Family History Mysteries

Over the weekend I spent some time on Ancestry.com. One of the things I like about this site is that it is a bit of an online repository for family history photos. There are lots of people there, like me, who have inherited family photos dating back a couple of centuries and the system at Ancestry.com makes it so easy to share and find them.

One caveat to their photo sharing system is that metadata is stripped, but that is a conversation for another day…

I was browsing through “hints” on my family tree and found another group of users with the same person on their family tree, Clara May Lott. As I searched their trees for info I noticed that not one of them had a photo of her or a wedding date. I remembered that this was a sister of my great grandmother who I had more photos and mementos for than anyone else. I started scanning and sharing…

There was a wedding invitation, a letter and several photos of Clara, Grandpa Lott and Clara’s husband John Covington… I had originally preserved these in 2003 in a layout – this was back in my transition between paper to digital – one of the last “paper” layouts I did with the pre-made kits from Close To My Heart…

I was especially excited to share her original wedding invitation…

Back in 2003 I was ecstatic about the photo below – which seemed so obviously a family photo of John and Clara and their children – I guessed it was taken around 1910…

However, as I began matching up the photos and mementos I had with the dates on my family tree I noticed it couldn’t be… John and Clara married in 1904 and there is no record anywhere of any children. Clara died in 1922 and John later remarried. I realized this must be John & Clara with nephews & nieces.

My week has been filled with so many questions – who are these sweet children? How did Clara pass away at such a young age?

One was answered as I read my great-great grandmother’s history – she spoke of all her children and grandchildren – again she mentioned no children for Clara, only that Clara died as the result of an operation…

I still have so many questions about Clara and John…

I love the process of curating historic family photos. I also love that on Ancestry.com I’ve not only been able to share but I’ve also found historic photos of my family members like this one of Clara’s grandfather, Philo T. Farnsworth, who incidentally was the grandfather of the guy who invented TV.

The great thing about family history mysteries is that they take you places you never thought were possible. Just a little over twenty years ago I asked my grandmother about my heritage which led to her telling me the story of my great-great-great grandmother Mary Taylor from England.

For years I wondered about Mary, her story was remarkable and I just wished I could find a journal, anything to help me to know the rest of her story…

Fast forward to 2002, and through a crazy set of circumstances, I received a collection of letters written by Mary in the late 1800′s. Mary left no journal but she did leave behind these letters and through them I know more about her. I treasure those letters but amazingly they didn’t come alone – they came with several photos, mementos and letters saved by family members dating back over 200 years.

So don’t be afraid of family history mysteries – they may bring you the most cherished family keepsakes you never thought were possible…

I can’t wait to see where this Clara mystery leads me…