When I first met Helen Mae and the Boorman family in 1963 in Ashland, Oregon, I noticed they did not have much money but they had three newspapers delivered every morning(Medford Mail Tribune and both Portland papers)…and they took photos! Ruth Elizabeth Reed Boorman always had a camera and film. Even her husband, Clarence, took some of the photos. During the really poor days in Tionesta while living on the pumice mine and living in a shack with no running water, Ruth took photos of the families. Thanks to the photos Ruth and Clarence took, we have a great record of the Boormans during their early days and with the Reeds. Ruth also had many photos from the Bishop and Reed side.
Ruth Reed Boorman’s mother was Irene Bishop Reed and Ruth’s father was John Wallace Reed. There are so many sad and happy stories when you dip back into the family history. A sample is the story about Ruth’s brother, Harlan Reed. He was a great kid, well loved, but was shot to death at age 4 by a 12 year old boy playing with a gun. I have a lot of photos of Harlan; he was such a sweet boy, they say. Ruth was born in 1918 a year after Harlan was killed. His death was very hard on the family.
Harlan Reed, Ruth Reed Boorman’s brother, about 1916, a year before he was killed. Three generations – John Reed (Civil War Vet), John Wallace Reed & Harlan Reed.
As we were cleaning out Ruth’s apartment I ran across a goldmine of old negatives from the early 1900s, great quality. We found boxes of photos and documents dating back to the late 1800s. I have done lots of scanning of Ruth’s photos and negatives. I had never seen some of these photos before. Ruth never mentioned this treasure trove to us. Ruth was very organized and saved many memories. If family members mailed her a photo, she saved them. I have uploaded the scanned photos to multiple Google-Plus albums that I have loaded onto this site. So far they date back to 1862 and total about 10,000 images. If there was any writing on the photo they are captioned under the photo or I scanned the back of the photo.
This Web link proves my saying: A birth certificate proves you were born, a death certificate proves you died, photos prove you lived. Ruth lived.
We mark our history like shallow footprints left in snow, and what little trace we leave, quickly melts away…unless you have the Internet, photos, and a scanner….Lloyd Smith
“Family stories & photos preserve precious links between our past and our future, events where the heritage of our ancestors are instilled within the hearts of our children.”
To contact Lloyd Smith, who married Helen Mae Boorman Smith, who put this album together: Lsmithtwin@Comcast.net
Chester, Kenneth, John Wallace and (top) Marvin, the Reed Brothers.
Ruth Elizabeth Reed Boorman – This was one of Ruth’s favorite photo
Ruth Elizabeth Reed Boorman’s 1935 graduation photos.
2018 Boorman reunion at the cabin. This would have been Ruth’s 100th birthday.
Bishop-Reed-Boorman Family Photos 