Working – Family Finds

Nearly all my ancestors can be found in the records working. For the most part, the men were farmers, the women were keeping house. The few exceptions included a weaver, a preacher and a lime burner. More recently my ancestors have worked in cities, including a paper hanger, a postal clerk and a research scientist. The ancestor who stands out is one who made the transition, as an adult, from rural farmer to city worker. My great grandfather John LaFara, 1864-1945, was a farmer in Tipton County, Indiana but sold his farm and moved to the city to work as a laborer.

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Character – Family Finds

I did not personally know my great aunt Grace, but those who did often described her as being fun, and full of life. My father said his aunt Grace was “a character,” my aunt Lois would say Grace was “lots of fun,” and my grandmother said her sister “liked to laugh.” Grace’s husband, my uncle Frank, would say “Grace loved her flowers and her family.” From records and family photos, I think Aunt Grace looked for the positive even when life was a challenge. Aunt Grace was a character with character.

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Groups – Family Finds

Among my archive of old photos are several featuring groups of school children. A few have the names of the children written on the backs, although not necessarily in any order. I am sharing these group photos in an attempt to connect with descendants of the children. And, for the photographs that have no names, I am hoping someone will be able to identify one of their ancestors from the information I do have about the schools, or their date and location. Please share these group photos with anyone having ancestors from the places identified.

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Bridge — Family Finds

When I read the prompt for this week, I thought of the old covered bridges my father went out of the way to drive across. During the 1960s our family took many road trips around Indiana. Sometimes we went to a park for a picnic, sometimes to visit family or friends. I can remember during some of these trips stopping to view one of the many covered bridges found all around Indiana. [1] Some of the bridges were in very poor condition and were not to be driven across. On more than one occasion I recall looking down at the creek below between the remaining boards that once made the bridge.

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Do You See A Resemblance?

Comparing High School Senior Photos

While working on a family photo project I decided it would be fun to compare side-by-side my father and his parents at similar ages. Below is an image of my father flanked by his parents. All three photos were taken to commemorate their senior years in high school. The photo of my father, Robert, was taken about the time he turned 17 years old in 1942. He graduated from Thomas Carr Howe High School in Indianapolis in the spring of 1943. The photo of my grandmother, Pearl, was taken when she was 19 years old. She graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in June of 1913. The photo of my grandfather, Earl, was taken when he was 19 years old. He graduated from Tipton High School in Tipton, Indiana in the spring of 1908. Do you see a resemblance between Robert and his parents? Robert was 2.5 years younger when he graduated high school than his parents were when they graduated. But, I think the ages and poses are similar enough to see the family resemblance. These photos were not among my personal collection, I found them online! Many yearbooks have been scanned, including those from the high schools mentioned above.

Shortridge HS: http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shs

TC Howe HS: http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/tchhs

Tipton HS: http://www.tiptoncountylibrary.org/services/genealogy/yearbook/

Pearl Jane Osborne Shortridge HS – 1913 Robert Lowell LaFara TC Howe HS – 1943 Earl Lincoln LaFara Tipton HS – 1908

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In 1913, Shortridge HS was still at its original location on N. Pennsylvania St. between Michigan and North Streets. The school is the large building on the left of the map.

Thomas Carr Howe HS opened its doors at 4900 Julian Ave. in 1937 where it operates today as a grades 7 to 12 community school. Howe HS sits on property adjoining the Pleasant Run in the Irvington neighborhood.

In 1907, Tipton County opened its new high school on the southwest corner of Main and W. North Streets. For many years Tipton HS was located in the residential neighborhood north of the downtown Tipton business district.

It may be of interest to note, the Shortridge HS class of 1913 was considered very large for the time, 258 seniors graduated. The commencement speaker was Dean of the University of Chicago, Percy Boynton. By contrast, the Tipton HS class of 1908 was just 26 graduates and the second to graduate from the ‘new’ school. Howe HS was a fairly new school in 1943, there were about 250 seniors that year. Of course, the United States involvement in World War II was in its second year by spring of 1943, and my father, and many of his classmates, had already enlisted and were only waiting to graduate before shipping out. The impact of the war can be read in the yearbook, there were a Victory Club, fundraisers, and scrap metal drives.

Shortridge and Howe high schools are in Indianapolis, Tipton HS is about 40 miles north in Tipton, Indiana. Shortridge HS closed at this location and moved north to Meridian and E. 34th in 1928.

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