The above (upper) photo was taken in Chaneysville, Bedford County, Pa., in the early (I think) 1900's. Can anyone identify the building facing us on the left?

(Oct 20, 1999)- Regina Williams of Chaneysville, PA. has identified the store on the left as belonging to Harry Aaron. For a closer look at the people on the porches of the two stores above. (Close-up) This may take a few minutes to load, but I think they're great. You'll also get to see a bit of the Hotel in the background.

Notice the Hotel in the background in both pictures. The store on the right was Fred Tewell's General Store. A different view of Tewell's General Store is shown below. Photos were not taken at the same time, but in the same time period. Notice the sign has been changed over the steps. I was told just recently that the Tewell General Store burned down several years ago. -

Below is a photo taken at about the same time as two of the above. Perhaps someone can explain where the photographer was standing in order to get this perspective. The original is quite faded and so it lacks a bit of detail, but it shows an overall view of Chaneysville in the early 1900's. You can spot two covered bridges to perhaps give you some clues. . . .

The Chaneysvile M. E. Church in the early 1900s. The Chaneysville Community Church October 1999.

Back for a visit and took this picture from the M.E. Church parking lot. (October 1999)

 

 

The Sweet Root Inn Hotel as it appeared in May, 2000

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(Added Nov 11, 1999)

The following is a map of Chaneysville taken from the 1877 "County Atlas of Bedford Pennsylvania"

published by F. W. Beers & Co., 36 Vesey Street, New York.

 

Item #1 on the map is the Sweet Root Inn Hotel (seen in the background of pictures one and two

and directly above).

Item # 2 on the map is the store in pictures 1 & 2 (owned by Harry Aaron at the time the pictures were taken).

 

Home (#3) was owned (in 1877) by William Knee's father Phillip Knee, who was born in 1826 and died in

Chaneysville in 1892. Phillip first married Elizabeth Lenchbaugh who was born in 1833. By the time this map

was made, Phillip's wife was Mary Jay who was born in 1843 and died in 1890. Elizabeth had died in 1866 and

Phillip remarried in about 1870. Phillip was the father of at least 18 children, 9 with both Elizabeth & Mary.

 

Item #4 is the William Henry Knee home that is shown in the pictures directly above.

 

The Chaneysville M. E. Church (pictures above) is item # 5 on the map.

The following photo was taken at the Chaneysville Normal School on June 23, 1908 according to the writing on the slate being held by the young lady in the front row. Can someone identify any of the people in the photo?

The following picture is also a Chaneysville School Photo (I suspect also a normal school class). There appears to be at least one person in common in these two school pictures. The person in the first row, extreme left, appears to be the same in both pictures. Three of my relatives are in the photo below:

Conda Roy Knee (1886-1956) son of William Henry Knee (1853-1932) (who was a cabinet maker and undertaker in Chaneysville) and Elisa Hamilton (1857-1888) is seated in the first row, second from the left.

Norman W. Cooper (1882-1954) son of George W. Cooper (1854-1938) (who was a well known carpenter in southern Bedford County) and Sarah Catherine Mundwiler (1854-1939) is in the second row, third from the left.

Effie May Cooper (1886-1975) daughter of George and Sarah Cooper. The Cooper parents lived their last years in a home on the corner (next to the church) in Clearville, Pa. Effie is sitting next to her brother (fourth from the left in the second row).

Conda Knee and Effie Cooper married a couple years after this picture was taken (1911) and two years later, moved to Shelby, Richland County, Ohio.

Perhaps you recognize some more of the people in these photos. If so, please contact me and I'll be pleased to add the additional information. I suspect that I'm not alone in feeling that I was negligent in not inquiring in more detail from my relatives about the identity of these and other people in photographs that have now come to be in my possession. Perhaps this is way that we can attach names to individuals that can no longer inform us themselves.

Would anyone care to comment on this photo? It was in a group of photos of the Chaneysville area, but I can't be sure of that relationship. There is no writing on the reverse.

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