Miracles still happen! This is proof. The fact that these three photos traveled together without being separated, that there were hints as to their identity written on them, that some lady picked them up in Pennsylvania, and then spent the time to research them and found enough information to link to me, is phenomenal. Joseph, Sarah, and Hattie wanted to be found and the stars aligned with heaven. May there be many more such miracles in the future!

I had a lady who e-mailed me regarding three photos. They were found in an old store in Pennsylvania. The back of this photo above had written on it, “W.S. Donaldson, Evanston.” This lady traced that down to William Scott Donaldson, who did live in Evanston, Wyoming at from about 1890 to 1895. My Great Grandfather, William’s son, David Delos Donaldson was born in Evanston in 1894.

I knew it was not William Scott Donaldson. William, who I have written on before, was born in 1865 and died in Ogden, Utah in 1913 of cancer. A photo taken not too long before his passing does not have him as grey and not looking like this man.

But I did have this photograph also in my records of William Scott Donaldson’s father, Joseph Russell Donaldson (1836-1925).

I have a couple of photos of Joseph Russell Donaldson, who I have also written on before. That nose, the double lines down the cheek, and that bushy goatee seemed to point me where I needed to go next. Here is another photo I have of Joseph Russell Donaldson.

The next photo the lady had in the three-pack tied Joseph Russell to the mix. Here is the second photo.

This photo had written on the front “Hattie – Father.” As you can see from the photo above, Hattie is the same one as this Hattie, the sister to William Scott Donaldson, Harriet Edith Donaldson Lovell (1875-1961). On the back of this photo is written, “Grandpa Donaldson and Hattie Donaldson – Kingston, Canada.” Again, the tie between W.S. Donaldson and Hattie with “Grandpa.” William Scott was born in Joyceville, Ontario, Canada, but Joseph Russell lived in Kingston from at least 1901 until his death in 1925. Things were tying in nicely with each other.

Then there is this third photo. This one had written on the front, “Sarah Armina Donaldson, Papa’s mother.” The interesting part is the photo paper is of a photographer in Reading, Pennsylvania. So this must be a photograph of a photograph, and looking at it that does seem to be the case.

That ties in nicely with Joseph Russell Donaldson and William Scott Donaldson as Sarah Armina Todd (1839-1880) is the wife of Joseph and mother of William. She died a little over 41 years old for what the death record states as “hemorrhage of lungs,” whatever that might be. I have an old, tiny photocopy of this photo but of poor enough condition I did not scan and upload to FamilySearch. This one isn’t necessarily a whole lot better but more complete.

Which then takes us back to the first photo at the top. The more I looked at it, it became apparent it was a younger version of Joseph Russell Donaldson. The way the goatee grows although trimmed, the facial lines, the lips (and the familiarity I recognize in my own father), and the eyes all match. Plus, the writing on the back probably indicates it was taken before or at the time that W.S. Donaldson lived in Evanston (1890-1895). Very happy to have found another photo of another ancestor. He is a handsome man too, nearly or at 60 years of age.