Ever since I discovered that I have free access to a number of on-line archives through the local Clark County Library, I have been doing a lot of exploring and tonight I feel like I have struck gold. Tonight, I stumbled across the Newspaper Archives and the first person that searched for was my paternal grandfather, Leopold Joseph DeBacker. My grandfather was a medical doctor … Continue reading The Case of Dr. L. J. DeBacker
Using a little detective work, I believe I have found the family of one of my great-great grandmothers in three 19th-century US Census records. The mother of my great-grandmother Helen Spiegel Dobbs was previously found in two US census records: 1870 and 1880. She died sometime between 1880 and 1887 (the year her husband remarried). She is found in the 1870 census in Savannah, Georgia … Continue reading The Mysterious Case of Sophia B.
According to its Wikipedia article, the origins of Memorial Day are complex. There is debate as to whether Memorial Day (or Decoration Day as it has been called) begin in the Confederate South during the American Civil War or was started by the Federal veterans organization the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1868. Knowing about this controversy, I am reminded each year at … Continue reading Memorial Day Remembrances
This photograph is interesting because there are multiple inscriptions written on the back. In one hand that appears to be that of either my great grandmother or great grandfather, is written “August Spiegel children”. Then in another hand is written “Dorothy and Laverne Spiegel – taken September 1918”August Spiegel was the youngest brother of my great-grandmother. He was born in Dallas and according to my … Continue reading Spiegel Girls
My 2nd cousin did not know who these two photos are of, but I recognized them. These are pictures of my mother taken in Dallas in 1930 when she was two years old. After the crash of ’29, my grandfather and his father-in-law, my great-grandfather, tried to run a diner in Dallas. It went bankrupt and everyone moved back to Louisville. It was shortly afterward … Continue reading Patty Dobbs (1930)
The inscription on the back of this picture identifies the woman in the center as being my great grandmother Helen D Spiegel, that the woman seated on the right is Claudia Meador “(now Mrs. Eli Sanger),” and that the photograph was taken in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Cloudcroft is a resort town north of El Paso. A famous resort known as The Lodge at Cloudcroft was … Continue reading The Lodge at Cloudcroft
The inscription on the back of this photograph identifies the location as “bed of Rio Grande River” at El Paso and Juarez. It identifies the woman on the left “(Juarez side)” as Claudia Meader (now Mrs. Eli Sanger) and the woman on the right as my great-grandmother Helen D Spiegel “(American side)”. It does not give a year, but this is most likely in the … Continue reading Down on the Border
The photograph is of my great-grandmother holding my grandfather. This was taken in Dallas in 1902. I have now gone through all the photographs and there is one thing that is missing… a picture of the photographer. I believe that the photographs in Dallas and in Mexico in the 1900s and 1910s were taken by my great-grandfather, James M. Dobbs, Sr. He probably used the … Continue reading Baby Dobbs & Daddy
I received a packet of photos from a distant cousin. All of these relate to my maternal grandfather, James Monroe Dobbs, Jr. He was an only child who lived a life straight out of a Southern Gothic novel. There were several surprises. There are two photos of my great-great-grandfather, George C. Spiegel. He was a cigar maker who lived for a time in Savannah, GA … Continue reading George C. Spiegel
There were two very surprising finds in the package of photos. 1) A photo of my great-great-grandmother, Sophia (?) Spiegel. Her maiden name is unknown (or is it?) Picture was taken in Savannah c. 1870 2) And what appears to be a photo of Sophia’s father! What I know about Sophia is that according to the US Census of 1870 Sophia’s birthplace was New York … Continue reading Breaking Through the Brickwall
Gathering Leaves 