I am really grateful that so many pictures exist of family members from times gone by. Grateful to those who acted as guardians over the years along with those who originally held the cameras. But there are quite a few unidentified faces mixed in with the familiar and I'm hoping that this page will lead to names for some of those faces. The pictures I have initially posted are from the Bankson-Robbins side of my family. I also have images and questions from the Gibson-Shiverdecker side and hope to post some of those in the future.
Plans for this page started forming as I poked around a web album maintained by Darke County Genealogical Researchers. You might enjoy visiting there. Some pictures in that album are accompanied by invitations to name the picture's subjects who are numbered. That seemed a good approach and I've copied it here. Clicking on any of the pictures on this page will bring up a larger version. Even that version isn't as large as it could be, however. I have probably come down slightly on the speed side of the download speed versus photographic quality balancing act. If anyone feels that having a bigger and better version of any of these pictures would help, just let me know.
I've given a few of my own best guesses but they are definitely guesses. Names in bold are those that have some real support from a back of picture note or some other evidence or testimony. Names in italics are my own, unsupported guesses. If you can offer a name, a correction, or other information or even if you have a question, email me at denny@dennygibson.com. Here we go...
2-Mar-03: Several updates from Cousin Kim, Uncle Eldon & Aunt Phyllis with input from Dolores Bankson.
The first picture is one of the few with no mystery faces although there
is a missing surname. I've included it to show what I hope to accomplish
with the others and to present some of the faces that those other pictures
contain.
2-Mar-03: Jim & Blanche's last name although not certain of
spelling.
Written notes on the back of this picture identify the subjects from right to left as: Grandma Robbins, Gertrude Robbins, Uncle Zed (Grandma Robbins brother), Aunt Blanche (Grandma R's sister), Frank Robbins, Uncle Jim (Aunt Blanche's husband), Willis & Bob Meade, Grandma Robbins sister Ann's boys), Billie Robbins (Nib's boy).
[1] Billie Robbins, [2] Bob Meade, [3] Jim Roser, [4] Blanche (Copeland) Roser, [5] Zed Copeland, [6] Mary (Copeland) Robbins, [7] Willis Meade, [8] Frank Robbins, [9] Gertrude (Fifer) Robbins
Aunt Phyllis thought that this might be Barzillia & sons. That was
actually the first time I remember hearing the name Barzillia Bankson. My
notes say that she thought that might be Roy on the right and Virgil &
Irv in the middle. No guess for the man on the left. Could it be Harold or
Charles?
3-Feb-03: An update from Cousin Kim with input from Uncle Eldon &
Aunt Phyllis. 2-Mar-03: Dolores says that's Charlie - not her.
[1] ?, [2] Barzillia Bankson, [3] Virgil Bankson, [4] Charles Bankson, [5] Irvin Bankson
I'm certainly guessing here but I have some confidence that that's Gert
& Blanche on the left and that #4 is Frank. The lady at the far right
looks like Frank's mother and that seems reasonable. That set of
characters makes Roy the likely candidate for #3 but I'm not ready to bet
any money on it.
2-Mar-03: Not surprisingly my guess at #3 is wrong. It's Frank's brother
Charles.
[1] Gertrude (Fifer) Robbins, [2] Blanche Robbins, [3] Charles Robbins, [4] Frank Robbins, [5] Mary (Copeland) Robbins
Twenty-two people in this potential gold mine. Initially, I thought the
young lady front and center might be Blanche but I would expect parents to
be in a picture like this and I see no one that looks like either Frank or
Gert. Another grasp for a reference point was the thought that the central
seated couple were the same that used to peer from the wall of Granddad
and Granny's front room. But I could see those old pictures in the
background of some other photos and studying them has convinced me that
they are probably not the same. I know it's the long beard that makes me
connect them.
2-Mar-03: Dolores recognized Blanche, Gert, & Eva.
[1] ?, [2] ?, [3] ?, [4] ?, [5] ?, [6] ?, [7] ?, [8] Gertrude (Fifer) Robbins, [9] ?, [10] ?, [11] Eva Leedom, [12] ?, [13] ?, [14] ?, [15] ?, [16] ?, [17] ?, [18] ?, [19] Blanche Robbins, [20] ?, [21] ?, [22] ?
.
3-Feb-03: I knew that someone would ID the "faces on the wall"
and Cousin Kim came through in short order. It's Frank's grandparents,
on his mother's side.
Come to think of it, I don't really know the names of the couple on the
wall. I know that I've heard at least their last names but have since
forgotten. So I've included those faces, not only in hopes of getting
names supplied, but also to let others make their own comparison with
the folks above
[1] Willis Copeland, [2] Catherine(Roush) Copeland
This little group is really tantalizing but I could be way off base. It is
mounted in a cardboard frame and written on the back is the date October
16, 1883. I'm thinking that there are two couples in the picture and that
the young girl is the daughter of one of them.
