Sometimes, There's no Way

As adorable as the baby picture was that I posted yesterday, cuteness will not always find its way back home. As far as I can tell from the family trees online which include baby Lorraine Lewis, there aren't really any close descendants researching their Lewis family history—at least not via Ancestry.com.

While I was pondering that difficulty, another thought occurred to me: it might be possible that this photo from nearly one hundred years ago might be of a baby who is still with us (somewhere, at least). Though I was able to find marriage information for her future self—twice, in fact—and even death information for the spouses as well as her one sister, I'm coming up empty handed when I try to locate any information on this baby, even one hundred years later. Perhaps...

Once we enter the realm of the living, genealogy demands that our lips remain sealed. So, I zip my lips and set the tiny portrait of an adorable—yet somehow seemingly feisty—baby back on my shelf, in the category of "mysteries that may never be solved." Though I say I'll mail the photos I find to any family member who is a direct descendant, in a case like this, I'd be happy to send an abandoned family photo home to anyone in the family. I just hate to see these family treasures go unclaimed.

While I prepared to mail another photo home to family—the portrait of the Rosby family of Fertile, Minnesota—I went through the stack of photos yet to return home. To someone. Anyone. The stack seems to be getting larger. I may need to issue some reruns on those who are still left far from home.

I realize, however, that not all photos come from families whose descendants would now be glad to receive such keepsake memories. Perhaps that is the case here, as well. But until I can find any confirmation that it is those family members who survive her whom I am seeking, I don't have the liberty to share any of the information I've discovered about her situation. No matter how adorable her little face may be, hers will have to be a picture tucked back on a shelf to wait, until perhaps another day leads to the right connections and she can be sent back home to the folks who knew her well.