Who Is That?

Anyone who has looked through a box of old family photos has played the "Who Is That?" game. It helps when you have a generation of people alive who knew the people. Or a document which might confirm a date on the photograph. We are fortunate that Mary F. Butman Sargent kept a guest book for her Searsport Cottage, and that a family member has transcribed that guest book. Here is the information given by the web-shy family member regarding who is in the picture above, taken at Mary's Searsport summer cottage. Here is the email I received concerning the picture:

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I was looking at the photo in your latest posting on SSOM, and trying to identify the people. You correctly identified Mary as the elderly lady in the middle. The boy on the far right is Herbert, and he appears to be about 15. In the background are the old cars, and they seem to date about 1920 or so.

I thought about Mary’s Guestbook, which I had earlier transcribed, and searched down through that about 1920 for mentions of dates where Mary and Herbert were present, along with (Mary's) son James, who I suspect is the man in the rear at the far left. I found several mentions, but the one that seemed most proper is the one below:

1921 July 4 at dinner. Wm. Ford. James

Sargent & Grace with Herbert & Margaret.

Lucy Sargent, Edith Parse, Leoessa Ford Curtis

Loessita Fredd & Mary Jerome.

From there we can guess at the identities of the other people. The ages of the people listed in the Guest Book in 1921 are as follows:

Loessita Curtis 5

Fred Curtis 6

Loessa Curtis (mother) 46

Lucy Sargent 43

From the above I would guess the man on the left in front of Jim might be William Ford. The boy on the near left would be Fred Curtis, the young girl beside him would be Loessita Curtis, and their mother Loessa (Ford) Curtis immediately behind them. To the right of Loessa would be Lucy Sargent.

I am not sure these are right, but they seem to fit. Mary Jerome (14) and Margaret Sargent (8) must be off playing elsewhere.

I am attaching the file on Mary’s Guest Book, which you probably already have. Some of the people I have copied this to might be interested, and maybe they will start keeping guestbooks.

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So the conbination of a date on a photograph and a guestbook kept by Mary give some clues as to who the people in the photograph might be. Perhaps there are some from the Ford, Jerome or Curtis family that might confirm the identities of these people.