![\"The](\"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mono_03.jpg\")
<\/a>The photo as I found it<\/p><\/div>\n
As I was standing there, the photo on the top spoke to me. \u00c2\u00a0What a lovely image! \u00c2\u00a0A young couple, dressed very nicely, with striking features. \u00c2\u00a0I turned the photo over to find very light pencil marks with\u00c2\u00a0“John & Cecelia Gatewood” inscribed. \u00c2\u00a0You really had to shift the photo back and forth in the light to see the pencil. \u00c2\u00a0I almost didn’t see it at all. \u00c2\u00a0On the front of the photo, I could see clearly the photo was taken in Hays, Kansas.<\/p>\n
I decided to take a chance and buy the photo. \u00c2\u00a0The dealer was asking for $5.00. \u00c2\u00a0I didn’t even haggle with him. \u00c2\u00a0After paying for the photo, I asked him if had other photos from the same family. \u00c2\u00a0He didn’t know. \u00c2\u00a0I asked him if he knew where the photo may have been acquired. \u00c2\u00a0He didn’t know. \u00c2\u00a0The only thing he could offer was that he got photos from “all over the place.” \u00c2\u00a0That was all I could find out about it.<\/p>\n
How did this photo of this lovely couple from Kansas end up in Arizona? \u00c2\u00a0We still don’t know. \u00c2\u00a0We probably never will.<\/p>\n
After some funny looks from my friends, who surely thought I was nuts, I packed my photo away in my camera bag and continued on with my assignment. \u00c2\u00a0Once I returned home, I started my hunt for the Gatewood family.<\/p>\n
<\/a>John and Cecelia Gatewood circa 1925<\/p><\/div>\n
Ancestry.com<\/a> made my search easy. \u00c2\u00a0All I did was put in “John Gatewood” from “Hays, Kansas” with a wife of “Cecelia” and I quickly discovered their 1930 and 1940 US Census records<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0I knew right away that the family moved to California from Kansas, and that they had their first son in California in 1926. \u00c2\u00a0That dated this photo circa 1925, which seemed correct to me based on the style of the frame and their clothing.<\/p>\n From the 1940 Census, I knew the couple had two children named Howard and Ronald. \u00c2\u00a0With the new information that they had lived in California, I used FindaGrave.com<\/a> to locate the only John Gatewood buried in California<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Find a Grave confirmed that he had a child named Howard<\/a>, and his wife Cecelia<\/a> was buried in the same cemetery.<\/p>\n After less than 5 minutes of searching, I was confident that\u00c2\u00a0I had a photo of this couple:<\/p>\n John Howard Gatewood<\/strong> Cecilia Groff Gatewood<\/strong> Now, it was time to find somebody who cared. \u00c2\u00a0I used what I had learned about the couple to search in Ancestry’s member family trees. \u00c2\u00a0I easily found two members, Cynthia and Robin, who both had accurate details about this couple in their trees. \u00c2\u00a0I wrote to both of them and sat back to await a response.<\/p>\n Cynthia wrote me back the same day.\u00c2\u00a0She was Howard’s daughter, so John and Cecelia were\u00c2\u00a0her grandparents! \u00c2\u00a0I sent her a scan of the portrait and asked if she wanted it. \u00c2\u00a0She confirmed that this was in fact her grandparents, and she had never seen the photo before. \u00c2\u00a0I think she was a little hesitant at first. \u00c2\u00a0Who gives something for nothing nowadays? \u00c2\u00a0I assured her I didn’t want anything from her in return. \u00c2\u00a0After receiving her address, I mailed her the portrait. \u00c2\u00a0She was delighted! \u00c2\u00a0She said she plans to bring the portrait\u00c2\u00a0to Thanksgiving dinner this year and tell her\u00c2\u00a0family the whole story.<\/p>\n Robin responded a few days later. \u00c2\u00a0Cecelia was her great aunt! \u00c2\u00a0I was able to explain the whole story and put her in touch with Cynthia. \u00c2\u00a0I also sent her a high resolution scan of the portrait for her research. \u00c2\u00a0It was the first time she had ever seen a photo of Cecelia before.<\/p>\n Success! \u00c2\u00a0I am thrilled that I was able to reunite this beautiful portrait with its original family. \u00c2\u00a0I hope this story inspires you to do something special to help someone today. \u00c2\u00a0You never know what kind of impact your kindness may have on others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every once in a while, I wander through an antique shop or flea market. \u00c2\u00a0Sometimes, I sift through stacks of old photographs or documents to see if I might get some clues as to their history. \u00c2\u00a0Often I will find a name scribbled on the back, or a location or studio name on the front. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mystery-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12018"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12024,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12018\/revisions\/12024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jessicagreen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBirth: Mar. 19, 1897 Kansas, USA
\nDeath: Jan. 9, 1970 Bell, California, USA<\/p>\n
\nBirth: Apr. 19, 1899 Kansas, USA
\nDeath: Oct. 10, 1977 Los Angeles County, California, USA<\/p>\n