Snapshot of Percy Richard Potter at the Potter gravesite, Northborough, Massachusetts

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that this is a photograph of Percy Richard Potter and his wife Emma Delia (Derosia) Potter, perhaps in their eighties, standing at the gravestone that will be their final resting place.  


There's nothing written on the reverse of the photograph.


Olive Frances Potter is buried there and perhaps others.  Sadly, the entire stone is not shown.


Since Richard died in 1964, this photograph might have been taken shortly before his death.


From online research, hopefully correct [and please weigh in if you feel differently]:


A birth record for a Percy Richard Potter gives a birth date of 2 August 1888 at Northborough, Massachusetts.  The record shows his parents as James Burns and Olive Frances Potter.  


I don't have any information on James Burns.  From reading the actual document, rather than the index, I wonder if James' surname was perhaps Barnes or Burnes.


Olive Frances Potter's birth year, according to the gravestone, was 1867.   Her parents were Merrick Potter and Elizabeth Twitchell.  According to her death record, she died at age 37 on 28 February 1905 at Northborough, Massachusetts and was buried there on March 3, 1905.  


The setting of the photograph, therefore, must be Northborough, Massachusetts.


On the record of his marriage to Emma Delia Derosia on 2 April 1910 in Orange County, New York, Percy Richard Potter indicated that his parents were  Merrick Potter and Elizabeth (Twitchell) Potter, so it appears that his maternal grandparents raised him.


Percy and Emma lived at various times in New York, Massachusetts and Maine.  The 1930 Census found them at Sanford, Maine.  A daughter was living with them.  The writing is a bit hard to read, but appears to show that Percy was working as the foreman at a shoe shop.


His World War II Draft Registration card, dated 27 April 1942, shows the family back in Massachusetts, at  Worcester.  Interestingly, by this time he had formally or informally changed his name to Richard Percy Potter.  He indicated he was working at the Daly Brothers Shoe Factory.


According to the Social Security Death index, he died in May of 1964.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented here, please leave a comment or contact me directly. 


If you're certain that the photograph shows a couple other than Percy Richard Potter and his wife Emma, I'd definitely want to know that.


A map of Northborough, Massachusetts, in Worcester County:



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Oval Photo of a young woman IDed as Susie Hubbard

Approx. 2" x 2-3/4" photo in an approx. 5-1/4" x 3-3/4" mat.  The reverse shows the young woman's name as Susie Hubbard, with a middle name that is perhaps Harding.  Was her maiden name Hubbard or Harding [assuming I've deciphered Harding correctly]?

Please weigh in if you have a different take on Susie's middle name.

Sadly, there's no studio imprint to lend a clue to locale.  The photograph was purchased in an antique mall in central Maine but Maine may not necessarily factor into her identity.

The photo was in a plastic bag accompanied by two other photographs, each of an unidentified person, which may or may not be related.

Just in case there is a relationship, one of the accompanying photographs is of a young child, with a studio imprint of The Tribune Studio of South Framingham, Massachusetts.

If you recognize Susie's name or image from your family research or if you have an alternate name for her, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

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Catholic's Pocket Manual containing card showing death of Thomas T. Riley, who died 23 Dec 1915

The above card was found in a Catholic's Pocket Manual, published by Catholic Stores in 1905.  It shows that Thomas T. Riley died on 23 December 1915.  


Note: see reader's comment below for more information on Thomas T. Riley

The little book also contained three other cards, one of which, also dated 1915, names the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Everett, Massachusetts.  


That clue sent me to the 1910 Census for Everett, Massachusetts, where I found a listing for a Thomas Riley, who was born about 1855 in Ireland and was then a widower with four daughters living in his household: Mary, Bridget, Elizabeth and Ella.


Whether or not, this is the Thomas T. Riley mentioned on the card above, I don't know.

Front cover and title page of the book:

If you have an insight into the identity of the Thomas T. Riley who died on 23 December 1915, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks


A map of Everett, Massachusetts:



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1909 letter from Mother to Minnie F. (Hilton) Allen at North Berwick, Maine

1909 letter from "Mother" to "Mrs. Minnie Allen, North Berwick, Maine.  From what I've been able to determine, Minnie was Minnie F. (Hilton) Allen, who had married Orin E. Allen in 1908.  You'll find a transcription a few paragraphs below.

From online research, hopefully correct:

Minnie F. Hilton was born about 1881 in Wells, Maine, the daughter of George W. and Betsey Hilton.  It's possible that Betsey's maiden name was Sargent.

