A FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHIC PUZZLE

(Click on image to enlarge) Interior of the store. The code Fecht store is just for blog records and does not identify the store's ownership.

(Click on image to enlarge) Photos courtesy of Dr. Dan Sullivan 2009

(Click on image to enlarge)

Composing the history of our family is a work in progress. New challenges appear, dear folks leave us, and new discoveries are made. Often a box of pictures or artifacts bring about as many new puzzles as they solve. Our kinsman Dr. Dan Sullivan and I are working such a riddle right now. Maybe you can help?
Last year Dan acquired many wonderful photographs from members of our Swartwood family in Fulton, Missouri. The Swartwoods are descendants of Margaret Fecht (Aunt Mag) and her first husband William Bost. Among the images are two photographs (one of which has been cropped and enlarged by Photoshop). Dan and I are at a loss about the identities of the people in the pictures. Where was this General Store?

DAN SULLIVAN SHOWS OFF HIS WINTERIZED CAR.

Photo courtesy of Dan Sullivan - January 2009

"1949 Studebaker pickup on 1990 Chevy chassis with four-wheel drive, automatic transmission, A/C, and other bells and whistles.
Girl at left is my daughter Julia. I'm the old guy, and the cute lady is Sarah, my wife. The children are Sarah's grandchildren from Shawnee, Kansas. I have a fourth great-grandson on the way. As you can see, it's spring in Omaha."

Julia Lynn, the daughter of Daniel Sullivan, is the great, great grand daughter of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht.

Dr. DAN SULLIVAN AND GERALD FECHT

Cousins Dr. Daniel Sullivan and Gerald Fecht, taken at the Tarzana, California home of Janne and Jerry Fecht in 1995. Both men have Ph.D.s and had careers as college teachers. Dan is a professor of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Jerry is retired as a teacher of humanities, at Moorpark Community College in Ventura County, California

SUPPORTING THE "IRISH CAUSE"

Our kinsman Dr. Dan Sullivan sent this jpg image of an old Irish bond. Contributions supporting the Irish Republic in the late 1800s were considered support of an illegal revolution against the British Empire. And since money raised to support the Independence of Erin was used for the purchase of weapons, such contributions were considered terrorist acts.
The Irish in America were a major support of the Irish Revolution. One would not have kept a bond like this in Canada or Australia, where it would have been evidence of conspiracy to overthrow the English crown.
When I was a little boy, before the era of Indian casinos and State lotteries, Irish Sweepstakes tickets were regularly sold in the Spring to "support Irish hospitals". Everyone knew that the money was going to the Sinn Finn for the Irish Resistance. Catholic nuns, who went home to Eire for vacations or family visits regularly smuggled Irish Sweepstakes tickets into the USA. Nuns were perfect for the job since no self-respecting Irish-American cop would search or arrest (pinch) a "sister."
My dad, Bill Fecht, loved to sing the sweet revolutionary song, "The Wear'in o the Green". It commemorates the Rising of the Moon Rebellion on Easter in Dublin.
Can you imagine what ten dollars was worth in the late 1800s. Lot of passion for the old country here.

FAMILY OF DAN AND FLORENCE SULLIVAN

One nice thing about a photoshop program is the ability to enlarge pictures. This photo of the Iowa Sullivans is just a couple of inches. Here, blown up, we can get a closer image of some of Dan and Florence Sullivan's family when their son Bernard was home on leave.
left to right:
Dan and Florence Sullivan, and four of their children: Helen Doris, Patricia and Bernard. The little boy, then called Maurice, is Dan Sullivan.
The Sullivan kids are the great grandchildren of Margaret (Bost) and Jacob Fecht.

MORE FAMILY SONGS FROM DR. DAN SULLIVAN

Did your Dad or Mom ever sing a song called "San Antonio"?

Just as the sun was peeking oer the hill,
After the break of day.
There rode a cowboy and his old pal Bill,
Cowboy was feeling gray.

Bill said, "Come down, pal, down into town, pal,
Big time for me and you,
Don't mind your old gal, you know that's cold, pal,
If what you say is true."

"Where is she now?" he cried,
And this is what Bill replied.
"San Antony, Antonio, She hopped upon a pony
And she ran away with Tony.
But if you see her, just let me know,
And I'll meet you in San Antonio."

IOWA FAMILY

The date of this family photograph is unknown. A clue might come from the age of the youngest child Daniel (Maurice) Sullivan which would probably mean that it was taken in the 1940s.
Left to right:
(top) Helen Doris Sullivan
(middle) Patricia Sullivan, Julia Fecht Hogan, Daniel (Maurice) Sullivan, Hugh Hogan
(front) Elizabeth (called Betty)

Note the screen door construction and the horse shoe tacked on the house.