1915 Princeville High School Sophomores

The Buck/Lauber family was in this week and shared some of their family photos with us.  Like many of you, they have some old family photos and newspaper clippings dating back to the 1800s.  The museum does take donations of local family photos and clippings which prove invaluable to our volunteers, members and visitors who do genealogy research.  If you aren't quite ready to let go of your family photos, please consider allowing us to make digital scans of the photos.  When we are given a collection of newspaper clippings (wedding announcements, obituaries and other articles) we put them together in a scrapbook, mark it with the family's name and place it in the reference area for all who are interested to view. 

One of the items the family allowed us to scan was a group photo of the Princeville High School Sophomores in 1915.  These students graduated in 1917.  This photo is from Hazel Buck's scrapbook.  She was a scrapbooker before scrapbooking was popular! Hazel was a school teacher at Monica Grade School until she became ill and had to quit teaching.  She passed away in 1928 at the young age of 28.

Using old yearbooks and the names written in the scrapbook, I think I have figured out who everyone is in the photo.  The alumni lists in the old yearbooks also helped me figure out the girls' married names. 

Back row (left to right):  Harriet Hofer Hinnen, May Cheesman, Carl Cheesman (Red), Fred Jackson, Clarence Graham, Free Slane, Hazel Tucker Nelson.

Middle row (left to right): Bernice Taylor Manker, Maude Shane Sloan, Mabel DeBord Gelling, Bettie Gourley, Ellen Edwards.

Front row (left to right): Florence Oertley Barnes, Pearl Barrett Flake, Helen Tracy Hansen, Hazel Buck, Helen Gaster Weidner

If you are decluttering or just not sure what to do with all the family photos and papers, please consider donating them to the museum.

1964 Princeville High School FFA Members

Once again, I find myself working with the large donation of old FFA slides donated by Princeville High School.    This time, I have a number of slides of individual FFA members.  Stamped on the back of the slides is October 1964, so I assume these were taken during the 1964-1965 school year.  Last month, on this blog, we posted photos of the FFA parents.  I think the individual member snapshots and the photos of the parents were taken the same year.  Click here to view the photos of the FFA parents.

Below are all the FFA member individual photos with all of them in their official tie and jacket. To identify these boys, I used the name that was written on the slide, not on their FFA jacket.  Some of these boys are borrowing a jacket to get their picture taken. These photos are all boys because girls were not allowed to be FFA members until the 1970s.  Enjoy your trip down memory lane.

George Baer

David Begner

Steve Begner

James (Jim) Boylan

Tom Boylan

David Brittingham

Murray Campbell

Bill Clark

Bill Damitz

Richard (Dick) Donath

Don Donsbach

 Gene Donsbach

 Jerry Donsbach

 Steve Elsasser

 Steve Fuller

 Terry Galetti

 Jim Gehrig

Ken (Kenny) Gehrig

David (Dave) Gibbs

 Ray Gilles

Rod Grunloh

Tom Haney

Stanley Hurt

 Steve Lauber

Fred Menold

Mike Menold

Robert (Bob) Myers

Larry Parkhill

 Ronald (Ron) Peterson

Howard Rumbold

 Tim Selburg

 Jerry Sloan

Milton Smith

Leslie Stone

 Carl Theobald

James White

 Paul Whittaker

Ronald Wisner

 

Maude McNay's Birthday Party in Duncan, Illinois

Written on the back of this photo is "Maude Mc Nay's birthday party, Duncan, Illinois, 1905 or 1906."  The names of the children in the photo are also written on the back.  But, before I list out those in the photo, you need to notice the little girl on the porch.  "Photobombing" was alive and well in the early 1900s.  I do love all the scroll woodwork on the porch and the wooden swing in the frame behind the children.  Does anyone recognize this house?  Is this house still with us or has it fallen in, been torn down?  Do any of you remember the McNay family?

The names written on the back appear to have the a few of the girls' married name as well as maiden name, so I am assuming the names were written on the back many years after this photo was taken.  From the writing on the back:

The top row, left to right is:  Adeline De Sent, Ollie Armentrout, Evelyn Gard Calef, Retta Clarence, Nellie Mc Nay, Bennie Palmer, Lucille De Sent, Lois Graves Lutille, Lucy De Sent McMillen, Delora Taylor, Myrtle Fox Large, Charles Dollison, Orion Howell.

The front row, right to left (please note that there is one more name listed than there are children in this row): Walter C. Graves, Milo Graves, Gussie Biggs, Mildred Clarence, Stella Graves Hohenberry, Maude Mc Nay, Earle Gingrich, Mable Armentrout, Hazel Syders.

