Unlocking a Family Photo

 Newspapers can make all the difference.

You can find information that you never knew existed, or find parts of a life story that helps to paint a picture of a family member.

Back row, left to right: Glenn, Daisy, Roy, Michael Ora. Second row: Freeda (leaning against her mother's leg), Addie (mother), Samuel (father), Dorothy, Archie. Seated in front of Samuel: Howard. Not pictured: Harriet, as she had recently passed away.

My wife's grandmother was Freeda McCarthy. Above is a photo of the McCarthy family, in Hand County, South Dakota. 

Hand County, South Dakota

It's a photo taken of a printout of a scanned photo. We would like to get an actual digital copy of the photo, if we can find out who has the original.

We knew that Freeda was the girl leaning against her mother's leg. Her parents were Samuel "Sam" McCarthy and Adaline "Addie" (Carl) McCarthy. We also knew that this was taken sometime after Freeda's older sister, Harriet, had passed away.

It took some time, but we were able to figure out which ones were all the children in the photo (labeled above in the caption).

Over time, I found newspaper articles related to the family.

The Miller Press (Miller, South Dakota), 01 November 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042790/1917-11-01/ed-1/seq-5/>

Harriet had died of typhoid fever on 29 October 1917.

In the photo, you can see her mother, Addie, wearing a black choker, and black dress, in mourning. Her sadness is clear in the photo.

Addie McCarthy, detail

Other newspaper articles were found:

The Miller Press (Miller, South Dakota), 08 November 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
<https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042790/1917-11-08/ed-1/seq-1/>

Ray McCarthy was their oldest son, and he had enlisted in the Army. The United States had entered the Great War in April of 1917. From the article, Ray was back home, on furlough, for 10 days time. The date of the newspaper article, 8 November 1917, was on a Thursday. The article stated that Ray arrived home the Friday before, which would be 2 November 1917, and that he would be there until 12 November. Looking closer at the photo, we can see that Ray is in uniform:

Ray McCarthy, detail

Harriet passed away on 29 October 1917, and Ray was back home in 4 days time, on 2 November 1917.

That means that this family photo could now be dated to sometime within the 10-day period when Ray was home on furlough, November 2-12.

This is a raw family photo. Everyone is in grief. Freeda, who is only 5 years old, is clinging to her mother's leg. Harriet was just older than Freeda, at 7 years old, when she died. We can imagine that Addie, the mother, wanted a photo of her entire family before anyone else might pass away. Her eldest son, might soon be going off to a horrible war. She probably thought to go into town and get a professional photo made of the whole family while everyone was at home.

They could not have known at the time that this was likely the last photo of Samuel McCarthy, the family father.

Samuel McCarthy, detail.


Some unknown sickness caused Samuel to be homebound, sometime before January 1918.

The Miller Press (Miller, South Dakota), 03 January 1918, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress,
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042790/1918-01-03/ed-1/seq-5/.


Samuel died of a brain hemorrhage on 1 May 1918, just six months after the family photo was taken.

The Miller Press (Miller, South Dakota), 09 May 1918, p. 8, columns 5-6. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, Image. The date of the newspaper is 9 May, which was a Thursday, but the Wednesday they are referring to is 1 May, as the funeral services were conducted the following Friday, 3 May.

Ironically, it was the same minister, Rev. Robert Eckler Tarleton (1872 - 1925), who performed the funeral service for both Harriet, and her father, Samuel.

Samuel G. McCarthy is buried in the G. A. R. Cemetery, in Miller, Hand County, South Dakota. He shared a gravestone with his wife, Addie, and their daughter, Harriet.

Gravestone of Samuel G. McCarthy,
G. A. R. Cemetery, in Miller, Hand County, South Dakota.

Newspapers were the key to unlocking a cherished family photo. They can provide context and sometimes a time frame for when an event took place. Newspaper articles can be an aid to understanding our family, and bring history to life.

There's more to the story of Samuel McCarthy, however. But that will have to wait for another post.

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