The first story was the 152 mystery photos from my great grandma’s album that went to the library. The second story was Delbert. This class picture is (I think) my last mystery photo/the third story. It is so nice when things work out in threes.
Unfortunately, the photo was clearly cut to fit some crazy shaped frame long ago. Many of the names are no longer readable on the back. I can sort of make out the ones on the front enough to be fairly certain no relatives are listed. I also do not recognize faces. Did you notice “8th grade” and “1933” handwritten on the bottom?
First, I sent this electronic image to the genealogy department in my birth town library. The lady there can work magic. I heard back pretty quickly that she had traced several of the names to Dolton, Illinois. They suggested I write to the genealogy society there, I did.
Part of that makes sense. My maternal grandmother lived in Dolton as a child. 1933 is about right for her to be in 8th grade. Two problems: she does not appear to be in this picture. I think she only completed the 6th grade.
I heard back from Dolton genealogy society. This is what they said -
“This school still exists. It is in the elementary school district where I attended as a child. The school is located at 14151 Lincoln Avenue, Dolton, IL. It is in District #148 which covers parts of Riverdale and Dolton. The district office is located at 114 W. 144th Street, Riverdale, IL 60827. phone 708-841-2290. I looked for some of the names that were listed on the photo. Most of these students were born in 1920 in Dolton. I tried to locate a graduation list on Newspapers.com but could not find one. The Pointer was the local newspaper in Riverdale and Dolton at that time. I know that the Dolton Public Library has microfilm of the Pointer newspaper. I would check with them to see if they can locate a graduation list. Please send a donation to our Society for the time spent researching this question.”
I first mailed them a check for $5. I rarely have to pay, on this project I ended up paying twice.
She did not state the name of the school, I looked it up from the address. It is Lincoln Elementary. The “Lincoln” becomes ironic later in the story.
Then I called the Dolton library and the reference librarian told me their microfilm machine broke and they pitched all their microfilm. (I wrote back to the Dolton genealogy society and told them this shocking news).
Then I called the School District office and was told by the assistant that their records do not go back that far. I left a message for one of the head people, just incase.
Then stumped, I called my genealogy department at my local library. He gave me the number for the Illinois State library. I did not know there were state libraries. The Illinois State library could not help me, but gave me the number for the Abe Lincoln Presidential Library.
And the reference librarian at the presidential library confirmed they have newspaper archives from the Pointer newspaper in Dolton/Riverdale from 1933.
I had to register (online) with the Abe Lincoln library. There is a $5 fee for each article, and they are sent by email as a PDF.
I sent the reference librarian (doing the actual search) a copy of the front and bank of the photo as well as the information from my birth town library and the genealogy society in Dolton.
I heard this past week that she had success. I mailed my $5 check, online payment is usually not available for these searches. So I should be getting my PDF, maybe this coming week.
I have a plan. If the list confirms no one in my family is in this photo, I will do two things. I will first see if my local library genealogy department wants to scan/post the photo and class list. And then I will see if the Abe Lincoln Presidental library wants the actual photo.
