UPDATE - this group of photos has found a home with the descendants of Henry and Nellie Opperman. They are going home! On March 10, 2007, a box of old photos at an Antique Show in Georgetown KY yielded 5 good possibilities - meaning they were labeled with enough identification that I felt confident I could place them back into homes. Little did I realize at the time, but these five photos were in the same box for a reason - they were all related.
Upon arriving home, I set to work researching the photos and discovered something I had not noticed while at the show - three of the photos contain images of the same young man - HENRY OPPERMAN.
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| On back "Henry Opperman" |
Another is a group photo. Henry Opperman can be seen in the middle of the back row. The back of the photo says simply "About 1903".
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| On back "About 1903" |
The third photo is of a smaller group of people. Four young students and an older man; the older man has a bushy mustache and may be a professor, the young people are all holding rolled certificates.
The back contains a wealth of information. It says: "Front - M.G. Barnhart, Ethel Shearer. Back - George Kingdom. Henry Opperman, Wm Donahue. Cullom ILL High School, Class of 1903". The matte frame is stamped "Stevens - Gratsworth, Ill."
Photo number four is labeled "Nellie Walton, about 1907" and is one of the most beautiful portraits of this era that I've ever seen.
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| "Nellie Walton, about 1907" |
There were a lot of photos in this particular booth at the Antique Show, and had my budget for this project been larger, I would not have limited myself to just 5 photos. Therefore, it is a strange coincidence that I should have picked up Nellie Walton along with Henry Opperman, as further research online indicated that Henry Opperman married Nellie Walton.
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| June Ferguson Barger |
The fifth photos from this outing is of JUNE FERGUSON BARGER, circa 1899.
Further research online shows that Henry Opperman and Nellie Walton produced a daughter named Iolla, who married a man named Golden Barger. June is then related by marriage in some way to Henry and Nellie. An in-law, possibly the mother or aunt of the Barger boy that married Henry's daughter.
UPDATE - I was able to locate the obituary on June Barger, and this provides excellent family data on her.
This obit is from the Mattoon Illinois Journal Gazette, Dec 19, 1965.
