There were only three color photographs in this collection. Two of them were from the 1970s and shared in Old Photographs Saved From Trash Can ~ #73 Ruth Joanna LILLIE, Part 2.
The last of the three is of an unidentified couple in Brookport, Massac County, Illinois. The location was recognized by my cousin Joe Rooney when he labeled it years ago.
The man’s plaid jacket and turtleneck, the woman’s blouse with long pointed collar and button up vest, and their glasses – these point to the 1970s. In the background at the left, behind the man, is a light colored car with a black top. Very little can be seen of it but I believe it’s the same car as in the post mentioned above. [See the photo of Ruth Lillie in front of her car at her home in Brookport, Massac County, Illinois.]
Cousin Joe shared photos from his private collection of family photos with me when he saw my interest in the old photographs. Joe’s mother Ruby was Ruth’s sister. In the private collection I found a group photo of six. In the group were a man and woman I believe are the couple in the first photo. (see cutout above)
Look at the way the man holds the woman in both photos. How the woman’s shoulder fits in under the man’s arm. Compare the man’s nose and smile. He is wearing glasses in one and has glasses in breast pocket in the other. I think, at least, the man is the same in both pictures.
Who were they? This is the group photo taken in 1966.
It was labeled on the back with the following names.
Who were all these LILLIEs? Raymond b. 1904, Ruby b. 1909, and Ruth b. 1907 were siblings and children of Florence ROYALTY (1868-1946) and Isaac Spencer “Ike” LILLIE (1872-1932)
Roxie b. 1905 and Charlie b. 1908 were also siblings and the same age as Raymond, Ruby, and Ruth. Ike’s father Albert Spencer LILLIE (1848-1913) remarried after the death of his wife Pernecia Elizabeth GLASS (1852-1899) and had three children with his second wife Geneva Elyse MASON.
I was confident with the man in the top photograph being Charlie LILLIE because he, along with his sisters, were mentioned (without names) in the 1966 obituary of Ike’s brother John Calvin “Jack” LILLIE (1883-1966). Jack was the last living child of Albert and Pernecia.
My 52 Ancestors: #14 Albert Spencer LILLIE (1848-1913) ~ Old Photographs Saved From Trash Can was the very first in what became this series. I mentioned Albert’s marriage to Geneva MASON but did not include the fact that she gave him three more children making him the father of fourteen. Since there were no known photos of his children from his second marriage in this collection, I did not bother to research them in-depth. Their children were Emma Roxie, Charlie, and Alberta Editha.
Was his son Charlie married? Could this be his wife? No name was given for her on the back of the group photo so I had to go back to the beginning. Check census records from birth until 1940. Search for possible marriage records. Check for a death record.
I found a death record for Charles Newton LILLIE who died in 1984 in North Carolina on Ancestry.com in the North Carolina, Death Indexes, 1908-2004 collection. The abstracted information (there was no image) was not enough to confirm it was the same man. FamilySearch had more abstracted information in their collection North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994.
County and state of birth and the parents names (although off a bit) are a match. Most important, the name of his wife was included.
I finally found an obituary online for his widow. Fannie May Sides LILLIE died on 28 July 2014 at CaroMont Regional Medical Center, Gastonia. I have not found a marriage record and her husband was not mentioned in the obituary. However, per the U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, in the early 1990s she lived at the address found on Charles’ NC death record.
I would have liked to include the photo from her online obituary for comparison in this post but without permission I ask you to click on the link to see it. Does she look like either or both of the women in the photos above?
Charles Newton LILLIE (1908-1984) and Fannie May SIDES (1928-2014) are the names I would like to add to the top photo from the 1970s. Would you agree with me?
More about this collection, how it came to be in my possession,
and links to previous posts in the series can be found here.
© 2017, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.
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Opening Doors in Brick Walls 
Great sleuthing, Cathy! I agree that they are the same couple!
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Thank you, Luanne. Doing a happy dance and patting myself on the shoulder. 🙂
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I absolutely agree that they are the same couple Cathy. Good work!
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Thank you, Diane.
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I am not sure it’s the same woman. The older woman in the obit seems to have a smaller nose and more delicate features. But everything else points to the couple being Charles and Fanny. I’m not sure. The man in the two photos is definitely the same.
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I’m 100% on Charlie but you and Vera (pen4hire) both pointed out the smaller nose on the woman in the obituary photo. Although I’m a bit wary of recent photos as people tend to retouch, both of you may be correct. Without a marriage record I cannot be sure the women in the photos on the blog are the same as the woman he was married to when he died. Thank you, Amy.
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Did you try picretriev? I am curious as to what it says. I’ve always heard that the only two features that don’t stop growing are the ears and nose. No idea whether that is true!
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No I didn’t try the tool. I’d also heard a man’s ears and nose keep growing but not a woman’s. Haven’t looked it up to check if it is true. Thank you, Amy. If I have a moment, I’ll check Pictriev.
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Let us know! (I sometimes think it’s an old wives’ tale; I think people’s faces start to shrivel and the nose and ears become more prominent.)
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Amazing work! I agree; it has to be the same couple!
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Thank you, Ann Marie.
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