Tag: Dottie Lee

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Mystery Monday: Maria and Blackie

Maria and Blackie. "Maria/Marcia passed on Feb. 7 (Tues.) 1935. Blackie Nov. 20 - 33" on reverse.
Maria and Blackie. “Maria/Marcia passed on Feb. 7 (Tues.) 1935. Blackie Nov. 20 – 33” on reverse.

Who is Maria?  Does this really say Maria, or is it Marcia? (Don’t know of any ‘Marcia’ in the family.)

This photo was in with Lee-Aiken family papers and photos.

The reverse:

"Marcia passed on feb. 7 (Tues.) 1935. Blackie Nov. 20 - 33" - Reverse.
“Maria/Marcia passed on Feb. 7 (Tues.) 1935. Blackie Nov. 20 – 33” – Reverse.

Here are some other pictures that were in the same group. Vada (Kovich) Lee (second wife of Gene Lee, and she also lived in the Alamo house), had originally said this was Dottie Lee, but then decided it was not. She believed it to be an older version of the sunroom on Alamo, the Lee family household for generations in St. Louis, Missouri. She was unsure as to who it was, as she had not known Gene’s grandparents.

Unknown woman- possibly Maria Louisa Brandenburger?
Unknown woman- possibly same as above? Maria Louisa Brandenburger?

One possibility is that it is Maria Louisa (or Louisa Maria- Germans switched their two names about and were often called by their middle name) (Brandenburger) Lee. Maria was married to Samuel Lenton Lee, and their eldest child was Samuel J. Lee, who owned the home on Alamo. Samuel L died in June of 1932, so Maria would have been a widow after that, and possibly lived with her son or other children, or just made extended stays to St. Louis from their original home in Bunker Hill, Illinois. Maria died 06 May 1934 in Bunker Hill, not the 07 Feb 1935 as noted on the back of the first picture, but memories written on the back of pictures are not always accurate.

Unknown woman, possibly Maria Louisa Brandenburger Lee or Minnie Schoor?
Unknown woman, possibly Maria Louisa Brandenburger Lee or Minnie Schoor?

Could this be the same woman? We don’t know for sure who she is either. It would be great to find someone with these same images!

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Lee Family Treasure Chest, reviewed with Gene and Vada Lee in the 1980s.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

 
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: At 1038 Grand View Place in St. Louis, Missouri

Samuel J. Lee family home at 1038 Grandview, St. Louis, Missouri, October 1922.
Samuel J. Lee family home at 1038 Grandview, St. Louis, Missouri, October 1922.

Details of a house can give one clues to pictures with no names, addresses, or dates. The first picture in this post was positively identified by Gene Lee as being their Grand View home, and he identified his mother and the place in the image below. From there we need to make educated guesses about other images in a photo album that look similar.

Dorothy (Aiken) Lee, probably in front of their home at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri.
Dorothy (Aiken) Lee, probably in front of their home at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. (Known identification of Dorothy.)

Things we know about this house:

1) It has large white rectangular stones along foundation.

05 Aug 1923, outside 1038 Grand View Place. Unknown woman.
05 Aug 1923, outside 1038 Grand View Place. Unknown woman.

2) The house has brick above the foundation, probably a red brick.

3) There are arched bricks over lower windows of the house in the basement.

4) The house has a basement.

5) Lattice surrounds the base of the porch.

April 1918, outside 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Possibly Dora Russell Aiken, who lived with her daughter's family.
April 1918, outside 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Possibly Dora Russell Aiken, who lived with her daughter’s family.

6) A wooden railing with columns surrounds the porch.

7) Height of porch is about 4 feet.

1920, Lloyd Eugene "Gene" Lee at 1038 Grandview, St. Louis, Missouri. He was about 13 in this photo.
1920, Lloyd Eugene “Gene” Lee at 1038 Grandview, St. Louis, Missouri. He was about 13 in this photo.

8) The front porch has wide steps.