The lady on the left looks (to me) like she might be the person identified as Mary (Copeland) Robbins in other photos. I can also convince myself that the man next to her could be William Leander Robbins, her husband. In 1883, William would have been 33 and Mary 26. If the couple on the left are William & Mary Robbins then the young girl is certainly not their daughter. Their only daughter (Nora) would not be born until 1896. William definitely had no siblings that would qualify as the other couple but Mary might have (Zeb, Blanche, Ann). And, of course, the starting idea that that could be Mary on the left could be way way wrong. 2-Mar-03: Deloris says Mary & William on the left and Frank on the right. If that's Frank, the date is wrong (good chance) and if the date is right that's not the eight year old Frank.
[1] Mary (Copeland) Robbins, [2] William Robbins, [3] ?, [4] Frank Robbins, [5] ?
Here's a more recent photograph and one where I can name about half of the
subjects - the adults. I think I might even recognize the car in the
background (Gib's Crosley?).
3-Feb-03: Uncle Eldon & Aunt Phyllis answered this one (via Cousin
Kim) and, as a bonus, they even named the pooch. They also identified
the location as Woodington and confirmed that it's a Crosley in the back
but didn't name the owner.
[1] Helen (Bankson) Gibson, [2] Ray Nevin Gibson, [3] Eva (?) Leedom, [4] Roy Bankson, [5] Vergia (?) Bankson, [6] Frank Robbins, [7] Blanche (Robbins) Bankson, [8] Gertrude (Fifer) Robbins, [9] Phyllis Bankson, [10] Dean Bankson, [11] Patsy Kaufman, [12] June Roberson, [13] Bobby Roberson, [14] Dennis Gibson, [15] Jean Bankson, [16] Louise Kaufman, [17] Beverly Roberson, [p] Snickelfritz
This is another large family group that could prove a gold mine of
names. I have guesses on a couple of the subjects but they are not all
that firmly held. In fact, it's almost certain that at least one is
wrong. When I first saw this picture, I thought that #15 looked like the
person identified as Great-Grandmother Harris
in another picture. But, I also thought that #7 looked like
William Robbins - probably because of the
mustache and the hat. I assume that G-G-Harris would be Penina's mother
(Roy's grandmother). Penina was born in 1861 so her mother might have
been born around 1840. William Robbins (Frank's father) was born in
1850.
The people in the picture look to be a family and #7 and #15 look to be
the family "elders". If that is true, then both of my guesses
cannot be correct. Even if my idea that this is a picture of a couple
and their progeny is wrong, it's not easy to come up with a reason for
Mrs. Harris and Mr. Robbins to even be in the same picture. I'm starting
to convince myself that, not only is it likely that one guess is wrong,
there's a real good chance that they both are.
2-Mar-03: Except for a lucky guess for G-G-Harris, I wasn't even close.
[1] Irvin Bankson, [2] Elva (Bankson)Lytle, [3] Doris Lytle, [4] Milt Lytle, [5] Virgil Bankson, [6] Ray Harris, [7] Barzillia Bankson, [8] Howard ?, [9] Penina (Harris) Bankson, [10] Harold Bankson, [11] Audry ?, [12] Hazel Bankson, [13] Charles Bankson, [14] Roy Bankson, [15] ? Harris, [16] ?, [17] ?, [18] ?
These five pictures form a set although that wasn't apparent to me when I
originally scanned them. Some time after the first two were encountered
and scanned (about 150 pictures later) the other set of three was scanned.
It was much later, when all pictures were in electronic form and time was
less precious, that I realized that two of the pictures were of the same
man. A little more study showed that the same woman appeared in another
two. Not only the subjects but the poses were the same. These were
duplicate copies of the same pictures. That all five belong together is
indicated by the identical matting, shown here.
But it seems that I was not the first person to miss the connection. Assuming that my notes are correct (I am not working from the originals) "Grandpa Fifer, Granny's Father" is written on the back of #1 and "Grandpa Bankson, Brazilla Hendreckson Bankson" is on the back of #3. These two pictures are certainly of the same person. The back of #2 contains "Grandma Fifer"and the backs of the other two are blank. Grandpa (Joseph) Fifer lived from 1837 to 1915 and Grandpa (Barzillia) Bankson's life spanned the years 1857 to 1929. I can not date the pictures in any way, but a reasonable guess is that they might have been taken in the early part of the last century. I think it safe to say that whoever it is in #1 and #3 is no less that 50 or 60 years old. Joseph would have been 60 in 1897 and Barzillia would have turned 60 in 1917. That line of reasoning doesn't appear likely to eliminate either.
There are many other pictures of strangers I should know and, if this proves useful or maybe even just entertaining, I might post more as time goes on. Besides the pictures, I still haven't learned if Granny voted in 1920 or if Granddad ever flew. Bonus points for those.
