I heard from a third cousin, Kim in California, in response to a post I wrote in November headed Earl of Great Grandpa Price. I mentioned in that post that my mother had shown me a picture of my great grandmother, Laura Steele, and one of her sisters, Emma, and that in the picture it looked to her as though they might have been part Native American.
My cousin sent me these pictures of a Price family reunion and 50th wedding anniversary that took place in 1902 in North Liberty near South Bend, Indiana, my mother's hometown. She said that she thinks Emma does have features that could be Native American, but that their other sister, Angie, definitely looks Native American.
If you click on the reunion photo to enlarge it and slide to the upper right hand corner of the picture, you can see three of the seven Price sisters grouped around their brother, Frank. My great grandmother, Laura Price Steele, is in the back row to Frank's right. Her sister, Emma, is in the back row at the far right of the frame. Angie is the woman with the dark hair directly in front of Frank.
My cousin's great grandmother, Elsie or Elzira, is near the middle of the photo and one would never guess from her appearance that she also had Native American ancestry. If you look at the picture at the bottom of my great great grandparents, Alexander H. and Lydia Anne Cordray Price, it should be fairly easy to spot them near the middle of the group photograph. The occasion was their 50th wedding anniversary, attended by all ten of their children and their twelve grandchildren.
The young fellow standing in front in the sailor suit is my grandfather, Cleon Virgil Steele. He was three years old at the time. The man in the back row near the middle with his head tilted at a twenty degree angle is my great grandfather, Ira Steele. The man to his right is my cousin's great grandfather, Michael Klopfer.
Many thanks, Kim, for passing this along to me and for your permission to post it online.
11 comments:
Looks good Craig! Kim
I hope any Price descendants let us know where they are! I 'd love to hear from you! There used to be Price Family Reunions in South Bend.
Hi Kim,
Thanks for your comments and for the pictures. Let me know if there's anything interesting in that packet Sandra sent you. I won't get to see the stuff she sent my dad until next month. I did see scanned copies of several obituaries for my great grandmother's brother, Frank. He apparently married two of my great grandfather's cousins. He married Ida Steele, Earl's mother, in 1890, but she died in 1895. Then he married Ida's cousin, Maude, in 1910, so with Ira's marriage to Laura there were three Price-Steele unions in one generation. I think both families were obliquely related to the Studebakers and that era was during the transition from horse drawn wagons to the automobile. Frank was in the hardware business, so he probably sold a few auto parts in his day.
Hi Craig! Sandra sent me quite a few obituaries. I can scan them to you if you'd like! K
No need, really. I'll have my own paper copies about two weeks from now, but I am very curious to know what's in them. Almost like Christmas.
Sandra scanned several obits to me for Frank and for Alexander and Lydia. She was mostly interested in sorting out Frank's wives, Ida and Maude. It all made sense to her when I explained to her that they were Ira's cousins.
Those obits confirmed information I'd already gleaned from the censuses about when the families moved from Ohio to Indiana, but they also provided some new clues.
Did she send obits for Ira and Laura? Did you know that Nathan and his wife, Mary, also moved to Indiana? According to the census, they lived with one of Lydia's brothers, Edward. Lydia's brother could be one of the unnamed gentleman in the reunion photo.
She sent obits for both Laura and Ira. I assume you will get the same ones. If not, let me know and I will scan them for you. Kim
Who would have thought that 105 years after that reunion photo was taken, that third cousins would have contacted each other on a computer? I think this is so exciting! Kim
Hi Craig, We can have The Price Reunion at the lake. Your grandparents' cottage is for sale. It's perfect.
I was wondering if perhaps there is a Richard Randolph Price in your family. Probably in his 50's. I am a Price trying to locate my fathers side of the family. This is the only info I have other than he was in the Air Force at some point.
My name is Mark Price. My dad was born in eastern Illinois in 1920. His name was Gordon Keith Price. His dad was Walter David Price and his dad was David (Dave) Price and his dad was Samuel Price. According to research done by my sister Kate Price Allen, our great grandmother was Native American and her name prior to marrying my Great Grandfather was Eliza Butler. Does anyone know if there is a connection between my family and the Price family in the 1902 reunion photo?
Thanks,
Mark Price
wwcoachprice@yahoo.com
Hi Mark,
The names you've listed don't correspond with the Price family in the pictures I posted. Frank Price had a son named Earl, born after 1890. I don't know if Albert or Lorenzo had any sons. Both Albert and Lorenzo were born near Coschocton, Ohio. Albert lived near South Bend most of his adult life. Lorenzo lived in Ohio near Findlay.
Their mother, Lydia Ann (Cordray) Price was the daughter of Nathan and Mary Cordray. Nathan was ten years old when he and his parents, Isaac and Mary Cordray moved from Pennsylvania to settle in Ohio. Nathan's wife was born in Ohio in 1803. I think it's possible that the mother of Nathan's wife was the daughter of an army officer and a native American woman. Children born along the Tuscarawas before 1810 tended to be at least part native American.
My Steele ancestors in Pennsylvania had Steele cousins making barrels and running a flat boat on the Tuscarawas before the War of 1812, but they returned to Pennsylvania until the war was over.
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