Two Names, Same Daughter: Eve/Ethel Ealey, Brazil, IN, 1901

 

This photograph is simply labelled, "Aunt Ethel" on the back, but the identification of the subject may not be as impossible as it might seem at first glance.  I purchased this portrait with a grouping of photos once belonging to a child of Ora Ealey Kolcheck.   I've posted about this collection in four previous posts (click on "Ealey" in the sidebar to see these) and so I have looked into this family's family history a bit already.  Since the inscriber of the photograph is likely Ora's offspring, it would make sense that I would be looking for a sibling of her mother or father.  Ora's parents were George and Melissa Ealey.  George married a second time after Melissa died, to Phebe Loveall.  I started with Ora's siblings and found that she did, in fact, have a half-sister named Ethel.

Ethel Ealey appears in the 1910 US Federal census for Jackson, Clay County, Indiana, daughter of George and Phebe Ealey.  Her birth date is listed as abt. 1899.  She also appears in the 1920 census, living on her own at age 21.  You may notice that this photo was taken at a Street Fair in Brazil, Indiana in 1901.  That would mean that this little girl would be two years old.  Does she look that young to you?  Maybe, but she seems slightly older to me.    

I noticed that Ethel doesn't appear in the 1900 census with her parents.  Why?  Either she wasn't born yet, or she is there and we just don't recognize her.  There is an Eve Ealey, daughter of George and Phebe Ealey, born 1898 in that census, who, coincidentally, doesn't appear in the later censuses.  Could Eve be Ethel?  If so, I think I would be more comfortable with the age of the child in the photograph as being three years old.

One of the documents I found with the photographs was Ora Ealey's marriage certificate.  She married William Henry Kolcheck on October 6, 1909.  One of the witnesses who signed the certificate was Ora's grandmother, Wealthy Ealey.

I searched for information about the family of William Henry Kolcheck in the US Censuses.  His parents were George (b.1840) and Addie Kolcheck (b.1854) of Indianapolis.  The family appears as Kolachek and Kolanchek in the 1880 census.  George and Addie only appear to have had three daughters, Katie (b.1866),  Rosa (b.1879), and Louisa (b.1863) and one son, William (b.1875).  Addie had a child from a previous marriage named George Holb (b.1862).  So no Ethels there.

Have we successfully identified this little girl?  It's hard to say.  I think it's a good guess and quite probable, but without other photographs to compare this one to, we can't say for sure. 

Update November 2012: This item has been reunited with a descendant in Missouri

Happy Birthday, Emma Ealey: Clay Co, Indiana, 1892

Today's photograph is a baby portrait of Emma Ealey, taken at the H.T. Biel studio in Terre Haute, Indiana.  I've posted other items relating to the Ealey family in past posts.  So I already knew that Emma was the daughter of George and Phoebe (Loveall) Ealey, of Jackson, Clay County, Indiana.  What I didn't know when I scheduled this post that I was publishing this item on her birthday!  Emma was born the 15th of February, 1892.

Emma F. Ealey trained and worked as a nurse in Indiana and California. She died in June of 1975 in Indianapolis.

Update November 2012: This item has been reunited with a descendant in Missouri

From the Bretzman Studio, Indianapolis: Unknown Boy, circa 1901-1904

I just love this image and wish I knew the name of this young man.  Provenance may help identify him someday.  The portrait was found with photographs and documents belonging to the Ealey family of Clay County, Indiana.  Some of the collateral lines of this particular Ealey family were Muncie, Kolcheck, and Presnell.  Perhaps there is some connection with one of these families.

The photographer was Charles F. Bretzman (1866-1934), working out of his studio at 142 S. Illinois Street, Indianapolis.  Bretzman came to Indianapolis at the turn of the century and opened his first studio at this location in 1902.  He moved to a new studio in 1905 at 22 1/2 N. Pennsylvania Street, which tells us this photograph was taken sometime between the years 1902 and 1904.  There are a number of photographs by Bretzman on the Indiana Historical Societies' Photographer collection, donated by Charles' son, Noble Bretzman, who was also a well-known and respected portrait photographer.  I searched through the collection online but did not find this photograph there.