This photo is available for viewing at the museum.  If you know any details about the Mc Nays or any of the children in the photo, please share with us by either commenting on this post or emailing phmarchives@frontier.com.  The museum is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or by appointment.

Princeville Community High School Class of 1939

Some of my favorite days volunteering at the museum are the days when we received donations of photos and newspaper clippings.  Photos and newspaper clippings give us a personal glimpse into past history and really help us with genealogy research.  We recently received this composite photo of the Princeville Community High School Senior Class of 1939.  This photo has the names of all the members of the class written under each individual photo.  To help identify the ladies, I used the 1965 Maroon yearbook to research their married name.  As of 1965, the class of 1939 had only lost one classmate, Joseph Friedman, who passed away in 1945.

Top Row: Bettye Ryan Anderson, Franklin Smith, Virginia Hammer Cable, Franklin Staples, Minnie Reich Emken, Frances Neill Paddock, Milton Smith, Jr., Helen Schaad Shears, Donald Sears.

Second row from top: Elizabeth Compton Rusinger, Ronald Slane, Sue Harvey LaFollette, Lloyd Miller, Arlys Streitmatter Conrad, Glen Grimm, Eileen McDonnell Gubbins, Ruth Donath Stickling.

Third row from top: Elizabeth Shearer Ramirez, Orin Scanlon, Raymond Ralph, John Wolfe, W..R. Cordis (superintendent), Laverne Streitmatter, Dewey Smith, Robert Pritchard, Virginia Potter Pierson.

Fourth row from top: Caryl Carman Cowan, Elaine Sibley Mannick, Beatrice Neel, Marie Van Deusen, Phyllis Biederbeck Hammerle, Betty Purcell Murphy.

Fifth row from top: Leo Brown, Lester Woodsworth, Lois Garrett Isome, Harriet Timmons Drake, Charles Timmons, Mary King Payne, Glen Streitmatter, Joseph Friedman.

Bottom row:  Ethel Cheesman Oertley, John Callery, Marian Burns Koch, Darlene Toft Gilles, Arlene Toft Gilles, Edward Callery, Helen Huggins Jackson, James Harmon.

Do you have any old photos, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings or items you would like to donate to the museum?  We take donations Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to 2 pm or by appointment.  If you can, please call us (385-1916) and let us know you have items to donate so we can be ready to accept your donation.

Princeville High School FFA Parents of 1965

If you follow us on Facebook, you have seen numerous older Future Farmers of America photos.  This blog post was in the works when we've reached out via our Facebook page for help identifying parents of 1965 FFA members at Princeville High School.  A big thank you to all the Facebook friends and museum friends who helped with this.

Behind every FFA member are supportive families, and, especially parents.  The national FFA website devotes a whole page to FFA parents:  "As a parent, you’re the biggest influence in your teenagers’ lives.  FFA's purpose is to reinforce all the values you’re already teaching them at home. We ask all FFA members to set goals, work hard, and serve others. We also encourage them to discover their unique talents and use them to build a successful and satisfying career."

It has been fun researching these FFA parents.  We don't know who took the photos of each set of parents.  Most are taken inside their homes offering us a slice of what the 1960s home and fashions looked like.  If you have any corrections to these names, please either comment below or email me at phmarchives@frontier.com.

Please scroll down and view the supportive FFA parents of 1965:

Alf and Betty (Klepfer) Donsbach

Ed and Helen (Buck) Lauber

Edwin and Dorothy (Heinz) Gilles

Gary and Malinda (Womack) Sager

Glen and Corrine (Pepper) Stone

Leland and Marcia (Riggen) Whittaker

Leo and Ruby (Bornsheuer) Donath

Milt and Dorcas (Gelling) Smith

Roy and Pearl (Grimm) Rumbold

Berryman and Helen (Harrison) Hurt

Carl and Estelle (Hoene) Donsbach

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Myers

Don and Martha (Graves) Gibbs

Don and Virginia (Camp) Sloan


George and Ruth (Burton) Begner

Gerald and Lillian Grunloh

Herman and Lois (Kimble) Fuchs

Mr. and Mrs. James Miles

Joe and Mary Ellen (Purcell) Boylan


John and Lillian (Knobloch) Elsasser

Leonard and Marie (Leuthold) Menold

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Brittingham

Melvin and Lorraine (Anderson) Peterson

Mr. and Mrs. Milford Haney

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Selberg

Otto and Eleanor (Grusy) Baer

Robert E. and Vera (Carver) Campbell

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gelling

Ted and Delores (Millard) White


Wallace and Edna Fuller

Wilbern and Jessie Pauline (McMahan) Parkhill

 Mr. and Mrs. Worth Clark