I ordered a lot of antique and vintage photos a while back for crafts, and for my own enjoyment. I love historic photos because although it's just a small snapshot of a moment, that moment has such a story held within it.
So I had this massive stack of like 100 photos. I began looking through them and I realized that some of them actually had writing on the backs of them. One of which was a photograph of a magnificent Victorian home. It was glorious. All the victorian detailings were there. The wide front porch was the show stopper though. On the back read the words, "The Moore Home in Malden" and beneath it was what I thought to say, "Leas Leasas St.".
Malden. That's a unique name, should be easy to find.
I googled "Malden" and Malden, Massachusetts was what came up. Then, I looked up Leas Leasas, and that was where I hit a very dead end. So, what do you do when you hit a dead-end in your research of a random photo from eBay? You find someone who can help.
It began with the Malden Historic Society. I messaged the historic society, I told them of my photo, how I came to have it, and asked about the strange street name that seemed to be a mystery. That's when they cleared up something major for me. There is no Leas Leasas Street in Malden, HOWEVER, there is a Las Casas Street. I began really looking at the handwriting on the back of the photo and I guess it could actually say Las Casas. The person writing used many curls in their writing so what I thought was a Leasas was actually "Casas". Who would've thought?
Next, was Google Maps.
I looked up Las Casas St., I didn't know the actual house number so I scrolled down the google maps street just enjoying the architecture and looking for a particular victorian gable window since this area of Malden was all victorian and craftsman homes.
I had been scrolling for no more than five minutes when I saw the gable I was searching for. It was the house! I squealed with excitement but also kind of winced in sadness, the showstopping porch that had been such a beaut, was gone and replaced with just a small entry with the same steps.
How depressing. But here it was. The house that for some reason had almost sucked me in. So thanks to Google Maps, I now had the address. So, what's next? The historic society had actually given me the librarian's email, so I emailed my story to the librarian at the Malden Library, in the email, the last two lines to the librarian read, "I was wondering if there were any way you could tell me anything about a Moore family that may have lived there, possibly early 1900s? If you can, thank you! If not, enjoy this story of how I researched this random photo of a house. " I know I had to have gotten at least a smirk on that one! This house had seemed to pull me in and take hold of me. I had to learn more about it. So, then I was left to wait. But then, an email popped up on my phone. That was fast.
The email was stating how interesting the story was and that they were sending the email to the local history librarian to see if she could find anything in the archives. And she would contact me with anything she found or didn't find.
But for now, we wait in mystery wondering one last question, "Who is the girl on the steps?"
You didn't notice her, did you?
UPDATE:
Marion, the daughter was born April 17, 1895, and died on May 5, 1995, in Orleans, Massachusetts at the age of 100 years old.
There was also an Irish immigrant who lived with them and worked as their servant, her name was Norah Hughes. She immigrated to America in 1909 at 17 years old. (I found that on the 1910 census.) Now that I feel as if I knew the family in the photo, I feel like I can move on with my life now. A big shout out to the Malden Historical Society, the Malden Librarians, and of course, Ancestry.com This has been a fun journey learning more about this photo, now, on to the next one, right?
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