Lincoln Family Photos

We have recently become interested in the extended family of John Beagle Lincoln and his wife Ellen Ann Douglas. In particular, a photo album handed down through John's children has some identification difficulties.

The album was almost certainly put together by Ellen Ann Douglas, and she only made a few notations on some of the photos and those mostly not having to do with people's names or the date of the photo. Notations like "a sunny day" or "playmates." Also, she uses relation terms with some abandon, most probably the relation is with her children - Aunt Jean or Aunt Kis could be sisters, in-laws, aunts, grandparents or whatever. So, the difficulty is dating the photos and identifying the people in them. I am particularly interested in finding the descendants of John Beagle's brothers and sister who may have similar photos which are better annotated.

I have yet to compile a complete genealogy of John and Ellen's relatives, which makes the identification of the few named individuals difficult. In addition to John's mother's side (Sanders - Hill), we have Ellen's side of the family (Douglas - Raven) and all of John's brothers and sister and their spouses.

The album starts about 1900 and is not in chronological order, ending about 1916. There are several trips interspersed with photos of the children growing up. The first section has to do with a trip to Alaska about 1900. In the middle of these photos is a picture labeled "John B. Lincoln birthplace - in Illinois near Hillsboro." This will become significant as the photos are analyzed.

Following the Alaska photos is a photo captioned, "Family Reunion in Woodland Park, 1904", followed several pages later by two photos of "A reunion at Aunt Kis's home near Hillsboro."

After those, there is a trip to California, photos being mostly of San Francisco and Los Angeles, probably to visit J.B.'s brother Charles. One of the photos is labeled, "Home of C. H. Lincoln in Los Angeles. Several pages are of Charles and his children. Then the photos skip back to Alaska in 1903.

Following are the photos of interest. Some are known individuals for reference. Any help with the others will be appreciated.


Photo #1

Photo of John Beagle Lincoln and his wife Ellen Ann Douglas, dated November, 1901


Photo #2

Photo of John Beagle Lincoln's family, with John, Ellen and son Herl in back, and sons Carl and John Raymond in front. There were 13 years between the birth of Herl in 1896 and the next child John Raymond born in 1909. Carl was born in 1912.

Herl served in WWI and died in 1918 at age 22 of influenza.


Photo #3, #4

These photos are put in first, as it will help to identify the person of George W. Lincoln, Jr. The photo at left is the only photo of this gentleman in the album which has any identification, labeled "Grandpa Lincoln." The photo at right is of George Washington Lincoln, Jr. from the genealogy work of William Simpson Lincoln. Both pictures appear to be of the same person.

The grandchildren in the photo have not been identified. George had nine grandsons.


Photo #5

This photo adds some mystery to the album. It is obviously the same gentleman as in the previous picture. However, the label "Brother and Sister" is troublesome because George W. Jr.'s only sister died in 1870 at age 26. The lady in the photo could be a sister-in-law, but we have no information that George's only brother Charles Henry every married.

Also, there is no indication in family records that George Jr. ever returned to Illinois after 1890, so this photo was almost certainly taken in Seattle or Vancouver B.C.

One woman we can't eliminate is George's second wife, Martha Floch, whom George was married to from about 1887 until sometime after 1894.


Photo #6

Even more of a mystery. The same gentleman and lady as in the previous picture at a younger age (George doesn't have grey hair yet), but with the addition of another pair. The other lady looks like a relative of the first, and there is some resemblance of the second man to the person we presume is George Jr. One thought is that the second gentleman could be George's brother Charles Henry.

From William Simpson Lincoln's genealogy of the Lincoln family, "When he (Charles Henry) was a child, he was kicked by a mule which caused him to become a cripple through life. He taught one term of school but followed farming until 1895 when he left Illinois and went to Seattle, Washington, to make his home with his brother George. He died January 12, 1908....." This would place George and Charles together when this photo was taken, and would account for the smaller man's weak looking condition.

We don't know who "Aunt Jean" is or whether she is in the photo.


Photo #7

More interesting females. The man in uniform is probably Herl. If so, the photo would have been taken in 1915, but this soldier is heavier than the Herl in the preceeding photo. The military can do that to you. We don't know if "Grandma" is in the photo, but one of the women could be George's third wife Emma who he was married to from about 1907 until his death in 1927. She was about fifteen years younger than George.


Photo #8

Photo labeled "Family reunion in Woodland Park, 1904". There is a large Woodland Park in Seattle, and a smaller one in Vanvouver, B.C. (Douglas home), but none in the vicinity of Montgomery County, Illinois. So, this is probably the Lincoln - Douglas family in either Seattle or Vancouver. The gentleman in the dark suit at middle left is George Jr., and the man in the back row second from left appears to be the same man possibly identified as George's brother Charles in a previous photo. The lady second row from back and fourth from left is John Beagle's wife Ellen.


Photo #9

Photo labeled "Family reunion at Aunt Kis's home near Hillsboro." I originally thought the reunion photo in Hillsboro would be Hillsboro near San Jose, CA, but after going through the album several times, I noticed a photo of an old house labeled, "John B. Lincoln birthplace - in Illinois near Hillsboro." So, the photo must have been in Illinois.

The couple at front right in both of the Aunt Kis photos is John Beagle and his wife. Both photos were taken at about the same date since Ellen has the same dress on. In one photo she is holding a baby, so that has to be either Herl (1896) or John Raymond (1909).

I checked the 1900 census and there is only one Lincoln in Montgomery County, IL, and that is Ernest F. Lincoln, listed as stepson to Henry Follis and wife Priscilla. That would be John Beagle's mother and brother. So the reunion must be the Sanders, Hill and maybe Follis families with a few Lincolns.

Photo #10

Photo labeled "Family reunion at Aunt Kis's