When I saw this photo for sale online, I loved it. There were notes on the back about the Morrison siblings from Huggins, Gentry County, Missouri.

Sister Rose was on the left with Ona on the right and baby brother Jesse sitting in the big chair.

It said “Dad’s” siblings, too, and noted that Jesse was born 11 July 1888, so the photograph was taken about 1889.

A quick look at databases quickly located the family of George D. Morrison, born 30 October 1845 in Pennsylvania and Sarah J. Pettit, born 14 May 1851 in Indiana.

They were not the parents of three children, but of seven with Rosa, Ona and Jesse being the youngest of their surviving children. Two, Ella and Henry, died in infancy.

Children:

1. Alfred A., born October 1871; died 1940; married Loucetta Swan Straley, 1 January 1896, Gentry County, Missouri. They were the parents of four children – two sons and two daughters.
2. Ella F., born 1874; died 18 December 1875
3. Oliver Monroe, born 5 November 1876; died 22 January 1958; married Marguerite Alma Hunsicker and lived in Harrison County, Missouri. They were the parents of three sons.
4. Rosa D., born 4 March 1878; died 9 January 1950; married Howard Adams, 28 November 1898. They were the parents of three daughters and two sons.
5. Ona May, born 27 February 1882; died 16 May 1947; married (1) William O. Harald, 24 December 1905 (2) Peyton B. Basham. Ona was the mother of two sons.
6. Henry, born 16 April 1887; died 14 July 1887
7. Jesse Dallas, born 11 July 1888; died 1950; married Grace L. Wilson, 27 December 1908. Jesse and Grace were the parents of two daughters and one son.

I won’t add further details because it brings the family into very modern times.

The fact that the inscription on back said the photo was of “Dad’s” siblings indicates that this photo wasn’t passed down through the children of Rosa or Ona.

Also, since Alfred and Oliver aren’t in the photo, I tend to believe that this image was passed down through Jesse’s children.

However, I have located descendants and this mint condition photograph has gone home to Rosa’s branch of the family.

This beautiful cabinet card photograph is in such mint condition that if you told me it was taken yesterday, I’d almost believe you!

Onawa, in Monona County, Iowa is a small town, less than 2,000 residents in 1900 and fewer than 3,000 today, is know for two things. First, it has the widest main street in the United States (I guess someone actually measures those things) and second, it housed 5,400 German prisoners of war during World War II. That is a totally unexpected historical fact!

As for the subjects of today’s photo, Newell Lewis Upham and Joyce Louise Hakes, quite a lot has been discovered about their family.

Newell and Joyce were first cousins, through Newell’s father, Alfred F. Upham and Joyce’s mother, Edna Daisy Upham.

Athough both of these families were small, there are some descendants today.

Albert Watkins Hakes and Edna Daisy Upham were the parents of:

1. Joyce Louise, born 13 February 1896 (noted on the back of the photo
2. Willard J., born November 1898
3. Thurston Dudley, born May 1902
4. Kenneth Lynn, born 30 July 1912

The Hakes family moved multiple times, living in Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota.

Joyce married Albert Schroeder. They were the parents of one known son, Robert D. Schroeder, who died in 2002 and appears to never have married.

Therefore, I don’t believe that baby Joyce in this photo has any living descendants today.

Alfred E. Upham and wife Alvira Johnson were the parents of three children:

1. Terry Edward, born 1873
2. Edna Daisy, born 1877
3. Newell Lewis, born 30 June 1885 (noted on back of photo)

Newell went on to marry Mina Belle Vance and they were the parents of one known child, a daughter, Mary M., who married Gray E. Dugan.

Gray and Mary were the parents of two daughters, Shirley and Faye. Shirley married Ralph K. Holte and apparently they had no children.

Faye married and had two daughters, both living today.

From this, it is learned that while Joyce’s and Newell’s siblings also have descendants, the only ones in either direct line are the grandchildren of Newell.

Therefore, this photo has gone home to one of them. I hope it is cherished.

Although I have ties to Robbinson, Washington, Maine (my 2X great grandmother, Nellie Tarbox Adams was born there), I am not related to the family of Robert Cleland who lived in this huge farmhouse in 1910:

Robbinston is and always has been a small town.  How neat would it be to have an actual photo postcard of the family home, taken over a century ago? With the census description that the family lived on the state road, I was challenged to find the house today. Success!

Next, I hoped to find descendants today who would like to have this memento, postmarked 113 years ago, of their family home. Again, success and this vintage postcard has gone home to family.

Who was R. Cleland?

With the 1910 postmark, it was easy to locate the family in the 1910 census. Robert Cleland, born April 1860 in Robbinston, was the son of Matthew Cleland, an immigrant from Northern Ireland, and Mary Ann Robinson, born in Milltown, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada, just across the water from Calais, Washington, Maine.

Matthew was a farmer by occupation and already owned land in Robbinson by 1846. In the 1850 census, he was at home with wife Mary Ann and their one year old son, James R. Matthew was 38; Mary Ann was 22. They likely married about 1848, probably in Charlotte County, New Brunswick.

By 1870, Matthew and Mary Ann had seven children at home. Also in the household was James Cleland, 53 and born in Ireland, likely Matthew’s brother.

Robert Cleland, subject of this sketch, was the middle child – 4th born with three brothers and three sisters. He married Fannie Gertrude Davis in 1890.

By 1900, they were already living in the home pictured on the postcard. Robert was, at the time, a dealer in general machinery, which most likely was farm equipment.

Whether or not his land was inherited from his father, who died in 1886, I don’t know. It may well have been because by 1910, his brothers and cousins Horace, Mathew, William and Howard and their families were all neighbors.

Robert died in 1931, in Robbinston, where he had spent his whole life. Fannie, born 22 June 1866 in nearby Pembroke, survived her husband by many years, passing away on 14 July 1960.

Many of the Cleland extended family are buried in Robbinston Ridge Cemetery.

Robert and Fannie were the parents of six children, all living in 1910.

Children (All events in Robbinston, unless otherwise noted):

1. Helen G., born 1 December 1892; died 5 April 1980, Calais, Washington, Maine. She did not marry.
2. Noel Robert, born 22 December 1896; died 11 April 1982, Calais, Washington, Maine; married Helen Urberta Harvey. She was born 27 April 1897, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada; died 17 May 1963. They had one child.
3. Mildon Ray, born 5 October 1898; died 28 June 1975, Needham, Norfolk, Massachusetts; married Edna Essie McNutt. She was born 1 March 1900; died 20 February 1999, Needham, Norfolk, Massachusetts. They had at least two children.
4. Curtis M., born 24 December 1899; died 27 April 1994, Calais, Washington, Maine. He did not marry.
5. Arnold Lloyd, born 23 October 1902; died July 1973; married Ruby Amelia Cossaboom, 26 November 1949. She was born 1907; died 1996, probably Pennfield, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada, where both are buried. It appears they had no children.
6. Ernest Morton, 1 June 1906; died 17 May 1994, place unknown; married Henrietta Inez Blackwood, 4 July 1932. Nettie was born 4 April 1908; died after 1940. She married (1) Mr. Cunningham and had one child. Ernest and Nettie also had one child together.

Therefore, although only three of Robert and Fannie’s six children had children of their own, there are descendants today. From the Google map crop above, it appears that their home is still lived in by someone. Whether or not it is a Cleland family member, I don’t know.