The genealogical term "brick wall" is often used to describe challenging research questions which appear to have no answer. In some cases, our own assumptions create these brick walls. We make assumptions based on our existing knowledge because we believe that this will make our research easier (and often times we are right about that). However, in some cases these assumptions prevent us from finding the information that we are looking for. They cause us to narrow our scope so much so that we manufacture our own brick walls. In this post, I'm going to explain how reviewing and challenging an assumption can help us break down the brick wall.
For the past two years I have been working on the rather large and challenging project of naming every person in the old pictures that I inherited. The task itself has presented many challenges as my ancestors rarely recorded any information on the back of pictures, and when they did they often failed to include the names. The smaller box (which I have been focused on) is from the 1920s to 1940s, and all belonged to my great grandparents. My great grandmother (Mary) was responsible for taking almost all of the pictures - I wrote about her life
here.
When I first embarked on this project, I was fuelled by grief and guilt because I never had the chance to ask my grandmother who all of these people were. I felt as though I was responsible for loosing even more of my family's oral history. With the aid of a signature book from my great grandfather's funeral, I began trying to place a name to every person. Immediately one picture stood out to me because of the description on the back:
To Mary and Alf
Jean and Frank
Dec 1 1928
I started by asking my surviving family members if they knew the last name of the couple, but had no success. The only thing that I did learn was that the woman was one of Mary's life long friends. Next, I tried referencing the names in the signature book. This too failed to produce a surname - the couple was such good family friends that they were only recorded by their first names! This is when I made an assumption:
The picture was of Jean and Frank's wedding and that they were married on Dec 1 1928 in Toronto.
Using this assumption, I believed that I could find the couples name in either the Ontario Marriage collection and/or the Toronto newspaper achieves. Once again, I was unable to find the information that I was looking for. Officially out of ideas, I decided to take a break and research something else. When I returned several months later, I started off by reviewing my previous assumptions. Ultimately, I ruled that my assumptions were incorrect for all of the following reasons:
1. Canadian winters are COLD!
Anybody that has experienced a Canadian winter knows that it is bloody cold. Even if there isn't much snow, I can guarantee you that you wouldnt want to go far without a winter coat. Looking at the picture, it should be obvious that none of them are dressed for cold weather. In particular, one woman is wearing a short sleeved dress and summer hat. The background also doesnt look terribly wintery (although Toronto doesnt always have snow in early December). What stuck out to me most was the bicycle on the porch. Normally, someone would not be going for a bike ride in the winter due to the cold temperature and icy roads. Based on both of these observations, I felt comfortable removing the assumption that the picture was taken on December 1 1928. I wasnt ready to eliminate the potential that this picture was taken in the winter, however I was willing to entertain the possibility that it was taken in a different season.
2. The description doesn't mention a marriage
I had made this assumption because all four people were dressed up as if they were attending a wedding. There are two main faults in this assumption. The first is that the description does not mention a wedding. The second is that neither woman is wearing a wedding dress. For both of these reasons, it made sense to eliminate this assumption entirely.
After reviewing my assumptions I resumed researching, this time with an expanded scope. I ended up finding my answer on a headstone in the Mt Hope Catholic Cemetery - mere feet away from where my great grandparents are buried. The original assumptions that I made had prevented me from finding my answers because they caused me to utilize incorrect information. This couple was not married on Dec 1 1928. In all likelihood they were not even married in Toronto. By reviewing my original assumptions I was able to expand the scope of my research and entertained other possibilities for how my great grandparents may have known this couple.
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