Old Photographs Saved From Trash Can ~ #26 Hester Ann ROYALTY

This is a spin-off of my 52 Ancestors: #14 Albert Spencer LILLIE (1848-1913) ~ Old Photographs Saved From Trash Can blogpost in which I featured a few photos from a collection of old photographs my 4C1R Joe Rooney shared with me. I asked Joe about using the photos and he kindly wrote, “Please use them at your will.  I feel it is keeping it in the family and don’t need credit.  If anything, I appreciate your evaluations, identifications and detective work.  I’m hopeful you and yours enjoy them.  On a blog, in a book, above a cloud.”

#26 Hester Ann ROYALTY (1827-aft. April 1910)

Hester Ann ROYALTY was the daughter of John ROYALTY and Sarah LUNDERMON. She was also a sister of Samuel L. ROYALTY (1829-1902) and an aunt of Florence ROYALTY (1868-1946) who wrote on the back of these photographs.

Florence ROYALTY wrote on the back: Aunt Hester MARKS, Father’s sister.

Hester’s mother’s maiden name was discovered while I prepared this post. Hester was first married to Marion BLAIR before the 1850 census. They had six children, one of whom died young. On the 1880 census Marion BLAIR was listed as divorced and Hester was not found.

Florence ROYALTY wrote on the back: Aunt Hester BLAIR MARKS, Father’s sister.

From the information found on the back of Hester’s photographs I knew she must have married again following the divorce. I did some checking in April and found a marriage in Edgar County, Illinois, on 4 June 1882 for Hester A. BLAIR to Moses MARK. I kept coming up with blanks on this man named Moses MARK or MARKS and put it aside for later. Hester A. MARKS was found in the 1900 and 1910 census and was widowed.

I searched again while writing this post and was surprised to find a marriage for Moses MARK to Hester A. ROIETY for the same place and date in the same database searched previously, “Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1934.” The description of the database reads: Index of county marriages from the state of Illinois. Additional records will be added as they are completed. I don’t know if I missed the second entry due to the misspelling of the bride’s name or it having been added after my first search.

This second entry includes the names of the parents of the bride and groom. The bride’s mother’s maiden name was indexed: Limd… I then searched for John ROYALTY marrying a young woman named Sarah and found a marriage bond and minister’s return for the marriage of John ROYALTY to Sarah LUNDERMON in Spencer County, Kentucky, on 3 February 1824.

Hester Ann ROYALTY’s photographs were the key I needed to open the door to this brick wall. Sarah was widowed before 1850 and died after the 1870 census. Her maiden name was not known until the pieces of the puzzle fell together.

Hester’s second husband Rev. Moses MARKS was one of the original settlers of Monroe Township, Randolph County, Indiana. He was a preacher in the Methodist Church in Farmland, Randolph County, Indiana. His marriage to Hester was his third per the second marriage entry found. He died before the 1900 census. Find A Grave memorial #81207466 for Moses MARK buried in Blackburn Cemetery in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, shows “My husband” and died at age 74 years. The age of the groom at the time of his marriage to Hester and ages found in the 1850 through 1880 census indicate he was born about 1818. If the age at death is correct, Hester was widowed about 1892.

Moses MARKS (ca. 1818-ca. 1892)

Back of Moses MARKS’ photograph

Links to previous posts in this series may be found in Old Photographs

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Are you related to a person mentioned in this post? Send an email to
openingdoorsinbrickwalls @ pt.lu or message me on my Facebook page
Opening Doors in Brick Walls.

As of 14 October 2015 this collection of photographs is in my possession. Joe Rooney kindly gifted them to me to use on my blog and facilitate the search of possible close descendants interested in giving them a permanent home.

Joe ROONEY wrote on 15 February 2015: This collection of photographs was scanned at 300 dpi color by me. The original photos were sent by Sandra Lillie about ten years ago after she found them cleaning out a relative’s garage in Southern Illinois, finding no other takers (suckers). She believes they were a collection by L Vance Lillie. Many of the pictures seemed to be removed from frames or were in albums evidenced by fading characteristics and may have been from other’s collections. I scanned the reverse if there was laboratory advertising or writing. Some of the authors’ identification may be figured out of the handwriting matches. I did not scan the reverse of photos where there was only a three digit number that I believe to be sequence numbers on a roll of film. I didn’t spot any obvious helpful commonalities.

© 2015 Cathy Meder-Dempsey

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