Wandering Around The Family Tree

  This snapshot is labeled Four Generations, 1905 - with no names or locations! It is glued to the back of the paper that has the 1906 wedding cake and 1901 Frank Hankins photos.  Since those photos are clearly linked to my Hankins-Kellam line - and the buildings in the background look like they could be at Hankins, Sullivan County, New York. I looked in my database to see if I could find any families linked to the Hankins/Kellam families that had four generations of males living in 1905.  I found one possible set of four generations The oldest (standing on the left) might be Benjamin Tyler - son of Benjamin Tyler and Sarah Kellam. He was born 6 October 1818 in Damascus, Wayne County, Pennsylvania and died 30 November 1913 in Hankins. He married his step-sister - Rosetta Ross, daughter of John Ross and Love Hurd in August 1839. Benjamin Tyler and Rosetta Ross were both half siblings of my great great grandmother Mary Ellen Ross, daughter of John Ross and Sarah Kellam. The...

 This photo is only identified as Rob 1903. It is glued to the same piece of paper that the 1906 wedding cake and 1901 photo of Frank Hankins are on - so presumably originated with my great grandparents - William Lucas Hankins and Mary Jane Kellam.  The buildings and landscape remind me of Hankins, Sullivan County, New York - but there is nothing that definitively identifies either the location or Rob's identity. 

 This snapshot of my grandfather, Francis William Hankins, is dated 1901 - when he would have been 3-4 years old. It is one of three snapshots glued to a piece of paper - likely originally in an early family photo album. I only have five photos from that album, I would, of course, love to know what happened to the rest of the photos! These are the earliest snap shots, as opposed to what likely were studio photographs, of my Hankins ancestors.  Frank's parents, William Lucas Hankins and Mary Jane Kellam were living in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York when this photo was taken. So it may have been taken in Auburn, or possibly at Hankins, Sullivan County, New York where his Kellam grandparents lived, or Equinunk, Wayne County, Pennsylvani where his Hankins grandparents lived.  Francis William Hankins, the son of William Lucas Hankins (1872-1930) and Mary Jane Kellam (1874-1944) was born 8 September 1897 in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York. He married Evelyn Clara Call (1895-19...

 This heart-shaped snapshot of what appears to be a fancy cake is glued to a piece of paper with several other photos, and has the date Oct 9th 1906 written around the edge.  Given what I know about the set of photos I'm working with likely came from my great-grandparents William Lucas Hankins and Mary Jane Kellam, I figured I should look in their families to see if I could find anything associated with that date.  And much to my surprise - I did! Mary Jane Kellam's younger sister Clara Belle Kellam married Floyd Harding on 9 October 1906 in Hankins, Sullivan County, New York! So my guess is - this was their wedding cake.  Clara Belle Kellam, daughter of John Ross Kellem (1830-1903) and Frances Maria Shafer (1846-1924) was born 24 June 1883 in Hankins, Sullivan County, New York. Floyd Harding, the son of James H Harding and Anna, was born 11 May 1876 in Port Jervis, Orange County, New York. Clara and Floyd married on 9 October 1906 in Hankins. Floyd died on 13 Februa...

 TThis photograph of my grandfather, Francis William Hankins, was probably taken in December 1897. On the back it says aged 3 months. Since he was born on 8 September 1897 - three months later would be December.  The photograph was taken at Joseph French's studio, located over 125 Genesee Street in Auburn. French was a longtime photographer in Auburn. He first appears as a proprietor of Standard Copying Co in 1882. Two years later, he did photo copying. Between 1885 and 1898, he was listed in city directories as a photographer.  Francis William Hankins, the son of William Lucas Hankins (1872-1930) and Mary Jane Kellam (1874-1944) was born 8 September 1897 in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York. He married Evelyn Clara Call (1895-1962), daughter of Charles Joslin Call (1859-1939) and Elizabeth Ann Coe (1862-1956), on 31 December 1920 at her parents home in Stafford, Genesee County, New York. Francis and Evelyn had three children, Ralph William (1927-1997), Elizabeth Ann (1929-...

Long before FindAGrave  and other genealogy websites existed, genealogists still photographed family markers in cemeteries. I found this set of photo of my great grandparents William Lucas Hankins and Mary Jane Kellam's graves in Lake View Cemetery in Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York. Their son, Francis William Hankins, was one of many previous family historians in the family.  William Lucas Hankins died in 1930, his widow, Mary Jane died in 1944. Since William's death date is on the stone, but Mary Jane's isn't, my guess is the photos were taken between 1930 and 1944. I noticed the fourth photo has a car in the background - so I ran the image through a couple of LLM's to see if it was possible to narrow the time frame. Google Gemini 3.1 dated the car to the late 1920s/early 1930s based on the wooden spokes on the tire and the boxy shape of the car. Gemini also said the spare was mounted on the front of car (it looks like it's on the back to me!).  Perplex...