The fourth page of Sweetie’s scrapbook contains a collection of photographs of William H. Yearnd, Jr., 1917-1992. They seem to span his life up to the date Sweetie died.

This one is of an infant:

One shows a little boy on the beach, and one the same boy with his bike:

The next two are special to me, they show Uncle Bill with my Dad, James A. Yearnd, 1927-1979:

There is one of Uncle Bill with his sister, Aunt Marion:

The rest of the photos Sweetie chose for this page show her son in his army uniform. This one looked the best after I scanned them all:

Category: Genealogy

Tags: Winnie A. Yearnd scrapbook, James A. Yearnd, Sr., William H. Yearnd, Jr.

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I looked over this picture and then scanned my genealogy database. I realized that little Marion is wearing roller skates. That hardly seems right for a visit to the Yearnd cousins I was thinking of. Then I remembered Austin William Kaiser 1896-1920, son of William Kaiser and Delia Conway. William Kaiser was Winnie’s father, and Deila, one of two stepmothers. Winnie’s mother, Jane (Jennie) Johnston, died in January 1888, when Winnie was between 2 and 3. William’s subsequent marriage to Delia Conway, 1862-1930, produced two children, Austin, and his older sister, Aunt Bertha. Bertha Kaiser, 1893-1981, is one of the few Kaisers I remember well. I didn’t know the sad story about her brother until much later. He died young, of diabetes, according to his obituary. I do remember she said he was a very good horseman. But wait, I know there were some photos with horses in them. I know the Kaiser’s kept a boarding house, I wonder if they also had horses and chickens? So many questions, so few answers…

Austin was born in 1896, and Marion in 1912. Using my handy-dandy date calculater, he was 15 years, 9 months and 13 days older than Marion. Marion was always small for her age, it’s obvious in all the photos, but roller skating is a skill for after you can walk pretty well and have good balance. If she were 5, Austin would be 20. Could that young man be 20? Maybe. Perhaps the young man in that photo was “Uncle Austin” to little Marion.

Marion A. Yearnd, 1912-1969, was the second of my grandmother’s 5 children.

Aunt Marion was a tiny lady, size 2 or something. She lived in Chicago, and worked in various governmental offices. She never married, and visited our house on Thanksgiving often when I was small. She may have come more often, but I was small. I suppose she started visiting us when Grandma died in 1957, and she could no longer stay there. I remember meeting her plane in Reed City, then Grand Rapids. It was very exciting for a small town girl, and Aunt Marion seem quite sophisticated in her big-city style and attitude.

Aunt Jane said Marion was easy to pick out, with her little cheeks. In fact, we pick out a lot of my family by those cheeks. Here is a school picture from that page, not sure what year. The school was in Cadillac, Michigan. They had a school for each ward, but I haven’t researched the school the children would have attended.

Here is Marion on the porch of Grandmother’s house, 703 East Division, Cadillac, Michigan. This was the second home she and Grandpa lived in. It is also the house my family moved to after Grandma died in 1957. I have many memories of visiting Grandma in that house. She called me “Sweetie” and I called her “Sweetie”. I don’t know if Grandma was a taboo word for some reason, but I never referred to her as Grandma (until now.)

There are a some people I can’t identify in some of these photographs. I believe them to be Yearnd cousins, Aunt Jane mentioned them often. In any event, they often appear near a house I also can’t identify. Here is the first on in that catagory. I know this is Aunt Marion, and I know it’s “the other house” that appears often in the early family pictures.

One more from that page, one of Aunt Marion and Dad. James Austin Yearnd, 1927-1979, was a bit younger than the other four children. Well, 10 years younger than his closest sibling, and 15 or so years younger than Aunt Marion.

You can see how short Marion was, since Dad looks to be a young teen in this one. This photo, and the one of Aunt Marion in the boat were probably taken at the family cottage on Lake Mitchell.

The first page of Grandma’s scrapbook is dedicated to her oldest child, Margaret Jane Yearnd. There are 10 photos of Aunt Jane, her husband, Leo Devereaux, and a person who may be her husband’s sister, Catherine. Aunt Jane called her, “sister Kate”. This page seems to contain photos related to a home Leo and Jane owned in Detroit.

The house is in the 7 mile and Southfield area, on Ashton Road. Papa and I drove past it a few years ago, and it’s still there, and looks much the same. The main difference is, when the Devereauxs purchased the home, there was open area in the back. Now, this section of Detroit is packed with houses. There was a lot of new building and expansion in Detroit right after WWII when they probably bought this house.

Aunt Jane is the lady kneeling, holding the dog.

Aunt Jane on the porch.

Uncle Leo on the porch.