Last week I ran across an interesting old picture and wanted to find out more about it.

I sent the picture to my Mom and she asked my Dad about the picture since it had come from his side of the family.

After I found out more about the picture I had to search to see what else I could find out about the people that my Mom mentioned in her reply.

So, first the picture.

You can see why I found it interesting. At first glance it looks like the lady in the center is floating, but a closer look shows that she is standing on the stump of a tree. She is holding a basketball and the other ladies are reaching out for it.

My Dad had no idea of exactly what they were doing, but it looks like some type of a game.

He was able to identify that the picture was taken at the Cutter house which stood two miles north of Coin, Iowa. He thinks that maybe they were there for a wedding. Perhaps the wedding of one my Grandma’s cousins.

My Dad’s great uncle Raymond Cochran married Minnie Cutter in 1925 and when my Dad was young they would have had a son and daughter who might of been getting married.

I decided to find out a little more about Raymond.

There was not much in my genealogy program, only birth and death information and that he had married Minnie Cutter.

I was able to find Raymond in the 1930 census in St. Louis, Missouri.

In his household is his wife Minnie and his children Mildred and Kenneth. Raymond was 32 and Minnie was 25 and based on their age at marriage had been married for about 5 -6 years.

Raymond worked as an Auto Electrician for a battery company. I guess that working with electricity is a family occupation.

By 1940 Raymond had moved to Idaho. The family is still the same size, but now they have two teenagers.

What was really interesting to me was that his occupation had really changed. His occupation is now listed as Sawyer and his work location as In woods.

Why had he moved from being an electrician to doing manual labor. I guess that I need to do some more research.

I do know that Raymond died in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, so perhaps he went to Michigan to work in the auto industry.

Hmm, more research is needed. But, perhaps I need to see what my Mother knows. She has been researching the Cochran family.

That is the fun thing about genealogy, you are always finding out something new about your family. Of course, that makes you want to find out even more 🙂

Steven