Estate Sale Photo Update

Back in April I described how I think I found a photo of a relative down here in Tennessee. (See: Is Estate Sale Photo A Relative?) I was telling my dad the story when he noticed one more detail in common between my estate sale find and the photo I already had of Fred Allion. The top button on the coat is different than the other button(s). While I'm sure people could argue over whether the deep-set eyes, mustache and nose look the same, the button difference is one objective point of comparison. While it is possible that having a different top button was a trend in the mid-1890s I suspect that wasn't the case. However, if anyone has evidence to the contrary, I would appreciate hearing about it.

The photo I found in Tennessee.

The photo I already had.

In an effort to identify any connection between the previous owners of the photo and myself I contacted the people who conducted the estate sale. The woman confirmed that the photo did come from the estate and that the family didn't know who any of the people in the photos at the sale were. I asked her if she would inform the family that I thought the photo was one of my people and that if they were interested we could try to identify the link. It has been a couple of months now and I have heard nothing. Consequently, I can only assume they don't want to pursue it or the estate sale people didn't pass along the information.

So, I did a bit of reverse genealogy to see if I could find anything that way. Using the address of the house as my starting point I was able to determine the names of the residents as they turned up on several people finder sites. Because ages were often included I guessed at their relationships to each other. I then looked for an obituary for the oldest male in the house who had an unusual first name. I found it and it confirmed the presumed relationships. Surprisingly, a 101-year-old woman was also living in the household (how current this age was I didn't know). I hypothesized that this was the elderly man's mother. A search in the 1940 census with both their names pulled them up in Nashville along with the sister mentioned in the obituary. So, armed with the names of both parents, I found a marriage license and a maiden name, though sadly no parents' names. Unfortunately, a quick search of census records failed to identify either of them in census records prior to their marriage. For one there were several possible families and for the other there were almost none to choose from. Clearly, tracking down a family connection will take more work, but at least I have enough information to start if I can ever find the time. Right now I have bigger genealogical fish to fry.

Is Estate Sale Photo A Relative?

I'm not in the habit of going to estate sales, but I recently passed one near my daughter's school and decided to check it out. There happened to be a handful of cabinet cards and a few other old photographs. Naturally, I looked through them. “Kalamazoo,” I exclaimed in surprise when among the photos taken in Nashville and Kentucky I found one by photographer L.C. Abbey. How it ended up here in Tennessee I'll never know. There was no question that I would purchase it because it was far from home, but little did I expect the story would go any further than that. Here's the photo I found.

I didn't really look at the photo carefully until after I reached home. When I did I immediately thought it resembled my great-grandmother's brother-in-law, Frederick Karl Allion (1858-1929). So, just for fun, I turned on the computer to compare my estate sale find with my known photos of Fred Allion. Here is the one that made my jaw drop.

Just so you don't think this is an aberration, here is another photo I have of Fred.

Nellie, Emma and Fred Allion circa 1895, probably shortly before the girls were put in the Kalamazoo Children's Home.

The back of the photo showed a nice little scene of Abbey's storefront.

Based on the address, the photo I rescued was probably taken sometime between 1887 and 1899, the time period I know Abbey was in business at 303 E. Main St. (from Kalamazoo city directories). It is possible the photograph was taken as late as 1904 when Abbey died, but I don't have access to the right city directories to determine when he stopped working or to indicate how late his studio was at 303 E. Main.

Fred Allion lived in Kalamazoo from at least 1893-1895, according to city directories and the 1894 census. If my estate sale photo had been in my Taylor album, where I found yet another photo of Fred and his wife, I would not hesitate to identify it is Fred Allion. But, since I found it here in Tennessee, though it looks like it could be an identical twin of Fred, I am reluctant to conclude that it's him.  I also can't imagine how a photo of him made it down here when the Allions and the Taylors (he married Nettie Taylor) lived in Ohio and Michigan (I haven't found them anywhere else). 

I'm curious what you think. Is this the same man?

To read about my attempts to follow up with the family and identify a connection see Estate Sale Photo Update.