William Calvin Presnell and Claudie Moon, Marriage Portrait, Danville, Indiana, 1897

In a previous post, The Marriage of George Ealey and Malissa Rader, I researched the bride and groom's respective family trees.  Through this research I learned that George Ealey was the son of William and Wealthy Hicks Ealey.  One of the items I found along with George and Malissa's marriage license was a photograph labelled in pencil, "Willey Presnol & wife, first cousin of mom."

I recalled seeing a similar surname in one of the books I had consulted on the Ealey family.  I went back to A Standard history of Champaign County, Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development, a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1918.  William Ealey moved to Champaign County in 1891 and received an extensive biographical entry in volume 2 of the book.  The biography included information on William Ealey's children and told me that George Ealey's brother, William M. married Louisa Presnell, of Clay County, Indiana.  I also discovered in the Indiana Marriage Index, that George's sister Sarah Ann Ealey, married Louisa Presnell's brother, John R. Presnell.  The 1870 US Census for Jackson, Clay County shows the family of Calvin and Jane Presnell, with brother and sister, John R., 15 and Louisa F., 12, along with 5 other siblings.

John R. and Sarah Presnell, had a son named William Calvin, born 9th of April 1878.  The family lived in Sugar Ridge, Clay County, Indiana.  William or "Willey" Presnell married Claudie Ethel Moon on the 27th of July, 1898 in Danville, Indiana.  I believe this is who we see in the picture above.

According to the 1906 Canada Census for Manitoba, William C. and Claudie Presnell moved to Saskatchewan in 1905 and lived in the Humboldt area.  William's mother Sarah Ann Ealey Presnell remarried after her husband John died, and  moved to Humboldt as well.  Her second husband, Mr. Barnett passed away shortly after arriving.  She, and a few other Presnells from Clay County can be found in Humboldt on the 1906 census as well.

So who owned this photograph?  The question makes my head hurt just a little bit, but I believe "Mom" is Ora Ealey Kolcheck, daughter of George and Melissa Ealey.  William Calvin Presnell would be Ora's first cousin.  The grouping of artifacts I found seem to have Ora as the main link to all of the artifacts.  So it's my belief that one of her children wrote the notation, with the mispelled surname, on the back of this photograph.

Update: November 2012
This image has been reunited with a descendant in Missouri.

The Marriage of George Ealey and Malissa Rader, Clay County, Indiana, 1882

Rarely do I stumble upon 130-year-old marriage licenses in second hand shops, but this past weekend I was lucky enough to do just that. The Marriage License I found belonged to George Ealey and Malissa E. Rader from Clay County, Indiana, dated October 7, 1882. I also found a number of photographs, a marriage certificate and elementary school diplomas all relating to various lines of their descendants.

On Indiana Marriages, 1811-1959 at familysearch.org I learned that the couple married the day after the license was issued, October 8, 1882.  George was the son of William and Wealthy Hicks Ealey, and Malissa's parents were Philip Rader and Elizabeth Marburger Rader.  (Note:  The index shows the bride's surname as "Ruder," but I believe this to be a transcription error.)

Malissa died less than two years later, on January 12, 1884.  She is buried in Center Point Cemetery, Center Point, Indiana, according to Find-a-Grave.  From what I can tell there was at least one child by this marriage:  Ora Ealey, born 1879.  

While looking in the Indiana Marriages database, I also discovered that George Ealey married a second time in 1886 to Phoebe Loveall (Lawall?), and again in 1919 to Rilda Gray Mace.  The Ealeys lived in Jackson, Clay County, Indiana.

Update November 2012: This item has been reunited with a descendant in Missouri