Sentimental Sunday: Looking for Lilabelle, (Part 1)

Photo collection of Hannah Tucker Champlin Broadfoot (1917-2014) inherited by Midge Frazel, 2016

Sentimental Sunday: Looking  for Lilabelle (Part 1)

Photo collection of Hannah Tucker Champlin Broadfoot (1917-2014) inherited by Midge Frazel, 2016

This was a "highly caffeinated week" as I sorted through the photos given to me by my Aunt Hannah through her cousin, Barbara. Hannah, called Tuckie by her family, lived with her cousin, Barbara, for a while after her house blew up. No one told me her house blew up but that is how it goes in families, right? Can you see why she was called Tuckie? 

Hannah was quick with the camera. She always had it with her for family outings and especially on Memorial Day. On Memorial Day my family had a party after visiting the cemetery. 

Yes, that is why I got involved with the gravestones, because you get a party after looking at gravestones.

In this batch of photos were these two separate photographs. I scanned both sides and made a collage. I took out other photos in the batch and by examining all of them together, I have determined that they were taken on Memorial Day, 1952. 

There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't drive yourself nuts trying to research family without using the telephone. I could have saved myself hours of aggravation if I had done that first. Instead I assumed that Cousin David Aiken was the son of David Aiken, Jr. and that Lilabelle was a second wife. She is NOT. My cousin told me that I had the wrong father for this David Aiken. Yes, there are a lot of men named David Aiken. 

So after finding out that THIS David Aiken was the son of Alexander Aiken, I said, "Oh, I have attached him to the wrong parents." So, I apologized to the person helping me all week and gave her the right family to put him in. I knew it was wrong. Listen to your gut feeling.

 But, who is Lilabell? 

This is why you have to be careful about family photos. I knew from looking at these two photos that Cousin Dave was probably older than my father and uncle. Notice, that my oldest aunt has linked arms with Lilabelle, indicating that she may have known Lilabell longer. We knew the photo was taken after 1951 because Hannah wrote her newly married surname on the back of the photo. Then, by looking at what the ladies are wearing, we saw the same clothes in all of the photos. Date and place (Westerly, RI) confirmed.

On to the quest for Lilabelle....