Searching for Women By Their Husband's Names: Mrs Dan McAuley and Mrs Fred Allen

I've encountered a spate of difficult photos of late.  Here's another for anyone who loves a challenge.  The reverse of this postcard photograph, found in a Nanaimo, BC antique shop, reads:

The challenge here is that the two married women are identified by their husband's names.  The youngest daughter Annie is, presumably, Annie Mcauley.  So I started my search looking for a Dan Mcauley who had a daughter, Annie.  I found one exact match after an Ancestry search, a Dan Mcauley in the 1891 Scotland Census living in Barrhead, Barrhead and Levern, Renfrewshire with a daughter Annie.   I found another possibility on Ancestry.com and a few others that might fit. 

My next thought was to try and find a Fred Allan who married a Mcauley.   I didn't find anything on Ancestry.  I headed over to Familysearch.org.  Nothing.

The house in the image looks like a first homestead of the type you would find on the prairies.  It was taken after 1907.  While the image was found in British Columbia, that doesn't necessarily mean it was taken in Canada.  It could very well have been, but my experience is that the photos I find are pretty well evenly split between Canadian and American images.

Another image to remain a mystery?

UPDATE November 21, 2012:  This once-a-mystery postcard is on its way to Alberta to be reunited with a descendant of Mrs. Dan McCauley, who has been identified in the comments section as Mary Norn McCauley.  The two other women are Mary McCauley Allen and Annie McCauley.   

Super Sleuth Saturday: Alice and Marion Rogers, Lawrence, MA, 1887

What's the mystery, you ask?  You have names and ages:  "Alice M. Rogers, Age 12 and Marion L. Rogers, Age 10."  You have a photographer's imprint:  W.H. Allen, Lawrence, Mass.  You have provenance:  Photo was found with photographs belonging to Mary. E. Harrison.  And you have a date the photo was taken: 1887.

Well, the mystery is that I can't seem to find these girls in the census for Massachusetts.  Were they just visiting Lawrence?  How are they connected to Mary E. Harrison?  I have one possible lead, and I am curious if you will end up there, too. 

Don't you just love their dresses?

From Your Loving Wife, Nora Allen & Baby, c. 1899, Calgary, NWT

When I found this cabinet card photograph of Nora Allen and her baby in an antique store I knew the image must have been recorded prior to 1905. The photographer's imprint on the front indicates that it was taken in Calgary, Northwest Territories.  After Alberta became a province in 1905 the imprint would read "Calgary, Alberta."  The photograph was seems to have been displayed on a wall.  There is a large pinhole in the middle upper edge. 

  As you look this photo over

  as its stories bright unfold

  May your loving eyes discover

  Our love for you will neer grow cold.

  From Mother and Baby to Dear Father

  [--dunna forget?]

The photograph was taken by the C.W. Binkley Studio, likely in the late1890s, judging by the mutton sleeves on Nora's dress.  Sadly, the little baby has faded quite a bit.  I'm glad that the photo has been scanned, and that we'll at least have this version before the picture fades any further.

I found an Allen family in the 1901 Census of Canada, The Territories, Banff District:


George A. Allen, 30, born Feb 1871, England
Nora Allen, 26, born March 1875, Ireland
Trisa Allen, 3, born Sept 1898, Alberta
Lillian G. Allen, 1, born Nov 1900, Yukon

According to Canada Marriages, 1661-1949 on Familysearch.org, George Arthur Allen, son of William and Mary Ann Allen,  married Nora Theresa Stack, daughter of Thomas & Mary Stack, on 22nd October 1896 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Calgary.

I stumbled upon a wonderful picture of Nora Allen's husband, George Arthur Allen, taken at Banff in 1892 on the RCMP Graves blog, which honours members of the North West Mounted Police and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  I went through George Arthur's NWMP Personnel Records at  http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca and learned that he served from March 17, 1892 through to January 31, 1900.  Two of those years were spent in the Yukon.  In 1940, he signed up as a RCMP Special Constable in Victoria, BC for a term of six years.

In the NWMP engagement papers for 1898 that I found online, George lists his nearest kin as being "Nora Allen, c/o Mr & Mrs. Wm. Allen, 2 Onslow Street, Leicester, England."  It would appear that Nora is living in England with her in-laws at that time.  She is not living with them by the time the 1901 England Census rolls around.

Nora died in 1960 in Victoria, BC, and George Arthur, in 1962 in Vancouver.  While I am not absolutely positive this is the same Nora Allen featured in the photograph, I feel it is entirely plausible.  These photographs were found on Vancouver Island, just north of Victoria and all of the information seems to fit, but it sure would be nice to locate another photograph of her to be certain.

Update February 6, 2016:  This photograph has been reunited with a family member in BC.