Photo Detective with Maureen A. Taylor

Giant Grasshopper Mystery Photo—Solved!
Posted by Maureen

My Photo Detective magazine column appears in Family Tree Magazine. The October/November 2012 column is titled "Hoppin Fun" because the photo features a giant grasshopper sculpture.

Larae Schraeder showed me the photo at the 2012 National Genealogical Society Conference in Cincinnati. The photo was in her collection of family pictures, and she thought the men might be relatives. In the magazine, I added up the clues but couldn't make the family connection for her.

Well, it turns out the men aren't relatives. The real story is a fascinating tale of one man's hobby.

Thomas Talcott Hersey of Mitchell, SD, made this grasshopper. He's holding it down in the photo. Assisting him are his nephew Harry (Bart) Hersey and David John Hersey.

Several of his descendants emailed me this weekend to tell me about this hopper and the other bugs that Hersey crafted. His inspiration came from a grasshopper swarm that killed his crops during the Dust Bowl era, and he called the metal creation Galloping Gertie.

When he displayed his invention at Corn Palace Week in Mitchell and charged a nickel to view it, he earned enough to support his family for a winter. Hersey ended up with a commission from a man who hired him to make a housefly, a flea, a black widow spider and a monarch butterfly to show at county fairs.

Hersey's hobby of fashioning giant bugs out of wood, paper, cellophane, wire, string and oil cloth made him famous. In 1943, Hersey was a guest on Dave Elman's "Hobby Lobby" radio show on CBS. He spoke at length about how he made the insects; the grasshopper shown here even had a device to make its feelers move. Life Magazine and Popular Mechanics featured articles on his work.

Hersey's relatives sent me several other pictures of his bugs and his relatives posing with them. They emailed me a postcard view of the scene above that had a printed caption: "Capturing Whopper Hopper near Mitchell, S.D. The largest grasshopper in existence 54 inches weighs 73 pounds." It was taken and marketed by the Hersey Photo Service:

Mystery solved!

Not all of the photos in a family collection depict relatives. Family members may have collected pictures of friends, neighbors and famous folks. In this case, we don't know if Larae's family actually saw Gertie or if they just bought the image for fun.

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1940s photos | men | props in photos | unusual photos

Monday, October 08, 2012 5:47:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Scenes of Moving Day
Posted by Maureen

I've been packing boxes for weeks getting ready to move houses. So how did our ancestors move their belongings in the past? They employed wagons and later, vans similar to the ones companies use today.

Piketruck moving2.jpg

Sharon Pike sent in this picture of her father-in-law's Greyhound Van Lines Truck that he drove. It was taken in the 1940s. When he was on the road, Gene sent his wife Marion postcards nearly every day.

Check out my Moving Day board on Pinterest. If you haven't used this site yet, it's like an online scrapbook of images found on the web. You can organize your Pinterest images in "boards" and see what others have "pinned" on their boards. When you scroll over one of the images you can post a comment. Can't wait to see what you have to say!

Enjoy!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1940s photos | men | occupational | Photo fun | Photo-sharing sites

Monday, July 23, 2012 6:35:44 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, April 02, 2012

Census Taking in Pictures
Posted by Maureen

My fingers are itching to start searching through the 1940 census. I've read that the National Archives website crashed due to the number of folks online doing the same thing. I'll wait a bit and try again.

In the meantime, take a peek at some census-related images.

This image from the Library of Congress is a poster advertising that it was a patriotic duty to provide information for the census.

In another photo from the Library of Congress, two women operate a new census machine. The "unit tabulator" on the left is being operated by Ann Oliver. On the right is Virginia Balinger, Assistant Supervisor of the Inquiry section. (Love those shoes!)

According to the caption, in 1870 it took seven years to compile statistics from the census, but this machine invented by Herman Hollerith fed census cards at the rate of 400 per minute. This machine was going to compile those stats in 2-1/2 years. Each written bit of information was translated into codes that were punched on cards then fed into this machine.

Enjoy your searching!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1880s photos | 1940s photos | occupational | props in photos

Monday, April 02, 2012 7:16:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, March 07, 2011

Around the World with Family
Posted by Maureen

Reader Carol Norwood is a dedicated genealogist searching for more details of her mother's life in far off Indonesia.

Her mother Cita Dromer lived in Sumatra from 1927 to 1940. About a month ago, she sent scan of her mother's Poezie book (a type of scrapbook for poetry and other keepsakes) to The Indo Project. According to the group's website, "The Indo Project is dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and celebration of Indo culture and history through education and raising public awareness." They liked her mother's Poezie book so much they featured it in their newsletter. The album documents a fascinating period in her mother's life.

There are, of course, a couple of mystery photos. Norwood knows who's depicted in them, but she's trying to track down a living person.

Since she's possibly still living, I'm not going to mention her name. When Carol's mother immigrated to the United States on the ship Poleau Tello, this South African girl was on board. The two became friends and wrote in each others album.

Carol has tracked down the girl's family and is hoping for a reunion. My fingers are crossed too. I'll keep you posted.

1940s photos | Photos from abroad

Monday, March 07, 2011 3:14:54 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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