Identifying Thrift Store Photographs

Photographs of six men. Can I find out who they are? The first is from the C. Bau's Studio at 24-26 Federal Street in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Greenfield is in Franklin County. On the back in black ink is "4-1-'99 Lyman W. Griswold, Greenfield, Massachusetts." I searched Ancestry Family Tree for Lyman Griswold in Greenfield. He turned out to be Lyman William Griswold, born 18 October 1869 in Watkins, Schuyler County New York, son of Theophilus Lyman Griswold and Isabelle Holden, and died on 30 January 1944 in Greenfield. He was buried in Green River Cemetery in Greenfield. Lyman W. Griswold. The second photograph is from the Nason & Son studio of Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is in Cuyahoga County. On the back in pencil is "Nelson Ebert son of Jonas Ebert." I searched Ancestry Family Trees and found only one Nelson Ebert who was a son of Jonas. There was a Nelson D. Ebert who died on 22 February 1898 and is buried in Jackson Township Cemetery, North Jac...

I tend not to purchase more recent photos , but this one appealed to me. The nuclear family looked so happy and clean cut. What could I find out about them? There is no studio mark on the elaborate frame. On the back in blue ink is "Arnold Vadin & family. Leone. Dianne. Jimmy." Diane, Leone, Jimmy, and Arnold Vedin, circa 1943 or 1944. I was uncertain is if the surname was Vadin or Vedin. When I searched on Ancestry Family Tree I searched for an Arnold Vadin with a wife Leone, no matches. When I searched for Arnold Vedin with a wife Leone, among the entries that came up were an Arnold W. Vedin who was married to a Virginia Maxine King. When I clicked on that I discovered that Arnold had also been married to Leona Irene Alexander.  The family appears on the 1940 US census, for Brookings, Brookings County, South Dakota: VEDIN, Arnold, 26, b. South Dakota, carpenter building construction VEDIN, Leone, 22, b. South Dakota VEDIN, Diane, 3, b. South Dakota VEDIN, James, 2, b. S...

I purchased a set of photographs of University of Michigan students from the late 1890s. Three of them were the same individual, Edgar P. O'Leary.  The first is from the Gibson and Clark studio of Ann Arbor, Michigan. On the back in pencil is "Edgar O'Leary." Edgar O'Leary. The second photo does not have a studio name. It is quite small, 3.5 inches by 3 inches. On the back in black ink is "Mr. O'Leary May 24 1898" and the letter L. Mr. O'Leary. The third photo, also quite small, does not have a studio name. On the back in black ink is "Edgar P. O'Leary July 10-99 After" The word After is in quotation marks. Edgar P. O'Leary.  What can I learned about him? I searched Newspapers.com  and Genealogybank.com for "Edgar O'Leary."  I quickly discovered he had moved from Michigan to Colorado. I located census records in Kansas and Colorado. Below is a time line of his life. 1875 (March)- Edgar lived with his parents and s...

Photographs of two women. The first is from the D. E. Cole studio of Washington, Iowa. Washington is in Washington County. On the back in brown ink is: "Aunt Mary Wilkins (mother's sister) CCP" and in blue ink "To Minnie E. Wolfe From Carl C. Phelps Feb 1960." This one was easy. I searched Mary Wilkins in Washington County, Iowa in the US censuses. Two individuals showed up. The woman in the 1880 census was not the woman in the photo. In 1900, Mary E. Wilkins, born May 1846 in Pennsylvania, was the wife of John Wilkins and they had a daughter Minnie E. Wilkins. In 1910, Mary E. Wilkins headed a household that contained her elderly uncle, John R. Delancy, and three cousins, Albert W. Delancy, Joseph Hughes, and Anna E. Hughes. In 1920, Mary E. Wilkins was a Pennsylvania native, born about 1847. She was living in the household of her son-in-law and daughter, C. H. Wolfe and Minnie Wolfe. That couple had five children- Isabel, Howard, Thomas, Ellen, and Alice. Mary...