Chariton Herald of May 6, 1897, illustrates some of the problems:

"C.A. Solman arrived home from Wichita, Kansas, Saturday evening, and hastened to give his friends the 'glad hand' in token of appreciation that he was once more permitted to get back into the land of the just where the price of a bed is not quite so hard to get hold of. He went to do advance work for a circus, the proprietor was shot in a brawl and died, the show busted; Solman drew on his reserve fund and hastened to retrace his steps to the beloved city of his birth."

A year later, things were going better and The Herald was able to report that fall that "Charles Solman, also known as "King Solman" and "Grundy Solman," who has been traveling in the capacity of advance agent for Terry's Uncle Tom's Cabin, arrived here last week for a visit with his mother, Mrs. Maria Solman. He expects to leave sometime this week for California, where he will make dates for the winter's tour. In the spring, Charley will return to this city and work bill board advertising, having purchased Frank Elliott's right for the same. He also intends the erection of new boards, with steel frames."

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By 1900, however, Charlie seems to have given up his promotional sideline and taken to the stage himself. During January of that year, he took to the Mallory Opera House stage to treat the hometown folks to a performance, reported upon in The Herald of Jan. 11 as follows:

King Solman

"Seldom has a Chariton audience been more agreeably surprised or more highly entertained than was the audience which assembled at Mallory's opera house last Saturday night to witness the exhibition of hypnotic power by 'King Solman.' Mr. Solman is well known to our people, this having been his home since childhood, and he has numerous friends here; but his acquaintances and friends were scarcely prepared to recognize in him a hypnotic wizard, for it is proverbial that one is never a prophet in his own country. While Mr. Solman has attained celebrity in this line in other parts of the country, this was his first appearance before a home audience. To say that the audience was entirely satisfied with the exhibition does not fairly state the verdict; it is scarcely overstating matters to say that the audience was astonished and delighted with his work. Chariton has seen some of the best hypnotists in the land, and those who saw Mr. Solman's work do not hesitate in saying that he is quite the equal of the best, and far superior to the most of those who make a business of giving public exhibitions of this mysterious power. He performed many of the principal and most difficult feats that have hitherto been presented here by masters of the power, and in addition he performed difficult feats that have never been seen here. Mr. Solman's lecture or talk on the interesting subject hypnotism was more interesting and instructive that that of any hypnotist who has operate here. Verily, Mr. Solman in this line of work is proving that the title 'king of hypnotists' may be rightfully claimed by him."

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Sadly, young Charlie's reign as king of the hypnotists was cut short as tuberculosis increasingly disabled him. He was living in Pecos, Texas, during the early winter of 1903 when, just after Christmas, death overtook him on Dec. 28. His remains arrived at the C.B.&Q. depot in Chariton on Dec. 31 and funeral services were held a day or two later at the home his mother, Maria, shared with her sisters on West Armory Avenue.

Charlie "grew to young manhood in this city," The Herald reported, "and his jovial, pleasant disposition won for him a host of friends who will learn of his untimely death with deep regret. For the past eight years he has traveled with theatrical troupes and has engaged in bill posting. He was a clever, generous hearted young man, kind to all."

Ancestors anonymous ....

Everyone who deals with old photographs is required at least annually to deliver a brief sermon on the topic of identification. This is mine, based on the text provided by these images from the historical society collection.

We have no idea who these people are, where the tintypes originated, if they had any connection to Lucas County. They live, with their mates, in a series of binder boxes labeled "Unidentified" in the hope that someday someone will turn the pages and recognize an ancestor.

Based on clothing and hairstyles, I'd date the couple from the 1880s. Perhaps it's a wedding portrait. The images of the two young women most likely date from the 1870s. The tintypes are very small; the images here about the same size as the originals. There are no identifying marks other than the object numbers assigned when the three images were accessioned as a unit.

The donor no longer lives in Lucas County and had no family roots here when he did. I'm reasonably certain whoever accepted the photos back in 1980 asked where they came from --- but didn't write the information down (there are three paper records and one digital record of the accession). Even knowing, for example, that they were unknown family or purchased at a Lucas County auction or fell out of a found book would help.

So if you have a collection of images, inherited or otherwise acquired, write identities on the back when you know them. If you can't identify those portrayed, at least explain briefly how you came by the images. And if you acquire a falling-apart family album and decide to remove the images, at least try to keep them together. Context by association is useful information to have, too.

If you're in the practice of acquiring or collecting images, ask for their stories when you can and if that's not possible, at least note where they came from.