This wonderful old family portrait, somewhat faded but in generally good condition, was among dozens of photographs and items of school-related ephemera donated to the historical society last fall by members of a family with links to Lucas County pioneers Archibald and Ellen (Zickafoose) Shore.
As is the case with many families, the collection included a number of unidentified images --- including this one.
We've deduced, based in large part on similarities between the patriarch in the big picture and the earlier image of the gentlemen at left, clearly identified as Archibald Shore, that what we have here is a portrait of Archibald and Ellen along with their children, perhaps an in-law and most likely some grandchildren. The words "early 1898" are written on the family photograph but that's all.
We'd really like to know who everyone is, so if you --- and there are a gazillion Shore descendants running around loose by now --- have an identical (or similar) photo in your collection or recognize some of the faces please let us know with a comment on Facebook or on the original blog post. We'll add the idents to the catalog entry for the photo and make sure the information is filed with the photograph, too.
Archibald (1853-1934), born in Huntington County, Pennsylvania, came to Lucas County with his parents, Matthew and Sarah Ann, when he was about 11. He married Mary Ellen Zickafoose (1854-1950), daughter of Jesse A. and Adaline, in 1873, and they had 10 children, one of whom died as an infant.
Matthew and Sarah Ann, Archibald and Mary Ellen, and many other Shores and their relations are buried in Zion Cemetery, east of Williamson in Pleasant Township.
4 comments:
Not sure what you want but I believe Archibald and Mary Ellen were our (the Mason cousins) great grand parents. Archibald died 24-6-1873 and Mary Ellen died 16-4-1950 according to my records.
Mary (Mason) Frank
I'm sure Mary meant to say "Shore cousins" as Archibald was our great grandfather on our mother's side of the family. His son Clarence Otto Shore was our grandfather.
These are both new photos to me, but based on the "early 1898" date, I can guess who is in the group photo. Frank is correct about Archibald and Ellen (Zickafoose) Shore had 10 children, one of whom (Charles) lived only about one year. The other nine were all born by early 1898 -- with the youngest (Grace) born on January 15, 1897. So my hunch is that she's the one sitting on Ellen's lap. The next youngest (Everett) was born on August 15, 1894, so he might be the young man sitting to Ellen's left. And the young girl sitting front and center could be Ella Mae, who was born on March 21, 1891. The other six surviving children would be -- from oldest to youngest -- Eva, Orval, William Delbert, Clarence Otto (my grandfather), Jesse, and Matthew Eugene. I'm not sure who each of them is in the photo. In early 1898, they ranged in age from about 24 down to 10. As for the other two individuals in the photo, I'm guessing they were Eva's husband (Bert McVey) and Orval's wife (Lura Ellen Staker). They were married on January 13, 1898, and December 26, 1897, respectively. Neither would have been married long enough by early 1898 to have children, which is why I doubt that any of Archibald's and Ellen's grandchildren were in the photo. (Of course, I could have it all wrong!)
Hey Ken --- thanks! I thought that I'd posted this, but must have clicked on the wrong command. Now it's here!
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