1922- 1038 Grand View Place. Probably Dorothy (Aiken) Lee.
1922- 1038 Grand View Place. Probably Dorothy (Aiken) Lee.

9) It looks like the wild vegetation was cleared back and columns made bigger on the porch- note differences from first image, but others of these images were verified by  Gene Lee (who lived there)- he said they were 1038 Grand View Place.

10) There is a lone tree at the base of the steps.

11) A narrow sidewalk curves around the side of the house.

April 1918, outside 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Possibly Dora Russell Aiken, who lived with her daughter's family.
April 1918, outside 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Possibly Dora Russell Aiken, who lived with her daughter’s family.

11) The house appears to be on a cul-de-sac.

12) Using Google maps and street view, we can see that there is a large two-story building nearby (currently a school and may have been in the 1920s as well), plus a house nearby that has a third story window that is the maximum height for its width in the gable. (This house seems to have been demolished; the freeway is very close by now and the road was terminated.)

Using these clues, there are other images in the Lee photo album that were most probably taken at 1038 Grand View Place. Knowing who lived in the house at certain times can help us narrow the possibilities of the persons in the pictures.

May 30, 1924, Decoration Day probably in front of 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri.
May 30, 1924, Decoration Day probably in front of 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Dorothy (Aiken) Lee on left?
April, 1918. Possibly Dorothy (Aiken) Lee in front of their home at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri.
April, 1918. Possibly Dorothy (Aiken) Lee in front of their home at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri. Note similar house next door.
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Possibly Dora J. Russell on left with unknown woman. Probably in front of 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1920s.
Possibly Dora J. (Russell) Aiken at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri, 1920s.
Possibly Dora J. (Russell) Aiken at 1038 Grand View Place, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1923.

The Lees had moved on to 6704 Alamo by the time of the 1930 US Federal census.

The house is still standing, and is listed on Zillow.com as being 1,444 sq. ft. with one bathroom, built in 1908. It is located near Clayton and Berthold Streets on Grandview Place (now ‘Grand View’ is one word instead of two). Due to Google’s Terms of Service I cannot post an image of the house, but if you click here, it should take you to the image.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Photos from the Lee family treasure chest.

2) GoogleMaps street view of house today: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6310572,-90.3012714,3a,75y,87.49h,90.75t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sZ8aSXN4kZFkCNUzY4o9ygQ!2e0

Mystery Monday: Tressa Cullen and Eidlh Cullen

Tressa and Eidlh Cullen, 5 November 1937, Chicago, Illinois
Tressa and Eidlh Cullen, 5 November 1937, Chicago, Illinois

 

This photo was found in with the treasures of the Lee family. ( See “Family Trees” drop down menu or http://heritageramblings.net/family-trees/the-lee-alexander-aiken-family/ for pedigree and names, plus articles pertaining to this family.)

The back of this photo of Tressa Cullen and Eidlh Cullen states “Friends of Grandma Aiken, Nov. 5, 1937, Chicago.”

‘Grandma Aiken’ would most probably have been  Dora J. (Russell) Aiken, married to William H. Aiken, since the images were in the possession of Gene and Vada (Kovich) Lee; they may have noted the information about the picture. Dora lived in the household of her daughter, Dorothy “Dottie” (Aiken) Lee, with Dottie’s husband Samuel Lee and their son, Lloyd Eugene “Gene” Lee. Gene’s first wife Ruth Nadine (Alexander) Lee lived in the household too after their marriage in 1929, as did their son, Robert Eugene “Bob” Lee, born in 1932. Dora was listed in the 1920 and 1930 US Federal Censuses as a widow (she and her husband had separated between the 1910 census and 1917) and living with her daughter and her family.

Interestingly, Dora Aiken, who was born in 1864, died in 1935, two years before this picture was taken. Perhaps the family kept in touch with the Cullens even after Dora’s death? Or maybe the year is wrong.

Any information about these sweet ladies would be appreciated. Are  they sisters or mother and daughter? A quick search on Ancestry.com did not turn up any information.

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Lee Family photo collection.

 

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

 
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.