15 February 2023

How Far Would You Go? How Much Would You Pay? -- Obtaining a CDV of My GG-grandfather in His Civil War Uniform


It seems to me how far someone will go and how much they would spend to obtain a family heirloom is subjective to the person.  How valuable is the heirloom to you?  We don't feel the same about all heirlooms.  How much "work" is required?  Just phone calls or a road trip?  And how much money do I have to spend?  Can I afford the cost?

I get "pats on the back" and accolades from many relatives on how hard I will work and how far I will go to obtain genealogical information, much less family heirlooms.  But to me there is little question.  I aim to do what is necessary.  It might take me a day or a dozen years, but I at least aim to do what is necessary.

Some generous soul posted a picture on Findagrave.com of my gg-grandfather Arthur Herrick Needham (1831-1921) in his Hospital Steward uniform during the Civil War.  


At first, I was stunned and elated, but no genealogist is going to stop there!  I had questions!  (An axiom of genealogy: answers create questions).  Who has this picture?  Do they have more?  Are they related?  And on and on.

First off, there was no question it was him.  I have lots of pictures of him as a senior; Change the color of his beard and hair to gray and it is definitely the same man.  Second, he signed the CDV and his signature matches those I have collected.

First Step: Contact the person that uploaded the pic to FindaGrave.  He knew nothing about it!  He captured the image off a listing on eBay.  
Second Step: Track down the listing on eBay.  It had sold more than six months previously, so the listing was no longer publicly available, but I figured out a way to access older listings and got the seller's name.
Third Step: Track down and contact the Seller.  He was an individual using a company name to sell items.  This took some time-consuming detective work, but I succeeded.  When I contacted him, he said he didn't keep meticulous records and would need to do some research himself to find the name of the Buyer.  After a few days, all he found was an email address.  That will work!
Fourth Step: Email the Buyer.  Yes, he still owns it.  No, he cannot make a high-resolution scan for me, because he no longer has it!  He put it up for sale on consignment at an antique store in Gettysburg.  He would sell it to me if I wanted, and because I am a descendent, he would even discount it from $250 to $200 for me.  My heart sunk.  That sounded like a rip-off?!  But I did not give up.
Fifth Step: Contact the antique store in Gettysburg.  Yes, they still had it.  Yes, they ship, and they charge $35 to ship.  "$35" to ship a photograph?!?  The lady said to me, "This is our business."  She emailed me a picture --


-- Ironic that the seller was trying to bolster the bona fides by claiming the same picture is used for the FindaGrave memorial. Not realizing that a complete stranger saw this very CDV for sale on eBay, captured the picture, and uploaded it to the memorial.

So now I had to wrestle with the price and the cost to ship.  I asked around and every one of my genealogy friends said they would jump at the chance to pay $200 for a picture of their gg-grandfather.  Most of them have no pictures at all!  Then I researched the costs of civil war era pictures of soldiers, and actually the seller's price was quite reasonable!  I had no idea there was a collector's market out there.  So after negotiating the shipping price down, I bit the bullet (pardon the pun) and pulled the trigger (two is too much).  And here it is.


A CDV of my gg-grandfather, circa 1864, signed in pencil.  The only picture I have of him as a young man.  Now you know how far I will go, how much I will pay.

Copyright © 2023 by Kevin W. Walker

30 June 2022

Genealogy Method: "What About 'Dead-Ends?'"

A guy wrote to me yesterday and gave me the Civil War enlistment dates for my great-grandfather.  Now I already have them, and from multiple sources.  I even have a photocopy of his military record that I ordered from the national archives.  I didn't need this information at all, but what was my reply to him? 

"May I please have the citation for the enlistment records you found?"  Just as if it was all new to me.

Why?  Why would I ask for that?!  Why would I appear to not know what I already know?  Because there must be no assumptions.  Because it might be a source I don't know about, and the source might have even more information.

He wrote me back and yeah, it was a source I already had.  So just like the other ninety-seven percent of the time, it went nowhere.  But I still have to ask!  There is that other three-percent.  If I want the most complete picture, I still have to ask.

Many years ago, I had a friend who owned a store that sold audio and video equipment.  Mostly televisions.  We were sitting at his desk in the showroom talking, and a couple walked in, and he greeted them with a friendly and audible wave; They made a trip around his store, not liking anything they saw, they started out the store door and he gave them another friendly audible wave.

