{"id":1649,"date":"2022-12-12T14:33:24","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T14:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2022-12-12T23:01:13","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T23:01:13","slug":"updates-on-the-mystery-photo-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/2022\/12\/12\/updates-on-the-mystery-photo-album\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Bleness Family Collection: Updates on the Mystery Photo Album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Anna Denman, History ’23, Fall 2022 Archives Intern<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Archival
The entire O\u2019Bleness Family collection. The mystery photo album is no longer separated from its collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my first post<\/a> about the Mystery Photo Album, I wrote that I hoped to continue identifying photographs from the album and piecing together the O\u2019Bleness family\u2019s story. In the five weeks that followed my last post, I spent hours familiarizing myself with the O\u2019Bleness family, the stories of their lives, and their accomplishments as I processed their collection. The photographs, newspaper articles, letters, journals, invitations, and other materials that I examined as I explored the collection paint the picture of a close-knit family who loved both Athens and Ohio University. They used their wealth and success to support this town and institution. Although some of the photographs in the album and in the overall collection remain unidentified, I feel as through I have a much clearer picture of the O\u2019Bleness family and their influence on Athens than I did five weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent a few weeks completely reorganizing and re-boxing the entire collection, investigating each new box as I determined how the materials should be organized. As the collection has been sitting on a shelf and has not been reorganized since the seventies, everything needed to be placed in new acid-free boxes and archival preservers. I hope that the effort put into this reorganization will make it easy for O\u2019Bleness family members curious about their ancestor\u2019s history or any other researchers who may be interested in the family to view the full scope of the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection contained envelopes and folders full of both identified and unidentified photographs, so the process of separating these photographs and labeling the folders took some time. Each of these photographs contributed to my investigation into the O\u2019Bleness family. Photographs of the family\u2019s friends revealed who ran in the family\u2019s circle. As multiple of the family members held influential roles in Athens and Ohio University, it is unsurprising that the names of some of their friends might ring a bell to anyone familiar with OHIO and its history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I ran across multiple photographs of Dr. D.H. Biddle, and immediately wondered if this \u201cBiddle\u201d was the namesake for Ohio University\u2019s Biddle Hall. I searched Mr. Biddle\u2019s name on familysearch.org, discovering that \u201cD.H.\u201d stood for David Huntington. Dr. David Huntington Biddle was the brother of Dr. Thomas Rollin Biddle, Ohio University Trustee from 1900-1951 and namesake of Biddle Hall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry O\u2019Bleness, the patriarch of the O\u2019Bleness family, served as a member of Ohio University\u2019s Board of Trustees until his death in 1921. Searching the name \u201cO\u2019Bleness\u201d in Ohio University\u2019s digital archival collections led me to images of Ohio University\u2019s Board of Trustees minutes from 1906-1926. These records provide evidence of Dr. Thomas Biddle and Henry O\u2019Bleness working together on the board. Any of the names mentioned throughout the collection could lead a researcher down a similar rabbit hole, and I wish I had time to investigate them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr. D.H. Biddle in front of the O\u2019Bleness House at 16 E Union St, Athens, Ohio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I reorganized the collection, Manuscripts Archivist Greta Suiter provided me with three biographical files that she found in the Mahn Center\u2019s reading room. These files contained photographs, newspaper articles, and other documents discussing the public lives of Henry, Charles, and Ralph O\u2019Bleness. This was an excellent find, as these documents provided me with extensive knowledge of Charles O\u2019Bleness, to whom most of this collection once belonged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Newsclippings
Biographical File on Charles G. O’Bleness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although Charles passed away on May 31st<\/sup>, 1969, his legacy lives on at Ohio University. Charles\u2019 files revealed that he was responsible for founding OHIO\u2019s first varsity football team. According to the articles in his file, Charles, and a group of other OHIO students formed a makeshift football team in the fall of 1894. Charles went to the undergraduate athletic association to request a coach and manager for the team. The association elected Charles as team manager and tasked him with finding a coach. Sam McMillen, the coach hired by Charles, could not come so he decided to send Frank Remsburg in his place. Until Remsburg arrived, Charles coached the team using directions sent to him by McMillen through the mail. This means that, for a period, Charles was a founder, manager, and coach of Ohio University\u2019s first football team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles also helped establish the school\u2019s colors. When the team was founded, OHIO\u2019s colors were blue and white. The sporting goods manufacturer from which Charles ordered the team\u2019s first jerseys did not offer blue and white, so the team came together to decide on new colors. The team unanimously agreed on green and white, so Charles ordered green and white uniforms from the manufacturer, which is why those are still Ohio University\u2019s colors today. I find it hilarious that our beloved school colors came to be because some sporting goods manufacturer did not carry blue and white uniforms in 1894. Ralph later enjoyed playing on this team alongside his brother until a spinal injury at football practice led to Ralph’s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Ohio University Football Team, 1894<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
