PHOTO IDENTIFICAION: Heard Family of Dry Creek and Related Families

PHOTO IDENTIFICATION:

HEARD FAMILY OF DRY CREEK AND RELATED FAMILIES

        This Blog attempts to compare photos of known individuals to derive the identities of unknown individuals in two group photos.  It is published primarily to solicit input and information from others.  Every reader is invited to comment.  Any readers who have additional photos of the individuals discussed are urged to share these photos and their knowledge.

PHOTO OF HEARD CHILDREN

ABOUT 1899 -- DRY CREEK, LA

 

This is a photo of six of the eight children of John Thomas HEARD and Sarah Adeline LINDSEY.  The photo is owned by the descendants of the youngest son, Zachary Taylor HEARD (shown on the front row far right).  

I believe that the young man on the Left is their first cousin, Joseph Lawrence LINDSEY, son of  Asbury Monroe LINDSEY and Ellen BILBO. You can read the name Lawrence at the bottom of the photo below the image.  We estimate that Lawrence, born in 1875, would have been 24 (+/- 2 years) at the time of this photo.

        Asbury Monroe and Sarah Adeline were brother and sister, and Asbury and John Thomas were best friends, having served together in the Civil War.  Lawrence’s mother, Ellen BILBO was the sister of Susan Cordelia Bilbo, who was the wife of John McNeese, Sr.  John McNeese, an educator and lawyer, was the founder of Dry Creek Academy where the children of Dry Creek (including the Heard, Lindsey, Miller, Hanchey, Spears, and Lyles were educated).  There does seem to be a strong resemblance between this Lawrence, and Asbury Monroe Lindsey (see photo near the end of the blog).  The remaining 6 young people are HEARD Children.

The eight HEARD children in order of birth were: 

        William Crowder “Billy” HEARD (1867-1929)  Never married (approximately 32 +/- 2 years in this photo).

James Addison HEARD (1870-1946)   Clora Frances NOLEN, m 1897 (not shown)

George Melton HEARD (1872-1931)   Lela Godell SMITH, m 1913 (not shown)

Eugenia Sarah HEARD (1874-1959)  Jackson Ford “Jack” LYLES, m 1907 (approximately 25 +/- 2 years in this photo).

        Emma Frances HEARD (1876-1956) - Samuel Nathan MILLER , m 1902 (approximately 23 +/- 2 years in this photo).

        John Holloway HEARD (1878-1976) - Alice Audra THOMPSON, m 1909 (approximately 21 +/- 2 years in this photo).

        Della Amanda HEARD (1881-1976) -  Jeb STEWART, m 1917 (approximately 18 +/- 2 years in this photo).

        Zachary Taylor HEARD (1885-1942) - Eliza Irene BRIGGS, m 1912. (approximately 14 +/- 2 years in this photo).

The young woman next to Lawrence is the youngest of the three HEARD daughters, Della Amanda.  The photo below shows an older Della with her husband Jeb.  They did not have children.

        Seated next to Della is the eldest of the HEARD children, William Crowder “Billy” HEARD.   Billy would have been about 31 when this photo was made.  Without the label on the photo, we would be unsure whether this was Billy or James Addison because the photo strongly resembles James Addison in his later years.  However, it does not look like the photo we have of James Addison as a young man.

As stated above, the young man at the far right of the photo is Zachary Taylor HEARD, the youngest of the HEARD children.  Based on Zachary’s age, we therefore estimate that this photo was taken between 1897 (when Zachary would have been 12) and 1901  (when he would have been 16).  Because James Addison was married in 1897 (and he is not in the photo) and Emma Frances was married in 1902 (and is in the photo) our best guess places the date of this photo on the turn of the Century 1899.  

The three HEARD children on the back row are not labeled in the photo.  We believe that the son (in the middle of the back row) is John Holloway “Johnny” HEARD, based on photos of "Uncle Johnny" taken in his later years (see photo below).  I do not have photos of the other brother George Melton HEARD for similar comparison.  However, George Melton HEARD would have been 27 (25-29) when this photo was made and John Holloway would have been 21 (19-23).  The young man in the photo looks closer to 21 than 27.

The two young women on the back row are certainly Eugenia Sarah HEARD LYLES and Emma Frances HEARD MILLER, but I do not have photos for either.  I am hoping that their descendants will assist us in correctly identifying their images.

THE SECOND "MYSTERY" PHOTO

ABOUT 1897-1899 -- DRY CREEK LOUISIANA

           The photo above is the property of Mr. Garrett Greene.  It was shared with us by Ms. Elona Weston in hopes of identifying people in the photo and possibly the time and location.  Mr. Garrett is a Miller descendent, and the Millers are closely tied by marriages to both the Heard  and Lindsey families.  There is one name written on the photo, which we believe reads "George Heard."

         The one identification in this photo that is unambiguous is that of   William Crowder "Billy" HEARD.  The young man standing in front of the porch, wearing the dark coat and light colored slacks is the same young man shown in the middle of the photo of the Heard Children shown above.  Indeed, the images are so similar as to suggest that the two photos are close in time.   In the first photo, we estimated the time of the photo as 1899 +/- 2 years (1898-1902), which placed Billy HEARD'S age as 32 (+/- 2 years).  Billy's age seems about the same in both photos suggesting that the second photo was taken within this same time frame. We date the second photo between 1897 and 1899 placing Billy's age in the second photo as 31 (+/-1 year).