I said, "I don't know how you can handle that?  Customer after customer, walking in and walking out without buying anything."  He said, "It is like this.  According to my data, every tenth customer that walks through that door makes a purchase.  You interpret that as ninety-percent rejections.  I choose to see each customer as ten-percent of a sale, even if they don't make a purchase."

Seeing the whole complete picture means incorporating the apparent "dead-ends" into the method, not just dismissing them.

Copyright © 2022 by Kevin W. Walker

01 June 2022

New Sign at Powell Canyon Cemetery (Custer County, NE)

I have never visited it, but yet I have told my wife and family it is where I would like to be buried.  I consider Custer County, Nebraska my ancestral home; and Powell Canyon my ancestral cemetery.  Out of a listed twenty-nine graves, seven are direct ancestors (Phoebe Chesley, Charles H. Chesley, Candis Chesley, Warren D. Copeland, Lucy M. Copeland, Herold C. Walker, Norman Walker) and the more I research the more I learn the others are extended family.

I was doing a rudimentary search on Newspapers.Com and found the following last year --


What a beautiful sign!  What a beautiful gesture!  I was moved to track down the family and thank them.  And when I did, wouldn't you know what I discovered?  The Brooks family are kin too.

Copyright © 2022 by Kevin W. Walker

24 July 2021

Obituary for Louisa Victoria Dutton (nee. Brindsen 1840-1915)

The Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri), February 14, 1915, Sunday, Page 5 --


Mrs. Lou Dutton Dies After Short Illness 
        After a short illness of pleuro-pneumonia, Mrs. Lou V. Dutton of 432 West I.ocust street, 75 years of age. died yesterday morning at her residence.
        Mrs. Dutton was the wife of Captain H. J. Dutton of Company A. 33rd Illinois Infantry, a Civil War veteran. Besides the husband, Mrs. Dutton is survived by one son, Clarence A. Dutton, of Los Angeles, and four daughters. Mrs. A. O. Mack, Mrs. R. E. M. Mack, Mrs. G. A. Coover of this city, and Mrs. F. A. Dunlap of Kennewick, Wash. 
        Mrs. Dutton was born in Burford, Can, October 17, 1840.  Left an orphan at an early age, she went to relatives in Illinois and was married at Metamora, Aug. 29, 1866.  In 1869 she moved to Cedar county, Mo., where she lived until 1884, when she moved to Springfield. 
        Funeral services will be announced as soon as word is received from the son and daughter living in the west.

Louisa was the wife of my 2xg-grandfather Harvey J. Dutton, whom I blog about often.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker

23 July 2021

John Scott Farm, Scott County, Iowa (ca. 1875)


John Scott (1805-1883) was my 2xg-granduncle.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker

22 July 2021

Signature of 9xG-Grandfather Capt. Samuel Walker (1639)

(Click to Enlarge.)

This is the signature of my 9xg-grandfather Capt. Samuel Walker (1615-1684).  He was the first of my Walkers to come to North America, we think immigrating in 1637, seventeen years after the Mayflower.  Because he was a Scottish Presbyterian, the English Presbyterians would not let him settle in Massachusetts Bay Colony.  So he and his fellow travelers went to Exeter, New Hampshire for some years, before moving back to Reading, Massachusetts and finally settling in Woburn, Massachusetts.

The document is The Exeter (New Hampshire) Combination of 1639, pledging loyalty to God and King, but also saying "We are not like those from Massachusetts."

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker

21 July 2021

Wordless Wednesday: Ira Gibson (ca. 1950)


Ira Gibson (1890-1966) was my granduncle on my mother's paternal side.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker

20 July 2021

Tombstone Tuesday: Emma (Gibson) Calkins Waggener Boll


Emma Gibson Calkins Waggener Boll
Born: September 3, 1898, Kansas
Died: May 7, 1975, Glendale, Los Angeles County, California
Buried: Glen Haven Memorial Park, Sylmar, Los Angeles County, California

Emma was my much beloved grandaunt on my mother's paternal side.  Not much of a "tombstone," but a beloved ancestral relative.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker