Photos taken: abt 1943
Photos found: Appalachian Antiques - Berkeley Springs, WV
Status: looking for family
When I noticed these two photos had the same surname, I knew it: they must have been brothers. And I was correct.
Donald and James Stephenson grew up in Lead, SD with their widowed mother, Lillian, and their middle brother, Robert. James was born in South Dakota in 1916, and Donald in Nebraska in 1924.
In 1930, Lillian and her boys around found living at 424 South Main Street in Lead, SD. Lillian appears to be unemployed, which raises the question of how the family supported themselves.
Ten years later in the 1940 census, the family is living at the same address - this year, however, James, who is 24, brings home the money working as a surface worker at the goldmine. His younger brother Robert is also employed at the mine. Donald, being the youngest at just 16, is still in school. He was part of the debate team and it came as no surprise to see a familiar name amongst his team mates...
Eugene Anway appears as Donald's team mate! Here's another take from a few months later in 1940:
In February 1941, James left home to accompany the contingent of National Guards to Camp Claiborne in Louisiana. Just five months later he was appointed a first lieutenant. Donald followed suit in December 1942, leaving for Sioux Falls that month to enter the Navy.
In March 1943 Donald completed basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training station (the same station where Gene Anway attended) and that same month Lillian received word that James ranked up to a captain in the 109th Engineers.
As a side, I may have found a clue as to how all these photos ended up together:
Were they once all hanging together in the window of the Homestake Mining Company office?! We do know that
Roy Aspen's father worked there,
Ray Dillavou worked there prior to enlisting in the Navy,
Sterling Johnson's father worked there, and
Raymond Von Wald worked there prior to enlisting, and
Gene Anway's father worked there. Could the above newspaper clipping be referencing the photos we've been researching?
Donald and James continued their service through 1944 and even reunited in Europe:
By 1945, James had returned home and was enumerated in the 1945 South Dakota State Census with his wife, Ruth Heil. James and his wife would go on to move around the country, to Massachusetts and Maine, before James died unexpectedly in September 1971:
Donald would not go on to live that long. After leaving the Navy he also settled in Massachusetts, where he passed away in 1959. He never married, and left no children.
When I noticed these two photos had the same surname, I knew it: they must have been brothers. And I was correct.
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