Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Photo Number 925

This is a old photo from the antique shop in Solway Minnesota.

Ruth and Lois Wells at West Yellowstone Solway

Ruth and Lois Wells  back solway

Ruth and Lois Wells at West Yellowstone.

Not many clues to date this photo with.  A wild guess would be the 1930’s.

Thanks for stopping by.  Do come again:)

10 comments:

  1. Does the little girl have a brace on her lower leg?

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  2. I can't tell if the leg is braced or not - I see a four wall tent in the background - so they appear to be camping in (or near) Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming / Montana.

    Assuming the names are left to right, Ruth appears older than Lois. Oddly, in the US Census for 1930, there are two more likely than other records, in both Ruth is 5 or 6 years older than Lois and the father's name is Walter and they have a young brother named Walter (ugh)!

    One family lives in Hampton, Rock Island, Illinois (near Chicago), and the other in Ryegate, Golden Valley, Montana (about the center of the state)

    Montana -
    Walter T Wells 41
    Katherine Wells 37
    Ruth L Wells 15
    Lois I Wells 9 (1921)
    Walter T Wells 7

    Illinois -
    Walter Wells 38
    Alice Wells 31
    Dale Wells 12
    Warren Wells 10
    Ruth Wells 8
    Robert Wells 6
    Lois Wells 3 (1927)
    Walter Wells 1

    Perhaps one of these families has a connect to Minnesota?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Iggy, I will bet on the Montana family..because if it had been the other family all their children would have been in the photo..so that make it about a 1923 photo..that is believable. Those girls would have been 8/7 and 3/2 in 1922/1923:)

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  3. A very sweet photo.

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  4. Walter T Wells worked for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad ("The Milwaukee Road") in Montana as a Station Agent. He moved to Los Angeles with the family sometime in the 1930's - Katherine is shown as the proprieter of a grocery store with Ruth working there as a clerk in the 1940 US census. Ruth has disappeared (she would have been about 19 years old in 1940) Hopefully she got married somewhere in or between Montana and California.

    Walter retired and was living in Los Angeles in 1956.

    Walter Jr. worked for Douglas Aircraft and moved to Molalla, Oregon (a few miles south of Portland). He served in the U.S. Army Company C, 1st Ranger Battalion during WWII where he spent some time as a POW.

    His obit is here --> http://www.genealogybuff.com/or/or-clackamas-obits2.htm

    I've not been able to determine what became of Ruth and Lois.

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  5. The Montana connection looks best to me too.

    Also note that the person writing the details on the reverse went to the additional trouble to tell WHERE they were. This is often an indication that they were NOT at home.

    Perhaps the 1940 Census in Montana will provide more details when it becomes available.

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  6. Did you notice that the handwriting on this one is very similar to the larger family photo from yesterday?

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  7. I mailed a copy of this blog post to Denyse in Bend Oregon on July 9, 2012
    We will see what happens:)

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  8. Denyse's letter was undeliverable. I sent it to her sister Candyce also in Bend OR.

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Hi, Thanks for the comments, your input on these old photos is appreciated! English only please! All comments will be moderated! Connie