The links below will take you back in time to the 1928 Carney Reunion. The photo includes more than 200 people. Because of the file size the photo has been separated into three sections of excellent quality.  There is a small version of the complete photo to show the enormity of the gathering. The last three links below are the same three part picture with numbers to help with identification.   Because of the file size these photos will be slow loading.  Please be patient - it is worth the wait. If you recognize any of the subjects please email Jim Bellis. (List of those already identified at the bottom of this page)
Left Side Of Photo (325k)
Center Of Photo (323k)
Right Side Of Photo (285k)
Small Version Of Complete Photo (85k)
Left Side Of Photo With Identifyng Numbers (325k)
Center Of Photo With Identifying Numbers (162k)
Right Side Of Photo With Identifying Numbers (294k)

HISTORY OF THE PHOTOGRAPH
By Jim Bellis

This picture of the August 19, 1928 Carney Reunion was originally owned by  James Franklin "Frank" Moore, son of Walter Moore and Artelia Jane Burrow  Moore.  Frank was the grandson of Harrison Moore and Mariah Carney Moore.  Frank's daughter Susie Jane Moore Stringham tells that she remembers her  father always being proud of the photo.  After Frank Moore's death in  1964, the picture remained in it's original frame with the matting on the back in the possession of  Frank's son, Clyde Franklin Moore.  Clyde Moore died in 1993 after which time his widow, Velma Gillig Moore gave the picture to James Dale Bellis, great-grandson of Frank Moore through
Frank's daughter, Bernice Moore.  The original photo is about three foot wide and 10 inches tall.

The Carney Reunions were conducted for several years during the 1920's and  30's near the Carney Branch and two Carney Cemeteries at Carney, Missouri in Stone County near Cape Fair.  History of the Carney Reunion is sketchy but was obviously a well attended event, at least before the Depression. Held each summer the weekend before school started, families would make the trip for several miles in horse drawn wagons and small automobiles.
The block building seen in the picture and the school house steeple barely visible to the right of the tree, are still standing at the site today.

It is interesting that most everyone in the picture is dressed in white shirts, nice dresses, hats, ties, etc.  Many of the young girls are even wearing stockings. It is a wonder what the prosperous appearing families must have gone through as the depression began a little more that a year later.

Sue Stringham recalls the narrow path through thick brush that led to the church and cemetery.  Pies and other food would be stacked carefully so to provide food for the two day event.  She recalls all the work her mother went through to make sure the whole family looked their best for the reunion.   Sue remembers distinctly that her mother had made new bonnets for her and her sister, Mary Virginia.  Shortly after they arrived, Neal McNeill sped down the path in his fancy new car having to drive in the wheel ruts after a recent rain.  The new car splashed mud on the new bonnets worn by Sue and Mary Virginia.  That's why the two Moore sisters were not wearing their hats in the picture. After hearing this story, Lyle McNeill even remembered the car Neil McNeill drove as a being a Buick Touring Car.  Ruth Asher remembers that just to the right of the picture is where the row after row of cars were
parked.

We are trying to identify as may individuals in the picture as possible, so each person has been given a number.  Please help us identify this group by submitting the names and numbers of the people you recognize to Jim Bellis at jimdbellis@hotmail.com.  Many of the Carney descendents are working on records of the family.  We would be grateful for everyone to share what they know of the reunions and the families that attended them.

Below are names of those identified so far, and who identified them.  Don't hesitate to also let us know if someone has been identified  incorrectly.
 
 
NUMBER AND NAME
IDENTIFIED BY
7. Ruth Henson (later Asher) 
8. Gertie Henson 
21. Lois Epperly Butler ?? 
25. Susie Jane Moore (later Stringham) 
26. Mary Virginia Moore (later Johnson) 
32. May Elizabeth Jennings Moore 
33. Grace Carney 
37. Minnie Carney (wife of Bill) 
40. Lula Carney Wiley (daughter of Minnie Carney) 
41. Ester Carney ( Lula's daughter) 
42. Ethel Jones (daughter of Minnie Carney) 
46. Loreena WIley (Lula's daughter) 
59. Lillie Dunn Lasiter
60. Charlie Carney 
63. Jane Carney Builderback 
65. Bernice Moore (later Bellis) 
66. Nellie Henson (later Bright and Tromley) 
68. Ema Calhoun (died the next month in 
Sept. 1928 of typhoid) 
70. Clala Durham (later Bowman) 
71. Fern Calhoun (Henry's daughter) 
74. Emer Henson Durham 
75. Dorma Durham (later Robbins) 
77. Clyde Franklin Moore 
79. ? Durham (John & Emer's daughter) 
81. Henry Calhoun 
82. Johnny Calhoun (Henry's son) 
83. Auddie Calhoun 
86. Wilma Bennett (a Calhoun neighbor) 
87. Nola Calhoun (Henry's daughter) 
88. Blanch Calhoun (Henry's daughter) 
89. Dorothy Calhoun (Henry's daughter) 
90. Belva Calhoun 
92. Odessa Carney Seitz 
94. ? Welch 
105. Nora Calhoun 
107. Exa Durham 
108. John Durham 
109. Sally Durham 
129. Norman Carney 
130. "Whiskey Maker" 
137. Mae King Peck (Margerie Jordan's mother) 
141. Joe Overstreet 
145. John Melton 
146. ? Carney 
154. ? Carney 
156. Dr. Clyde Blyth (a Dentist in Aurora - his wife taught 
home-ec at Aurora) 
157. Oval Wilson 
159. Joe "Bum" Swearingen 
162. (was visiting from outstate) 
163. (was visiting from outstate) 
165. James Franklin "Frank" Moore 
167. James Carrick Blythe (His wife, Mary Elmira
Carney died just a couple of months prior to his reunion) 
168. ? Calhoun 
172. John Marshall Taylor (Ruth Asher's grandfather) 
173. Edward Kerr Henson (Ruth Asher's father) 
177. Manard Taylor 
180. Neil McNeill 
182. Nadine Wiley 
185. Will Blythe 
184. Jewell Carney Snow 
188. Blanche Carney 
193. Jim Carney (son of George G. "Cooney" Carney) 
196. Buck "Rama" McNeill 
201. Henry "Hen" Carney (??) 
205. Jim Carney (Burton Carney's son, married a 
Henson) 
212. Isaac Epperly ?? 
217. Joe Dean McNeill 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Jeanne Kelley 
Sue Stringham 
Sue Stringham 
Sue Stringham 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Leona Ellingsworth  & Betty Brown
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Jim Bellis Family 
Ruth Asher 

Ruth Asher 
Sue Stringham 
Ruth Asher 
Sue Stringham 
Sue Stringham 
Jim Bellis Family 
Sue Stringham 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Sue Stringham 
Janice Parker 
Sue Stringham 
Sue Stringham 
Sue Stringham 
Ruth Asher 
Don & Lyle McNeill 
Ruth Asher 
Don & Lyle McNeill 
Don & Lyle McNeill 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 

Sue Stringham Jeanne Kelley 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Jim Bellis Family 

Jeanne Kelley 
Janice Parker 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher 
Don & Lyle McNeill 
Jeanne Kelley 
Jeanne Kelley 
Ruth Asher 
Ruth Asher and Jeanne Kelley 
Ruth Asher 
Don & Lyle McNeill 
Ruth Asher 

Ruth Asher 
Jeanne Kelley 
Lyle McNeill & Ruth Asher 

 

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