Dear all, I know I have a fascination with old pictures, and we've had 2 of a lady(pre 1923) with a veil over her face in Lewis Co. with a name on the back and that she was a friend of Louisa Blair (wife of Jacob F.). I ran a query over 8 months ago and just recently rec'd a reply and sent the photos via attachment...This was quite a heart rendering letter, but it's awesome to help someone, so I will make copies of these pictures and give to the lady! It's my Act of Genealogical Kindness, though I'll never be content to do just one act! Cousin John > Hi again, > I took the pictures over when I visited by parents yesterday. My father was > amazed. He said , "Oh, these pictures have to be over 70 years old and they > printed so well!! Oh, this must be my aunt Louise. " He said when I had told > him about them, he was hoping he could somehow see them. So, Louise would be > my great-aunt. My unmarried name was Donna Radmaker. > He told me many stories of his father's childhood family. My grandfather, > Fred Radmaker, grew up in a very poor family of, I think it was, 10 children. > Two of the children were born blind. One boy died in an accident being > dragged by a team of horses. Then there was the brother and sister, Jake > and Louise. They got sjome kind of skin infection on their face and it kept > getting worse. The parents, who did't have much money, took them to a Dr. > My father wonders if the Dr. was a sheister or if this was just the > treatment of the day. Anyhow, he scrapped away the affected skin. Dad > thinks they were treated several times, taking more flesh each time. Both > children were then horribly disfigured. Dad said most of the flesh was gone > djown to the bone. The nose was gone and only holes for breathing, no lips. > He said Jake looked like a skeleton. His teeth grew forword as their were no > lips. He never saw Louise's face as she always wore the veil. Dad was born > in 1917. His mother told him that she sometimes had Jake watch after him as > young child when the rest of the family was working in the fields. Most > people now shunned my grandfather''s father's family, because they were > afraid of Jake and Louise and that it was catching. They even had trouble > selling their produce and didn't have much money as it was. > I am haunted by those pictures and the life Louise had to lead. You said > your great-grandmother was a friend of hers. I looked at the map and the > Toledo and other areas you mentioned seem about 10 miles away from where my > father grew up (Lost Valley, Klaber, Boistfort area). He thinks Louise's > family also lived in Lost Valley, but then moved and eventually moved to > Portland. I wonder how close your great-grandmother was to the family and > how she happened to have the pictures. Is the baby a Blair, as you wondered? > Who had the studio pose taken? I feel good that maybe she had a friend and > some kind times in her life. > Guess, that's enough for now. > Donna