Monday, March 12, 2012

Mystery Monday - The Lindbergh Family Photograph

Imagine my surprise when I was going through a photo album in a box of pictures my husband's cousin, Frances, brought me to go through and found this picture labeled "Lindberg Family" on a page.  The other pictures in the album were of family and friends, so was this a photo of THE Lindbergh family and if so, what was it doing here?  It has the same border and curved edges found on many of the photos in the album.  Was it taken with a camera belonging to a family member or was it mass produced and sold?

The first thing I did was a Google search for "Lindberg Family" and clicked on Images.  The fourth picture on the second row was identical to this one, minus the border.  Clicking on the picture took me to an entry for Evangeline Lindbergh on wikitree.com.  It said the photo was taken in Washington, D. C. on June 12, 1927.

In order to send a private message to Carolyn Murphy, the profile manager, to ask if she had more information about the photo, I had to register for an account, so I did, and then continued searching.

A website about Charles Lindbergh also has this picture of the Lindberghs with a caption stating it was taken "When Col. Charles Lindbergh was in town to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross from President Coolidge, the president and first lady entertained the Lindbergh family at Patterson House, where they were living while the White House was being renovated. "  When I sent an email to the webmaster, I got an automated reply with a suggestion to post questions on the discussion area of the website.

Before seeing the automated response, I had done a Google search on Charles Lindbergh +Louisiana and found the discussion area.  To my surprise someone had posted the following: "From CAL autobiography 'WE': "The next morning I was again heading toward Texas against a strong westerly wind which retarded the speed of the Jenny so greatly that even with my double fuel capacity it was necessary to land at Farmerville, Louisiana, to replenish my supply. From there I flew to Texarkana..."

"I am looking for details concerning the landing at Farmerville by CAL. Last weekend a relative told me that my grandfather gave CAL a ride to get his fuel and all my grandfather asked for was to do an interview with CAL (my grandfather worked for the local newspaper). Even though CAL wasn't famous at this point in time I suppose having a airplane make an unxpected landing in a pasture was a rare enough event in 1923 to be newsworthy!"

FARMERVILLE?  Wait a minute!  Joe Cecil Fowler and Johnny Strother lived in Farmerville at one time!  I have emailed the person who left the post in Nov 2007 and received a reply.  He too thinks it would be great to find a newspaper with that interview.  

From the CharlesLindbergh.com website I also learned that Lindbergh made a victory tour of 48 states and 82 cities after receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1927.  Where did he stop in Louisiana?  "In 147 speeches and 192 messages dropped from the air he promoted the still nascent aeronautical industry."  Was the picture dropped from the air? That's doubtful because it's in good condition.

Any ideas on how to solve this mystery?

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