Dudley's Face!

Evans Stewart and his brother Dudley Stewart,
courtesy of Mystic River Historical Society by Dorothy Hanna

Evans and his little Brother Dudley, 1893

When Dorothy Hanna told me that she found a photo in an album at the Mystic River Historical Society, I wondered if it was my grand uncle at all. She scanned it front and back and emailed it to me. She asked if Evans Stewart was my grandfather and I said he was. Then, I knew it was going to me a terrific find. I couldn't wait to open my email.

The back of the photo gives a collection # of 2008.039 and she said they may belong to a woman named Eliza Denison Schoonover. I will have to look that up in the Denison genealogy but the handwriting on the back does like my 2nd great grandmother's. She was Eliza Denison Stewart. It could be a whole album of photos of my family!

My grandfather (on the left) looks a lot like his other photos. It states he is 7. That would date the photo to 1893. It fits in my timeline for the photographer, Schofield Bros in Westerly and for Charles and Ada Stewart moving to Westerly and starting the Westerly Laundry behind the Dixon House.  

Hooray!

Dudley does look different from his brother, just as I was told and from his Draft Cards, it states his eyes were dark. The photo back states he is 20 months which allows me to date the photo more closely.

 Dudley was born 11 Nov 1891 and using the date calculator in RootsMagic 6, I get July 1893. Since Evans was born in September, this helps with a more accurate date.

Aren't they cute? I am so glad to see what Dudley looked like! Thank you Dorothy!

As Time Passes

Evans Collage, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

 Project Goal: Photographs

 

One of the trickiest thing to do in projects is to sort through the "stuff" and put the items in chronical order. You saw the earlier photo of my grandfather a few days ago. These are the two professional photos that he had taken after he was married and became a businessman in his own right, separate from his father.

In the past, men seldom retired. There wasn't a law. There wasn't a pension nor was there social security. Charlie and Evans, father and son worked together for along time. With different ideas on how the business should work, it must have been a battle of wills with Evans convincing his father to expand the business and add dry cleaning to the laundry.

I am more fond of the story of the Westerly Laundry than I am of Victor because I never saw it or heard about this first business. 

Why did Charlie, an accountant and bookkeeper, found a laundry business? He was one of those people, meticulous and exact. He was good with detail. 

Why did he get involved with (dirty) laundry?

This question may never be answered. But, you should know, my grandfather had a brother. I don't think he liked the laundry business. They called him the black sheep. I have no photos of him but he does play into the business. 

Notice how much hair my grandfather lost over the years!