This handsome gentleman has been in my box of unidentified photos for as long as I can remember. There are only two clues. 1) I know it had some meaning to my grandmother, Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy, as it was in her boxes of things. 2) The photographer was Hartsook with studios in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Oakland, Sacramento, Visalia, Bakersfield, Pasadena, Santa Rosa, Pomona, Fresno, San Diego, Stockton, San Jose, Long Beach. So, clues that are really not much help. And, my grandmother didn’t help me out by writing the name of this gent anywhere on the photo. Not many bread crumbs to go on.
A few weeks ago one of those Facebook memories popped up. I love when those pop up with a blog post because it gives me an opportunity to go back and read what I wrote years ago. Because at my age, I barely remember what I wrote last week. And this was the post that came up. More invites My grandmother loved to socialize (and especially loved to dance) so I smiled as I opened it up to read about one of her parties. But what hit me in the face was this photo.
Could that be the same unidentified soldier? I wondered later if it could have been Grandma’s friend (beau?), Earle Norton, and wrote about it here. And now more dancing
Some thoughts:
- The ears on both men look the same.
- Both have on a uniform. But I’m betting plenty of men did in those days.
- While the photo of the couple was found in the scrapbook on the page that said “Earle sent me these from San Luis”, the photo was loose on the page. So after 100+ years, there’s a pretty good chance it was on the wrong page and he never sent her this particular picture.
- Once again I’ve contacted a few people on ancestry asking about Earle Norton. One has quite a bit of information about his wife, Marguerite, but she is one of the individuals I contacted three years ago about this mystery and she never responded. So I’m betting I see the same result this time.
Absolutely the same! Look at that curly hair at his forehead.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad others agree. But I still don't know who he is :-(
DeleteI wouldn't say for sure, but it sure looks like it could be the same young man to me! I hope you are able to find more photos of him!
ReplyDeleteI hope so, too, Dana. Especially if Grandma wrote his name on the back.
DeleteNot sure if you follow my comments, but here was my reply to your comment on my recent post where you mentioned a half penny: Interesting, Debi. In my ignorance, is a "half dime" a nickel? Or do you actually have a coin called a half dime? I have heard something about a penny, but not a half dime. I looked it up, and I only came across a sixpence. But, I also saw that silver was traditional so some people use a penny older than 1965 wince those were made primarily of silver.
DeleteP.S. I think your family tradition would make a great blog post! :)
Looks like the same guy to me! I love when that genealogy serendipity happens. :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how sometimes it just smacks us in the face?
DeleteI definitely think they are the same man! Goodie--a romantic mystery. Good luck solving it. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope I can. But I'm sort of at a dead end right now.
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