Since I just finished a few posts about Paul Boone and his family, I figured this would be a good follow-up to those.

Grandma had a photograph in her collection that I now have in mine. Actually, I have a couple of copies of it. Unfortunately, none of the copies are 100% clear. The picture is of a large group and the caption under the photo is “Paul Boone Family.” There was a key with the photo, but it wasn’t completely filled in. Then I found more copies that had more names. That left only one name left to fill in–#9 in the key.

The photo was probably taken at a Boone family reunion. The time would be before 1912, as the woman in the center of the picture is Sarah Alexander Erp, and she died November 4, 1912.

Paul Boone Family, ca 1911

1. Paul Boone [b.1832, ~79y]
2. Cornelius Arlonzo Boone [b.1857, ~54y]
3. Alva Lorenzo Boone [b.1861, ~50y]
4. Aldes Sanford Boone [b.1864, ~47y]
5. Dorothy Mabel Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1907, ~4y]
6. (Merritt) Henry Benson [husb of 17.Cynthia Estle Benson, b.1849, ~62y ]
7. Ella (Glaze) Boone [wife of 2.Cornelius, b.1856, ~55y]
8. Gertrude Boone [dau of 3.Alva, b.1896, ~15y]
9. ??
10. William Hobart Boone [son of 4.Aldes, b.1896, ~15y]
11. Eliza Candice (Kingslover) Boone [wife of 4.Aldes, b.1876, ~35y]
12. Eva Delores Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1909, ~2y]
13. Sarah Alzada (Erp) Boone [wife of 3.Alva, b.1869, ~42y]
14. Clora (Burris) Boone [wife of 30.Edgar Boone, b.1886, ~25y]
15. Bertha Boone Walls-France [dau of 2.Cornelius b.1877, ~34y]
16. Henry Walls [son of 16.Bertha Boone Walls, b.1908, ~3y]
17. Cynthia (Estle) Ballard-Benson [sis of Nancy Estle, b.1848, ~63y]
18. Grace Pauline Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1898, ~13y]
19. Mary Geneva Boone [dau of 3.Alva, b.1897, ~14y]
20. Hannah (Boone) Copeland [sis of 1.Paul Boone, b.1828, ~83y]
21. Ernest Walls [son of 15.Bertha Boone Walls, b.1904, ~7y]
22. Paul Marvin Boone [son of 4.Aldes, b.1903, ~8y]
23. Richard Edwin Boone [son of 3.Alva, b.1906, ~5y]
24. Sarah (Alexander) Erp [mother-in-law of 3.Alva, b.1829, ~82y ]
25. Audna Boone [dau of 30.Edgar Boone, b.1903, ~8y]
26. Blanche (Boone) Martin [dau of 2.Cornelius, b.1889, ~22y]
27. Mary Edith Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1902, ~9y]
28. Edna Gladys Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1905, ~6y]
29. Ruth Marie Boone [dau of 4.Aldes, b.1900, ~11y]
30. Edgar Boone [son of 2.Cornelius, b.1886, ~25y]
31. Bernie Martin [husb of 15.Blanche Boone, b.1888, ~23y]
32. Chester Emmett Boone [son of 3.Alva, b. 1892, ~19y]
33. Ursula Martin [dau of 26.Blanche Boone Martin, b.1908, ~3y]
34. Nora Martin [dau of 26. Blanche Boone Martin, b. 1910, ~1y]

Two people not listed in the key for the picture are Kenneth Sanford and Geneva Maxine Boone. They were children of Aldes and Eliza. Kenneth was born in Nov 1911 and Geneva in 1913.

I recently found a newspaper article about a Boone Reunion that probably solved the question of when the photo was taken. (I use Newspaperarchive.com for the Indiana Newspaper research.) The Friday, September 22, 1911 edition of the Sheridan News has an article on page 14, titled “Boone Reunion.” The article states:

“Last Sunday Alva Boone and family entertained at dinner the formers father and brothers together with their families. Those present were Paul Boone, C.R. Boone and wife, Edgar Boone and family, Bernie Martin and family and Mrs. S.A. Wall and children of Deming, Merritt Benson and wife of Westfield, Mrs. Nancy Estle of Terre Haute and Aldes Boone and family of near Terhune. If Mr. and Mrs. J. O’rear of Carmel could have attended the fifth generation of the family would have been present, their son being a great-great grandchild of Paul Boone.

The family consists of three sons, fifteen grandchildren, six great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.”

Most names from the article are familiar and match the key. The 1911 date fits with the presumed date of the picture.

I’m not sure who Mrs. Nancy Estle is. She is not listed in the key. However, person #17 is Cynthia (Estle) Ballard-Benson, who was the sister of Paul Boone’s first wife, Nancy Estle (d.1896) . These women had a brother, Jesse, who married Nancy Trimble Pritchard. So perhaps the Nancy Estle mentioned in the article is the Sister-in-law to Paul Boone’s first wife. Some records show her birth date as 1833, so she would have been ~79 years old in 1911. Due to the exposure of the picture, it is very difficult to see the mysterious woman #9, could this be Nancy Estle?

The J. O’Rear family mentioned in the article refers to John O’Rear and his wife Ethel Goodner. Ethel was the daughter of Bertha Boone (#16) and her first husband, William Goodner. Ethel would have been around 17 years old in 1911. Bernard Fletcher O’Rear was the first child of this family and he was born August 31, 1910. (Found his name through the Indiana Birth Certificates collection at Ancestry.com) At first, I thought Ethel would be the elusive woman #9, but that wouldn’t work since, according to the article, she wasn’t there.

So, I’m still not sure of the identity of woman #9 in this picture, but I’m glad we have most of the names & relationships figured out. I wish we could remember to put a key with all group pictures at the time they are taken, so later generations wouldn’t have to scrounge through records to find the connections.

© MJM 2017