Vintage Postcard Mystery - Help me crack the Case!

[4reals]

Originally Posted by 4reals

He never went back to Iowa so I'm left to assume he kept moving around. If he remarried later it's possible he had kids later in life. We'll see....

Another assumption I was wrong about. He DID move back to Iowa where he was born. I did a search of Lewis with Mary S. Beard and Carl Beard and located him on the 1925 Iowa Census living with them under the name LG Jones (similar to the way he initialed his postcards). They resided in Kossuth County Iowa and the census shows two interesting things...

...first, Lewis is still listed as single (no known kids). Second, Mary S. Beard is listed as his mother! That would mean Carl Beard is his brother. Lewis' father is listed as GT Jones. Not sure what to make of the different last names?

I also found Lewis (now listed as Louis) at the age of 51 still living with his mother Mary Beard, now 77, in Kossuth County, Iowa on the 1930 US Census. Carl no longer lives with them.

This is the last record I've been able to find of Lewis Jones or Mary Beard. I am left to assume Mary passed away before the next census. Lewis may have moved again or passed as well. At this point it's safe to assume neither Flossie Horning or Lewis Jones had any kids.

Not sure what to do at this point. Maybe try to trace younger brother Carl and see if he married and had kids to see if they'd be interested in these or give up the search and just keep them and call it an interesting experience.

My trial account with ancestry.com ends in less than a week so either way I'm running out of time.

[KCRfan1]

Joe,

You have given this a very noble effort, with the best of intentions to return items that were very personal ( at one time ). If either of them had children, the cards would be appreciated. But now with aunts, uncles, neices and nephews, most likely the items will not be appreciated. I would hang on to them, and now you have a great story about the parties involved.

Lou

[4reals]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

If either of them had children, the cards would be appreciated. But now with aunts, uncles, neices and nephews, most likely the items will not be appreciated.

I think you're right Lou, my wife had the same feelings towards it. Thanks for your help during this journey my friend, I appreciate it.

[4reals]

So, let me wrap a bow on this journey for those of you who followed it and wondered what came of it. I was gonna keep the cards but I needed closure for some reason on this (don't know why, weird huh?). Lewis Jones had a younger half brother named Carl Beard who was briefly mentioned in one of the postcards. Carl never had any kids (similar to Lewis and Flossie), however, Carl married a woman named Beulah in 1963. Carl died in 1993 and Beulah died in 2006. They had no kids together but Beulah had kids from a previous marriage, two of which are still alive today. I contacted one of them and explained my journey which they were fascinated by and told me a few stories they remembered about Carl. I shared with them my findings about Carl's past and his childhood and they were interested. I asked if they would like the postcards and they excitedly said yes and offered to pay me for them. I declined and said I was just happy to close the book on the journey. I sent a synopsis of my findings along with the postcards out to them this morning. THE END.

[cubsfan-budman]

Very cool...thanks for following up with an update!

[lahmejoon]

I just joined the boards and saw this thread. Fascinating! Very nice work!