SEPIA SAT Post
( I didnt have time this week to work on the theme, but as usual I have more found photos to share with everyone!)
These were part of an album but were stripped out and sold separately, I could not afford to buy the actual photo album but jotted down notes inside of it to put with the photos that were sold individually and the first page was included with all the photos from the album (yes this makes me sad when sellers break things apart like this and sell them one by one, it makes my heart sink)
The photo album front page says “Presented to Rev. Z.J.W. and Mrs. Farmer by Friends, Pocahontas, Ill. Christmas 1892”
The first two photos were unmarked but look to me to be a young Zelah and Celia, if you compare with the later photos of them. They are enclosed in cardboard sleeves and are CDV size it appears.
From Find a Grave and Census records Ive combined the following info…
Father – Zelah J. Wesley Farmer – Born July 1860, Died 1936 in California
Mother – Celia Laura (Vaughn maiden name) Born March 11, 1858, Died may 18, 1927 Upland, Ca
Married April 13, 1882 in Belleville, St. Clair Co., Illinois.
I can find Celia as the daughter of William Vaughn who was a Fisherman in Illinois and there is a CDV photo labeled “WM Vaughn” in this batch. She also had a bother named Dave William Vaughn so this could be him also.
Found this mention of the Rev here
“In 1900, many families moved from Kentucky to New Baden and organized the first Protestant church in town. Services were held in the old school house known as Port Arthur, which at that time was located next to the cemetery on East Hanover Street. Rev. Zelah FARMER was the Pastor”
http://clintonilgenweb.net/churches/nbumc/history.php
These photos are labeled as such on the back
Photographer “C.H. Shields, Greenville, Ill” “Rev. Zelah Wesley Farmer, Celia, Children L-R Albin, Loy and Roy” the info about the family was jotted in the album but I copied this info and attached it with a post it to the back. I know some of the spellings may be a little off but I wrote them down as they were put in the album.
Second Photo, the faded one is labeled
Photographer – “De Moulin Ground Floor Studios, Greenville, Ill and Highland, Ill”
Info from notes on photos, various sites and census records, mainly the 1900 census in Illinois
Daughter – Celia Laura “Albin” – Born March 10, 1883 Illinois, Died Dec. 20, 1922, Upland, Ca
Sons Twins – Alonzo Loy Farmer Born Jan 29, 1885 Died June 28, 1899
and William Marshall Roy Farmer, Born Jan 29, 1885
Daughter – Lela Mabel Born Oct. 1891 Died Dec 6. 1930, Upland, Ca
Daughter – Aleda Maud Born January 1894, Died April 1987
Son – Paul Lowell Born Nov. 1898
In this photo below we have Albin, Lela and Aleda Farmer taken by “W.G. Neely, Mulberry Grove, Ill”
I have more photos in this batch, many of the children, and perhaps some other relatives.
Wish I could find more info on the Reverend, not too much out there on google that I can find, and I wonder if he had a church when he came to California, the city that it shows them in around their death is where my big sister lives and a really nice place. Their gravestones are there so perhaps I can make a trip and go visit their graves, its about an hour and a half from me.
Hope some relatives comes along at some point to help add some more commentary.
Hope you have enjoyed!
savethephotos 
You really did ‘save the photos’! I think you’re right about the first portraits being the young couple. Some of their ofsfpring died quite young, though one lived well into old age. I like the last one of the three girls.
Another set of twins! There seem to be a lot of them about today. It’s interesting to be able to trace the family.
Great photos! I really love the final one with the children on the twig chair.
Some fascinating shots. I especially like the first two placed with their backs towards each other instead of facing.
Tattered, thats just the way I laid them on the scanner and I was too lazy to redo it, I meant to have them facing one another 🙂
Those are interesting family photos, even though they aren’t your own family.
Fascinating photos and history again. I have my eye on an album at a local flea market but its price is too high for my pocket.
It’s indeed a shame the album was split up. I love comparing the first two photos with the next two when they are older and have kids!
It’s important keeping the notes with the photos – great job.
Fascinating. Thanks so much for putting the pieces together for us. I also hope the family finds this and come forward. Celia is so lovely in that first photo.
A nice set of time lapse photos. Roy and Loy’s dresses are particularly interesting. My grandfather and his brother (not twins) were dressed similarly at that age in 1910 Minnesota.
well, if some folks break things apart to make a buck, you bring it all together [virtually] again. interesting journey and i’m hoping that indeed, some relatives will find this and comment; plus that your research will yield more results!!
:)~
HUGZ
It is horrible to think that the pages were taken out of the album and then sold individually. How very sad to break up the family, so to speak, when someone took the time to put them all together! It would be like selling off the various blog posts we all make with no context as to what ties them together. Good job at saving what you could!
Studying their faces, it seems to me that the children take more after their mother: the broad faces, the eyebrows drifting slightly downward. Thank you for the charming family history!
Oh my gosh, Zelah Farmer was my great grandfather, his son Paul Lowell was my paternal grandfather. I was actually try to find information on my father’s maternal family and stumbled on this. Thank you so very much. I always thought my grandfather was one of the twins. I know very little about them.