Minnie's father George was born 5 December 1841 at Wells, Maine, and died 21 March 1900 at North Berwick, Maine.

Was Minnie's mother Betsey Sargent the Betsey Sargent who was born about 1845 in Maine, the daughter of Jotham and Sophia (Welch) Sargent of South Berwick, Maine?

Just on the off chance, I'll mention an Eliza Sargent, daughter of James Merrill Sargent and wife Thankful Gerry.  This Eliza was living with her twins brothers Sylvanus and Sylvestus in the 1900 Census of Wells, and was listed as a single woman with her birth name of Eliza Sargent.  Is it possible she was Betsey (Sargent) Hilton, whose husband had recently died and she had moved in with her brothers, and the enumerator mistakenly jotted down her birth surname?

Minnie married Orin E. Allen on 30 September 1908 at North Berwick, Maine.  Orin was born in September of 1881 in South Berwick, the son of Orin and Elvira Jane "Elsie" (Boston) Allen.

When she wrote the letter, Minnie's mother was living at "Great Hill".  I assume it's the Great Hill near North Berwick, but I'm not sure.  If so, here is a website with information on Great Hill, near North Berwick.

The letter references a "Phil", and I found a Philip Hilton in the area, but I'm not sure if Hilton was his surname.

If you have any information to add, including corrections, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Transcription:


Great Hill
March 7th

Dear Minnie,
I received your letter and was very glad to hear from you and Orrie and to know that you were both well and I do hope happy.  We have been having quite a mean spell down here for the last 3 weeks.  We have had la grippe or something near to it.  Phil was laid off from work for a week and the rest of us would have been, provided we had been at work but we don't find much to do down here in winter.  That is what work we do don't amount to much.  Thank you, Dear, for your kind invitation but you know Sunday is the boys' day at home and I do not like for them to spend it alone.  

Bert has been home all day and has just started back to North Berwick.  I wish you and Orrie would come down some Sunday and see us.  I am glad you are not working steady in the Mill.  It is too hard work to keep house and work in the mill, too.  Tell Orrie that Phil would have brought his things up but when he goes up there he nearly always goes right from the mill and he would not like to take them up there and keep them there all day.  I suppose he would not have much time to use them now if he had them.  How does he like his place

I heard that Mrs. Hurd was praising him up greatly down to Mrs. Varney's the other day.  Well, I will close now for I don't believe you can read half what I have written and I don't believe I could read it very easy myself, but my glasses don't fit me and my eyes are so poor that it makes it bad about writing.  Please write soon for I like to hear from you often. 

Give my love to Orrie.  Tell him to be a good Boy and not work too hard.  And now good bye with love and best wishes from
Mother


A map of North Berwick, Maine:


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1910-13 schoolbook of Merrill Tann McCall of Oswegatchie, New York & Saskatchewan

School workbook of Merrill Tann McCall of Oswegatchie and Ogdensburg, New York and, for a time, Saskatchewan.   The book is approximately 8-1/4" x 6-3/4".

The book contains a neat page with a listing of the students at his school and his teacher, Cecil Kring, whom I believe to be Alfred Cecil Kring, born 24 October 1890 at Oswegatchie, New York.  The page is dated October 24, 1912.  The school may have been located in Oswegatchie.

Teacher:
Cecil Kring

Students:
Jean Jamieson, 13
Agnes D. Ierlan, 13
Grace Witherhead, 13
Neil Doren, 12
Kenneth Ierlan, 12
Amos Thornton, 11
Merrill McCall, 11
Grant Shields, 11
Margaret Witherhead, 9
Lois Doren, 9
Elisabeth Doren, 9
Evelyn Smithers, 8
Stanley McCall, 8
Carl Gilmore, 8
David Thornton, 8
Mary Mallory, 8
Arthur Smithers, 8
Helen Geddes, 7
Eliza Gilmore, 6
Dorothy Witherhead, 6

Ethia Thornton, 5
Eva Mallory, 5

From online research, hopefully correct:

Merrill Tann McCall was born 11 May 1901 in New York, the son of Hugh H. McCall and Stella R. McCall.  Merrill's family moved for a time to Moose, Saskatchewan, where they are listed in the 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.  Merrill mentioned Enfield, Saskatchewan in one of his doodlings.

Below the map are scans of all the pages of the workbook.  A few of the pages have information that a researcher of the McCall family and other families in Oswegatchie might find relevant.  


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