Mystery Monday - Oh, those BSOs!

Like my dog spotting a squirrel on his morning walk, I have been distracted from my research plan again by a Bright Shiny Object.

When she came for BBQ over Memorial Day weekend, Mum brought an album of mostly unrelated photos. Among them was this one.

Any photo this old is guaranteed to draw an immediate reaction from me. Who are they? How have I never seen this photo before? Writing on the back, yes! First names only, uh-oh, here we go, down the rabbit hole.

To Eva & Louden
from Lena, Harold
with best Xmas wishes.

The photo was sent to my maternal grandmother's parents, Eva Maude Bean and James Louden Dean. Eva had a brother named Harold, but I don't know his wife's name. A quick look at a cousin's tree on Ancestry to which I have access told me that she doesn't either. I noticed right away that Harold Whoever-he-is bears some resemblance to my grandmother's brother, Kenneth Emery Dean, so I thought I would do some photo comparisons.  Here are all the photos that I have containing Eva & Harold's closest family members.

Denison Minser Bean
Father of Eva & Harold.

Sylvia Amelia Bean (ctr) and Eva Maud Bean (rt) are Harold's sisters.

Sylvia Amelia Bean (rt.) - Harold's sister.

Eva Maude Bean back row, right.
Kenneth is the little boy.

Kenneth Dean & Adah Bailey

I still think he looks like Uncle Ken, but I'm not sure about his possible siblings or father. I have not been able to locate Harold in census records after 1911 when he was still a bachelor. Nor have I been able to locate a baptismal or marriage record. The baptismal record isn't a big surprise since his parents weren't baptized until they were in their 30s and had been married about nine years (but had just lost a young son), and my great-grandmother not until she was seventeen and in a different denomination from her parents. The marriage record isn't surprising either since he likely would have been married in his wife's church and we don't know anything about her.

I think I'm going to give over about another hour of research time to looking for Harold and Lena. If I don't have any good leads by then, I'll have to add them to my to-do list and get back to my research plan...again.