Family treasures come in all shapes and sizes. But yet some people throw away things without a second thought. It’s old, it’s torn, it’s too dirty or too dark are the common excuses people use to throw away unwanted precious treasures. When in all actuality they could open a door to new and exciting things or unsolved mysteries. A few years ago, I decided to go and visit a 2nd cousin, Betsie, in Albuquerque, NM. She has all the treasures saved by our Great Grandmother, Clara Brusoe, and her Grandmother, Clare June Rose. Her Grandmother was my Grandfather’s 1/2 sister. When I went to Albuquerque, Betsie had a gigantic box full of things. I was blessed to see only 1/3 of what was in the box. But in that box was an old and dingy dark photo. She didn’t know who was in the picture, but I recognized the background of the photo. It matched the background of a photo my mother had of her father, when he was 2 or 3 years old in Trinidad, Colorado, around 1902 or 1903. He was born with the name of John Edward Wallace. Edward was the name of Clara’s father and John Wallace was the name of my Grandfather’s father, my Great Grandfather. When I noticed the picture, I asked if she knew who the man was. Betsie replied no, so I asked if I could take it and she said ok. I’m guessing since she thought it was too dark to make anything out, then what the heck, she was willing to depart with it, because she wasn’t ready to depart with anything else. To my good fortune there were some very kind and generous people on Random Acts of Photo Restoration Facebook page back in 2016 that took the picture and lightened the photo up the best they could and then they tried to make out the facial features the best they could. But it wasn’t a guarantee that it was correct or accurate. But could this be my mysterious Great Grandfather? Johann Karash (alias John Wallace)? It would be the only picture in existence of this man to my knowledge. In the 1899 City Directory for Albuquerque, NM it listed a John Wallace, a Day Engineer for the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Corporation. Clara’s family had moved to the Albuquerque area around 1898 or 1899. The family prior to this time had lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They were listed in the 1900 Albuquerque, NM census. I’m gathering that’s where Clara and John met. The 1900 census page states that John Wallace Sr was living in some type of housing for workers of the C&S Railway, in North Garcia, (now part of the City of Trinidad, Colorado); All of the people on the census were from out of state, mostly back east. Wallace had been an unemployed Engineer for three months. Trinidad had a large repair station for the RR, they even had a huge "ROUND HOUSE" where the large trains could enter, be worked on, and turn around and leave the round house when repaired. Today there is no sign that this complex ever existed. His wife’s, Clara Brusoe, parents were French Canadian. She left John Wallace in Sept 1903 according to the 1906 divorce records. He had been abusing her beyond recognition. Thus, leaving a little boy confused, emotionally scared and without a man to look up to until 1906 when Von Rose stepped into the father role and John Edward Wallace Jr became “Jack Rose”. I’ve kept those pictures in hopes of finding out the truth one day of who this man was. Approximately a year and half ago I found a 2nd cousin to my mother on her father’s paternal side, which once was a mystery. This 2nd cousin has been a major blessing. She has shared photos of her Grandparents, passports of her aunt, grandmother and father. This 2nd cousin also shared the Polish birth record of her father in hopes of opening up more clues to the siblings and parents of Abraham and Johann Karash (alias John Wallace). I now look at the photo of this 2nd Cousin’s Grandfather Abraham and my Great Grandfather Johann “John” and constantly compare. To me they have many similarities as if they were brothers; the big ears (you can see one ear on alias John Wallace photo), their high cheek bones, and their big eyes just to name a few. I found another 2nd Cousin of my mother’s and he is currently going through his things that were left to his father, an only child. We are hoping that he finds a picture of Abraham’s and Johann’s (John) brother Joseph to compare the brothers even more. According to this 2nd Cousin’s Grandmother, Abraham’s and Johann’s sister, there were 12 siblings. I’ve found five, so there are 7 more to find.
What do you have, that could actually be a hidden treasure, that you could be overlooking?
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Penny Alvarez-KellerGraduated from Arkansas Tech University with a degree in Management / Marketing and a degree in Economics / Finance Archives
February 2023
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