OHIO Football Team. Charles is second from the right in the top row, Ralph is in the center of the bottom row<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another notable record I came across in these files was an eight-page essay titled \u201cMemorandum on the Line of Descent of Henry O\u2019Bleness, From the Original Founders of the Family in America in the Year 1663.\u201d This memorandum begins with an introduction to the O\u2019Bleness family\u2019s original founder, Joost Houplines of the town of Houplines in the Nord department in Northern France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This record provides a detailed description of the Houplines family\u2019s travels until they reached America, but I will shorten the story for the purposes of this post. Joost changed his name to Joost Van Oblinus, which would eventually transform into today\u2019s \u201cO\u2019Bleness\u201d variation. He fled Houplines with his family in about 1649 and lived in the Palatinate of Mannheim in Germany until 1663, when the family travelled to America on the ship \u201cDe Boute Koe\u201d or \u201cThe Spotted Cow.\u201d Upon arrival, the family purchased land and helped found what is now Harlem, New York. The Memorandum provides a short description of each generation of the family until the ninth generation, which included Harry, Charles, Ralph, and Mame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been in contact with Lance O\u2019Bleness, a modern-day member of the O\u2019Bleness family, throughout the semester, as he has contributed heavily to the genealogical data on the family. Lance even created a website at www.obleness.us<\/a> where family members can register and help develop the family tree. His contributions to the O\u2019Bleness family\u2019s data on genealogical platforms have been an incredible help during my research. I hope that he will be able to visit the Mahn Center soon so that the knowledge provided by this collection may be included in this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Memorandum on the Line of Descent of Henry O’Bleness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next step in this process will be to digitize the collection. I will be working on digitizing the O\u2019Bleness family collection throughout the spring semester, which will allow researchers to connect to these records from anywhere in the world through Ohio University\u2019s digital archives.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In my final week as an intern at the Mahn Center, Greta Suiter and I visited the O\u2019Bleness family\u2019s plot at the West Union Street Cemetery. I have developed an emotional connection to the O\u2019Bleness family while exploring their photographs, letters, and records and researching their lives over the last few months. The home they lived in at 16 E. Union Street in Athens no longer exists, and Schoonover Center now stands in his place, so we can\u2019t stand in front of the old house and wonder about the lives of the people that called it home. This made visiting their graves a special experience for me. Although I will never uncover everything about the lives of the O\u2019Bleness family members, it brings me peace to know that Henry, Josephine, Harry, Ada, Charles, Elizabeth, Ralph, Mame and Fred were all laid to rest together in the town they loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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O’Bleness Family Gravesite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ralph and Josephine O’Bleness\u2019 Headstones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Josephine and Henry O’Bleness Headstones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Elizabeth, Charles, and Ralph O’Bleness’ Headstones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Henry O’Bleness’ Military Headstone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Gilbert, Jack. “OU’s First Team Credit to Founder.” Athens Messenger (Athens, OH), February 18, 1954, Sports Messenger.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Anna Denman, History ’23, Fall 2022 Archives Intern In my first post about the Mystery Photo Album, I wrote that I hoped to continue identifying photographs from the album and piecing together the O\u2019Bleness family\u2019s story. In the five weeks that followed my last post, I spent hours familiarizing myself with the O\u2019Bleness family, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,6],"tags":[63,80,64,16],"class_list":["post-1649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internships","category-manuscript-collections","tag-athens","tag-football","tag-obleness-family","tag-ohio-university"],"modified_by":"Greta Suiter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1649"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1690,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1649\/revisions\/1690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ohio.edu\/library-archives-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}