My husband and I visited an antique shop recently in Christiansburg, VA. There amongst the assorted furniture and other things from the past was a stack of old vintage photographs. My husband picked up the stack and was leafing through them, when one particular picture captured his attention. He found me in the store, and asked if I had seen the picture of Maude. I replied that I hadn't, and asked for him to show me. He took me to the place where the picture was, and showed me the vintage photo of Maude and her siblings surrounding their mother. There was an arrow pointing to a little girl who looked about the age of eight. On the reverse of the photo was handwritten, Maude Elizabeth Castle Salt. The front of the photo listed the name of the photography studio in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. There was something about Maude that, like my husband, captured my attention. I could not leave Maude to languish in the store, but had to take her home with me. We paid the few dollars for the photo, and left. Upon arriving at home, I immediately went to my computer to find out more about Maude. Searching Ancestry.com, and using the few clues I had from the picture, I learned that she was born about 1882 in Ohio. Her father was Joseph Castle, and her mother, whom I assume is the woman in the photo, was Eleanor Ann Quay. Maude's mother died in 1891. Her father remarried a few years later to a woman by the name of Ada. Maude married Stuart Albert Salt on 3 November 1910 in Ontario, Canada. Later searching revealed that she was the mother of at least four children, the first two were twin girls born in 1911.
I was able to locate a descendant who tied in to Maude's family tree. I contacted him via Ancestry.com's messaging system. I really didn't expect to hear from him anytime soon, since it had been about three months since he had last logged in to Ancestry. I received a reply from him by the very next morning! He told me that Maude was his great aunt. After some exchanging of emails and information, I was able to send the vintage photo back to him. Maude is now safely back in the care of her family. How she managed to get so far from home remains a mystery. The five older girls in the picture also remain a mystery. The woman in the photo, I feel sure though, is Maude's mother Eleanor. The younger three children in the foreground I assume are her siblings. Florence, Stella and William. I made those assumptions from information found on the 1901 census record.
I don't quite know what it is about these vintage photos that speak to my heart. But I know that they do. Behind the eyes of the people in these photos, is a story waiting to be told; and a family waiting to be found. And so begins my quest....to reunite these forgotten ancestors with their families.
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