This old photo was purchased at Cadwell’s Flea Market in old town Branson, Missouri on December 23, 2017. On the back in pencil is the name Ira Fee. The photographer stamp on the front is Moore at Toledo, Iowa. I found a man named Ira Fee in the Family Tree at FamilySearch.org. The Ira Fee at FamilySearch was born in Iowa in 1879. This Ira Fee is most likely one and the same as the person pictured. I’ll do some tracking for descendants and report back. The 1920 U.S. census shows the Ira Fee in the Family Tree as living in Missoula, Montana and married to Gertrude and having two children, Dexter and Marjorie , both born in Wyoming.
I messaged the contributor to Ira Fee’s FamilySearch.org profile. She was a distant 7th cousin but mentioned that he had a grandson named Robert Fee in Missouri. I was able to find the 2015 obituary of Bob Fee and what I call a “Godwink” appeared near the end. The obituary mentioned Bob’s very good friends, Doug and Cathy Burris of Harrison, Arkansas. I remembered that Cathy Burris is the sister of my aunt’s husband and lives in Harrison. So I messaged my Uncle Frank who shared it with his sister. Cathy wrote that they are keeping a collection of Bob’s pictures for the family and would be glad to have this one. Another mystery solved…thanks to the Godwink!
I am doing research on (Minnie) Gertrude Fee, wife of Ira Basil Fee. Gertrude was a charter member of a P.E.O. chapter in Missoula, MT, for our chapter’s centennial anniversary. Gertrude was born in 1879 and died in 1944. Ira Fee was a well-respected superintendent of schools here in Missoula. They lived in Wyoming before coming to Missoula.
Thank you, Carol, for your research and for adding more interesting information about Ira and his wife, Gertrude. I’m so glad you are remembering them in your chapter’s centennial anniversary.