John and Edith McCollom

Well, now that we know the mystery woman is my grandmother, I guess I should get her stats out there. Edith was married to John McCollom.

John Thomas McCollom Born: 4 Aug 1908 Kentucky, USA Died: 12 Apr 1959 (I believe) Indiana, USA)

Married about 1925

Edith L. Gee Born: 22 Dec 1908 Illinois, USA Died: 23 May 1989 (I believe) Clinton Indiana, USA

John and Edith had seven children:

• Wayne, born 22 May 1927
• (living) daughter, born 9 Dec 1929
• Shirley, born 14 Aug 1932
• John, born 8 Mar 1937
• (living) daughter, born 27 May 1940
• Kenneth, born 20 May 1941
• (living) daughter, born 3 Sept 1950

Of their seven children, four have passed away, including my father, John.
Unfortunately, I don't have many memories of my grandmother since she lived so far away. When I knew her, she was blind from glaucoma. (I believe that happened in the 70's.) She also had really nice handwriting. (You'd think, seeing as I rarely throw away anything, that I'd have a letter or a card from her but no...not that I've discovered so far.) I believe she lived out in California when I was a baby (late 60's). (Or maybe she was just visiting? I'll have to ask my Aunt for more details on that.) But the latter part of her life was spent in Indiana.
Even more unfortunate is the fact that I never met my grandfather as he died well before I was born.

Mystery Photo

Okay, well here's one of my first mystery pictures. This came from my dad's stuff. Based on the woman's clothing, I would think this was taken in the 30s or 40s.
UPDATE (7/2/07): Mystery solved. I spoke with my Aunt. This is a picture she took (see her shadow?) of my Grandmother and her youngest son, my Uncle Kenneth. I can totally see Uncle Kenny in that mischievous smile. But I have to admit -- I was secretly hoping that little cutie was my Dad. I guess, though, there another photo that I need to keep an eye out for with two little boys in a wagon -- one is Kenny and the other is my Dad. I hope I find it in the photos I have from my Dad's place. Otherwise, it may be in the pile that my sister got -- water damaged photos that she was going to see if there was a way to separate while incurring little damage and hopefully restore, if necessary.

Elza and Cleo McCollom

Here's another family photo that my cousin sent me. It's of my great grandparents -- Elza Luther McCollom and Cleo Patra Woodall (Hello! What an awesome name! I wish I knew the story behind that.) -- and their children.

L-R: Elza Floyd (Woah! Who's the swinger in this bunch!), Cleo, John Thomas (my grandfather), Elza Luther, and Hazel.

Here are Elza and Cleo's general stats:

Elza Luther McCollom Born: Jan. 1, 1878 Berea, Madison County Kentucky, USA Died: Dec. 5, 1939 Villa Grove Douglas County, Illinois

Married Oct. 9, 1901

Cleo Patra Woodall Born: Apr. 4, 1884 Conway, Rockcastle County Kentucky, USA Died: Jun. 10, 1960 Villa Grove, Douglas County Illinois, USA

Elza and Cleo had three children:

• Hazel Belle
• John Thomas
• Elza Floyd

Summer of 1925

So this is one of the earlier photos I got years ago after mentioning to my Aunt that I was interested in working on a family tree. Her daughter was in contact with a distant cousin who then contacted me and shared this (and a few other) cool images.
L-R: James Harvey Mckenzie (husband of Hazel Belle McCollom), Betty McKenzie (James & Hazel's oldest daughter), Elza Luther McCollom (my great, great grandfather), John Thomas McCollom (my grandfather and son of Elza), and Elza Floyd McCollom (another son of Elza).
My cousin figures this picture was taken in the summer of 1925 since Betty was born in January of 1925.

Getting Started

For years I've been wanting to do my family tree but I can never find the time. Well, I still don't have the time but if I don't start soon there may be nothing left to find so here goes. Initially, I'll post things I have on hand and what I've found out about the item. Family members who stumble onto this blog, please feel free to comment on any of the artifacts. The more information the better. Not sure if a blog is the best forum for this but it's free so I'll give it a go.