         I believe the young man seated on the steps and wearing the hat is George Melton HEARD, younger brother of Billy and James Addison HEARD and older brother of Johnny HEARD.  (Please note, George Melton Heard should not be confused with either George Washington HEARD, the first Mayor of DeRidder, his Uncle, or  George Milton HEARD, his cousin, son of George Washington HEARD).   The bone structure of his face in this picture is almost identical to that of Billy HEARD and James Addison HEARD (his older brothers).  This hypothesis is strongly supported by the name "George HEARD" written below his image in the photo margin.        In this photo, George Melton would have been approximately 26 years of age. In a few years, he would move to Kansas City, where he met Leda Godell Smith.  They were married in 1913, and lived there for the remainder of their lives.  

        While the evidence is less clear, I believe that the young man standing on the porch between the two young ladies may be John Holloway "Johnny" HEARD, who appears between his sisters on the back row of the first picture.  I also recall being told that Johnny HEARD played a violin and sang.  Johnny HEARD would have been approximately 20 (+/-1 year) at the time this photo was made.

        However, it is equally plausible that the young man standing between the two young women is one of the four LINDSEY sons who would have been approximately 29, 23, 20, and 15.  Based on comparisons to the photo shown below, it is entirely possible that this young man is Bill LINDSEY the eldest of the Lindsey sons.  I have studied photos of both Johnny HEARD and Bill LINDSEY, and cannot decide which is a better match.

               I believe the older woman, standing in the doorway is Ellen Lenore BILBO LINDSEY.  Below is a picture of Ellen, and I think the resemblance is notable.  At the time the group photo was taken, Ellen Lenore would have been about 50 years of age.

        Ellen BILBO LINDSEY was the wife of Asbury Monroe LINDSEY, (see his photo below) and the Aunt of the HEARD children.  In this case, the older man standing in the far left of the photo would probably be Asbury Monroe LINDSEY.   Asbury would have been approximately 57 when the group photo was made.

 

    If these are Ellen Lenore and Asbury Monroe, then the photo was almost certainly taken at the LINDSEY home in the Dry Creek Community.  It was NOT taken at the HEARD home, which was made of logs.  Further, it is probable that some of the other children in the photo are the children of Ellen and Asbury.
        Ellen Lenore and Asbury Monroe had 10 children, but only 5 survived infancy.  These five were:

        William "Bill" Burkett LINDSEY (1869-1943).  m. Mary Jane Bailey 1903 (approximately 29  +/- 1 year at time of photo).

        Joseph Lawrence LINDSEY (1875-1967) (see first group photo) m. Martha Hanchey then Della HARPER (approximately 23 +/- 1 year at time of photo).

       John McNeese "Mac" LINDSEY (1878-1930) m. Georgia Ann Ashworth 1900 (approximately 20 +/- 1 year at time of photo).

       Winfrey Florance LINDSEY (1883-1968) (approximately 15 +/- 1 year at time of photo).

        Crista Pearl LINDSEY (1892-1983) (approximately 6 +/-1 years at time of photo).

        Bill LINDSEY married Mary Jane BAILEY, and they adopted Mattie Bell SINGLETARY.  He was a handsome man, and resembles his father and the man we have tentatively identified as his brother Lawrence.  As stated above, I believe that the young man standing between the two women may be Bill, who was approximately 29.

                Joseph Lawrence LINDSEY married twice, first to Martha C. HANCHEY and second to Della HARPER.  They had one daughter Mildren REEVES.   After many comparisons, I believe that the young man sitting on the far left of the photo (next to Billy HEARD) is Joseph Lawrence LINDSEY (also shown in the photo of the HEARD CHILDREN).  If this is indeed, Lawrence, he looks slightly younger (and with darker hair) in this photo than in the first photo.  He would have been about 23 in this photo.
        John "Mac" McNEESSE married Georgia Ann Ashworth.  They had four children, and are shown in the following photo.  I believe, based on a couple of facial features (including the ears), that the young man at the far right of the group photo is Mac LINDSEY.  Mac, who is shown only in profile, was approximately 20 when this photo was made.

            Winfrey Florance LINDSEY married Amanda Ella PRESLEY (1877-1960)  and they had one child, Winfrey Kermit LINDSEY.  I believe the young woman wearing the white shirtwaist with the mutton sleeves may be Ella Presley LINDSEY, wife of Winfrey based on comparison to the photo below of her as a young woman.  In the group photo Ella would have been approximately 22 (20-24).    Ella (born in 1877) was 6 years older than her husband, Winfrey, who was born in 1883, and was about 15 when this photo was taken.  

 Below is a photo of Ella and Winfrey in their middle years. 

     

        The youngest of the LINDSEY children was Crista Pearl LINDSEY.  She was a beautiful young woman, who married Merritt Guyraud Garner.  They had one son, Merritt Gerald Garner (1922-2014).  Her photo is shown below.  I believe Crista Pearl (born in 1892) is the little girl with doll in the rocker on the porch photo.

  

 

             If Crista Pearl is the child in the rocker she would have been between 5 and 7 years of age, this suggests the photo was made between 1897 and 1899. making it closely contemporary with the PHOTO OF THE HEARD CHILDREN shown above.  Billy (William Crowder) HEARD, the one person we definitely know is in both photos looks almost the same in the two photos, supporting the hypothesis that they were taken during the same period.

CONCLUSION

        We have hypothesized that the second "mystery" photo was taken at the home of Asbury Monroe LINDSEY and his wife Ella Lenora BILBO LINDSEY in the Dry Creek Community around 1898.  Many of those in the photo are their children and their nephews and nieces.  Two young men and one young woman and one young girl are not identified.  
        We are not certain of these conclusions, and invite other ideas, contributions, and theories from those who read this blog.  We will revise the blog to include new information and photos contributed by readers.