Thomas Farnsworth Meekins
I have a hunch about who Ezra Vanderhoof's elusive young friend Tommy was.
They relocated the old photo bin at Miss Pixies to a new location in the store, requiring some shuffling around furniture pieces, but overall it was a change that instilled in me a new sense of purpose. No longer was the bin located way in the back in an unassuming corner of the store; no, now it was front and center, with a new DIY clothespin backboard for customers to display their favorite finds. Now a prominent part of the neighborhoods favorite antique retail establishment, I became more determined to save some photos before they became part of someone's unfortunate art project.
So there I was, frantically shuffling through the large swathes of photos in search of those with labels, as other customers side-eyed me on their stroll over to examine an overly-priced credenza and a number of lamp shades, when I came across a photo of two young men posing at New Jersey's Fort Dix - Thomas Farnsworth Meekins and his friend Peter Secor.
My first thought was, okay, with a name like "Thomas Farnsworth Meekins", this has got to be an easy research case. But then another thought crossed my mind. This was the bin where I had found multiple photos of the same people and families, likely from someone's photo album. It turned out that Ricke Bollwage, Elise Iber, Fred Schleiniger, and Charles Bretz were all part of the Iber family in some way or another (in fact, on this same trip I had come across another photo related to that family and it's on its way home now!). So... could it be? Could this Thomas Farnsworth Meekins be a grown version of young Tommy, who posed with Ezra and Zed? And could it be possible that this photo was also somehow related to the extended Iber family?
My suspicions about an easy research case proved true. It wasn't hard to find records related to Thomas Farnsworth Meekins on FamilySearch. The first, unfortunately, was his FindAGrave memorial. But first, lets talk a bit about Thomas' life.
Thomas was born in New Jersey on July 26th, 1933 to Thomas Romain Meekins and Lillian Ealso Thomas Meekins - Thomas Hill Meekins, to be exact - and his father was ALSO Thomas Meekins: Thomas White Meekins. And yep, you guessed it, HIS father was ALSO Thomas Meekins! The original, it appears. According to his FindAGrave, the first Thomas Meekins, born 1796 in Williamsburg, MA, was a well known physician in the small town. He, his son Thomas White Meekins, and his grandson Thomas Hill Meekins, are all buried on the same plot in Village Hill Cemetery.
ugenia Farnsworth. It appears that the name 'Thomas Meekins' was a family one, as our Thomas' grandfather was
Our Thomas' grandmother (that's Thomas Farnsworth Meekins' grandmother) Kate Josephine Bostwick, has quite the FindAGrave memorial. Actually, the whole family does (a genealogist's dream!) but Kate's has this photo, which is unlike anything I've ever seen:
According to the obituary of our Thomas, he was a graduate of Trinity Pawling School, an independent college preparatory boarding school for boys, as well as Franklin and Marshall College, a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, PA. In our photo taken at Fort Dix, he is wearing a uniform, leading us to presume that he was a serviceman in addition to a well-educated young boy.
Thomas died in November 2011, survived by no children nor spouse (it appears he was never married), and survived by one sister, Phyllis Turner, who has since passed.
One clue in our attempt to re-home this photo (and maybe the one of Tommy and Ezra) lies in Phyllis' obituary, where the names of her daughters are provided.
What do you think? Could young Tommy, posing next to Ezra Vanderhoof, be a young Thomas F. Meekins?
They relocated the old photo bin at Miss Pixies to a new location in the store, requiring some shuffling around furniture pieces, but overall it was a change that instilled in me a new sense of purpose. No longer was the bin located way in the back in an unassuming corner of the store; no, now it was front and center, with a new DIY clothespin backboard for customers to display their favorite finds. Now a prominent part of the neighborhoods favorite antique retail establishment, I became more determined to save some photos before they became part of someone's unfortunate art project.
So there I was, frantically shuffling through the large swathes of photos in search of those with labels, as other customers side-eyed me on their stroll over to examine an overly-priced credenza and a number of lamp shades, when I came across a photo of two young men posing at New Jersey's Fort Dix - Thomas Farnsworth Meekins and his friend Peter Secor.My first thought was, okay, with a name like "Thomas Farnsworth Meekins", this has got to be an easy research case. But then another thought crossed my mind. This was the bin where I had found multiple photos of the same people and families, likely from someone's photo album. It turned out that Ricke Bollwage, Elise Iber, Fred Schleiniger, and Charles Bretz were all part of the Iber family in some way or another (in fact, on this same trip I had come across another photo related to that family and it's on its way home now!). So... could it be? Could this Thomas Farnsworth Meekins be a grown version of young Tommy, who posed with Ezra and Zed? And could it be possible that this photo was also somehow related to the extended Iber family?
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| Photo on Thomas F. Meekins' FindAGrave |
Thomas was born in New Jersey on July 26th, 1933 to Thomas Romain Meekins and Lillian Ealso Thomas Meekins - Thomas Hill Meekins, to be exact - and his father was ALSO Thomas Meekins: Thomas White Meekins. And yep, you guessed it, HIS father was ALSO Thomas Meekins! The original, it appears. According to his FindAGrave, the first Thomas Meekins, born 1796 in Williamsburg, MA, was a well known physician in the small town. He, his son Thomas White Meekins, and his grandson Thomas Hill Meekins, are all buried on the same plot in Village Hill Cemetery.
ugenia Farnsworth. It appears that the name 'Thomas Meekins' was a family one, as our Thomas' grandfather was
Our Thomas' grandmother (that's Thomas Farnsworth Meekins' grandmother) Kate Josephine Bostwick, has quite the FindAGrave memorial. Actually, the whole family does (a genealogist's dream!) but Kate's has this photo, which is unlike anything I've ever seen:
But, I digress.
Thomas died in November 2011, survived by no children nor spouse (it appears he was never married), and survived by one sister, Phyllis Turner, who has since passed.
One clue in our attempt to re-home this photo (and maybe the one of Tommy and Ezra) lies in Phyllis' obituary, where the names of her daughters are provided.
What do you think? Could young Tommy, posing next to Ezra Vanderhoof, be a young Thomas F. Meekins?
Thanks so much for contacting me regarding Thomas F Meekins who is my cousin. I have contacted his niece Lillian, my 4th cousin as Tom is her uncle and brother to her mother.
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