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It's really fun to find an old picture out in the wild and be able to recognize someone in it. I was in the midst of creating a list of places that my 3rd great grandparents, John Calloway Bales and Ida Belle (Onstott) Bales lived in Northern Colorado. My dad is retired and honestly doesn't really know what to do with himself. I thought if I gave him addresses of houses his 2nd great grandparents lived in, and locations of buildings they spent time in, he might enjoy some sightseeing and learning about his ancestors. Something about seeing places in person with context really helps bring the past alive. Of course, my quick little list turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated. Even though I had the basic facts already, when I tried diving into some details, I learned that more newspapers had been digitized, and I couldn't help but read every mention of "John Bales" that I could find. Through this, I learned that John played several key roles in the early days and founding of Wellington, CO. One of the things he did was serve as the chairman for the first Wellington Volunteer Fire Department which started in 1906.  1907 Wellington, CO - Volunteer Fire Department Before learning that, however, I'd recognized him from a 1907 photo. He's in the front row with the magnificent moustache - which he wore in all of the photos I've ever seen of him. His facial hair has made him quite memorable! I'd stumbled across the photo which was published in a book I have yet to find but is quoted frequently: History of Wellington and the Boxelder Valley, 1864-1996 by Arlene Briggs Ahlbrandt. I'd love to know where she found the photo! And if there are more.... John Calloway Bales was also the police magistrate of Wellington and was later appointed to policeman in Fort Collins, CO. Here he is in his policeman uniform, a few years after the fire department photo was taken:  John Calloway Bales, Policeman, Fort Collins, CO Along with this photo, my dad also has John's pocket watch.
I'm close to finishing my scavenger hunt list of places and hope my dad might learn more!
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 Des Moines Register, Jan. 19, 1905. Last night I discovered that my 3rd great-grandfather was an ophthalmologist in Des Moines, Iowa. (Turns out I do a LOT of research centered in Iowa, no matter which line I'm looking at, but that's another story.) Dr. Charles B. Hervey is on my Smith side (see family chart in photos) and his business model was selling $1 eyeglasses. Before he was at the Loper Drug Co. on 5th & Walnut Street in Des Moines, he worked at the Iowa Pharmacy at 128 W 4th Street and in 1901 applied for a permit "to sell intoxicating liquors" there. I'm not sure if the pharmacy ever received the permit or if that was a common permit for such an established to have at the time, but he had moved on to the next shop by 1905. Loper Drug Co. later moved to 412 East 5th Street which is the only three of these buildings to still exist. It is currently a tattoo shop. Anyone up for a road trip to Des Moines, IA to get an eye tattoo there?  Snippet from Charles Hervey's family tree.  Des Moines Register, Aug 13, 1901  Des Moines Register, Sept. 30, 1909  Des Moines Register, Feb. 21, 1904  412 E. 5th Street, Des Moines, IA. Location of Loper's Drug Store. Today, it's the Black Magic Tattoo shop. Image from Google Street View.  My grandad, Miles "Happy" Coleman pushing me on the swing in his yard in Custer County, Colorado. The little guy is my cousin, Jason Coleman, and the dog was named Prince. The first post of any blog should include some explanation of the site's beginnings. So here we are.
I'm Shannon Hames. And since this is a genealogic-based project, I'm also the daughter of Robert B. Smith and Pamela (Coleman) Smith, and grand-daughter of Robert L. Smith, Sharon (Austin) Conley, Miles "Happy" Coleman, and Donna (Kidder) Coleman. I have an academic background in anthropology (including ethnography and research), but I currently work in communications for a tech company. I started this project after inheriting a large collection of photos, negatives, slides, and family historical documents from my grandparents. In an effort to preserve the history and be able to share with any other family members that may value these things, I'm in the process of digitizing the collection. It may or may not be important to mention that I also have a background in photography including photo processing, restoration, and, yes, digitizing photo collections. As far as I could tell, however, there is no perfect solution in sharing a digital collection with a broad group of family members, many of which are yet unknown to me. I wanted to have something that is searchable, easily (and freely) accessed, and the ability for others to comment - especially as many photos included unidentified people. Also, since this is an on-going project, I wanted to be able to start now and continue adding to the collection and allowing others to come along on the ride with me if they'd like. There are, of course, limitations to this style of sharing. The biggest one, I think, is that if someone would like to download a photo for use anywhere offline (like printing), the photos on each post are not high enough quality. I will have to think of a more long-term solution to that, but in the meantime, I'm happy to share the full resolution photos that ARE suitable for printing to anyone that asks. I can also share an entire collection - just let me know! This project is meant to be shared. Please help me spread the word to other family members - especially if they have an interest in our family history or if they may be able to help identify some of the unknown people in photos. I'm also very open to ideas on how to make this better, so don't be shy! *Note: This blog was originally created on a different website. When I decided that I needed more storage for all these photos, I had to recreate the blog. The first 12 posts were migrated over. |
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