The Web of Love

A great cover graphic by Porter M. Griffith on this sheet music, copyright 1929. The artifact is interesting on many levels. For openers the piece is printed on a single sheet and folded. This early talking film was "personally directed" by James Cruze. Apparently part of it was in color!

The movie is about a ventriloquist who is slowly going insane. I have to wonder. This stack of scores originally belonged to my great grandmother, Jennie Hoss. Her brother, Lafe Reeves, worked as a barber but he was also an accomplished ventriloquist. I wonder if he was teased about this movie? 

Unidentified

Tintype.

Although there are no markings on this tintype or the album sleeve, I am guessing the woman on the right side is my great-grandmother, Jennie Reeves, standing behind her brother Charles LaFayette "Lafe" Reeves. If so, this was taken in the 1880s. 

Lafe

Tintype. Written on album sleeve: Lafe.

Portrait of Charles LaFayette Reeves.

Lafe

Tintype. Written on album sleeve: Lafe

Charles LaFayette Reeves, probably taken during the "lost years," 1872-1884.

Mrs. W. F. Reeves, Lafe

Tintype. On the back is written: Mrs. W. F. Reeves, Lafe

This is my great-great grandmother with her firstborn, Charles LaFayette Reeves ("Lafe"), who was born in 1862, placing the date of this portrait in the Civil War era.

Lydia Melissa Upham was born in upstate New York on Sept. 6, 1842. Apparently she was known as Melissa. In 1861 she married Walter Francis Reeves (known as "Frank") in Michigan. I am guessing it was shortly after this photo was taken that Frank enlisted in the Union Army.

The Reeves family migrated to Washington Territory in 1889. In a letter Melissa wrote back home to Michigan from Centralia, Washington in 1891 we learn she had been a victim of typhoid fever in 1888 and had never been the same since. I had heard one reason the family moved West was the hope the climate would be better for her health. 

Melissa died at age 50, Sept. 25, 1892, in Centralia, Washington and is buried there in the Pioneer Cemetery.

Jennie, Lafe

Tintype with barely readable notation on verso: "Jennie, Lafe"

Charles LaFayette Reeves and his sister, Jennie Melissa Reeves. Jennie was my great-grandmother and the curator of this album.

Jennie was born Sept. 22, 1869 in Lansing, Michigan. Before accompanying her family to Centralia, Washington Territory in 1889 she briefly taught school.

She married Theodore Jacob Hoss in Centralia, Feb. 20, 1890. They were something of a power couple, both of them deeply involved in politics and social groups. Although Centralia was and remains a very conservative town, Theodore and Jennie were outspoken progressives.

Jennie died in Centralia on Valentine's Day, 1952.

Lafe

Although there is no identification on this tintype, I know it is a portrait of Charles LaFayette Reeves, known as Lafe, who has been already been mentioned here.


It would appear this tintype was also taken during the 1872-1884 Reeves mystery years where I did not find any documentation on their location, only unconfirmed stories.

Lafe

Tintype

Barely legible on verso: Lafe

Charles LaFayette Reeves (Aug. 18, 1862-June 4, 1939) was better known as Lafe. He was the older brother of my great grandmother, Jennie. 

Lafe accompanied his family from Michigan to Centralia, Washington Territory in 1889. He married a woman named Elizabeth (Bessie) in 1903 and they both were Christian Scientist converts. When my grandmother Leona survived the influenza epidemic in 1918 she credited Lafe with her recovery.

Lafe was a barber and I only recently learned worked just 7 miles from my home over in Elma, Washington during the early 1900s. In spite of the expression in this photo, he is remembered as a big, friendly man who was also a ventriloquist. 

Charles and Bessie had no children. We visit their graves every year and the headstones are eroding away down there in Centralia.

OK, now here's a mystery for you research wizards. Between the birth of Sidney A. Reeves (Lafe's youngest sibling) in Michigan, Mar. 28, 1872 and the year 1884 when the family is safely back in the Wolverine State but a bit further north, I cannot account for the whereabouts of the Reeves family. There are some pretty wild stories, all unconfirmed, which include George Armstrong Custer and Little Bighorn. I'll get to it eventually here. It would seem this tintype of Lafe was taken during this lost chunk of time. And he looks worn beyond his tender years. There's a good story somewhere in there.