Sunday

Is this Great Uncle Andrew Soderstrom?

Today I came across another of those "shakey leaves" on Ancestry.com.  I have conflicted feelings about those leaves, sort of a love /hate relationship. Those hints can be useful, very very useful. Those hints can be laughably wrong also.  This hint, which at first thrilled me (I love finding new photo of ancestors) also gives me some pause.

This photo hint came from the family tree of someone I do not know or recognize as being even a remote relative. The photo is identified as being Anders Olaf Söderström or my grand Uncle Andrew Soderstrom.


Below is a comparison of the photo with a photo to the right that is ABSOLUTELY Grand Uncle Andrew.



I knew Grand Uncle Andrew only as an elderly man and even then I met him just a few times when I was pretty young. This gentleman certainly strongly resembles Grand Uncle Andrew but here are my concerns.

 • Andrew would have been this age around 1910 however the style of dress appears earlier, perhaps 1880's?

• The face shape is the same. Same square jaw, wide forehead, eyes, nose and mouth but Andrew (right) appears thinner with features a bit finer.

• Andrew (right) has noticeably lighter eyes and complexion. Or is this just the lighting of each photograph?

 • Any earlier photo I already have seen of Andrew his hair is always side parted and seems almost blond while the gentleman to the left is surely dark haired.

   •The tree which it came from also had a photo of my grandmother Lydia Abrahamsson and identified it as a photo of her sister, and Andrews wife, Ruth Abrahamsson. This leads me to believe that the owner of this tree did not know Andrew and Ruth.

If not Andrew, could this be a close relative: father, brother or cousin?

All you Soderstroms, Liljegren, and Eckberg cousins, help me out if you can?


My Grand Uncle 
Anders Olof "Andrew" Soderstrom
b: 1 September 1888 Helgum, Angermanland, Sweden
d: 8 October 1960 Moline, Rock Island, Illinois, USA