Genealogy #69: Database Researching

I see myself in every one of the faces in this photo (taken sometime in the 1930's) of my mother, her parents and five of her seven younger siblings. These faces are the foundation of my family and the familiarity is both comforting and unsettling. Knowing the intricate details of their past and of the future each has yet to experience seems somehow invasive. I don't know why they're all dressed up or where they're going but this photo seems full of expectation and the security that comes from being part of a large family. Around the time this photo was taken, my family owned and operated a laundry in Detroit. One of the documents my co-worker found was a 1930 census document - recently made available in 2002 - from Detroit, Michigan where my mother's family lived in a "flat," a residence built above the family laundry business. My mom confirmed the street address as "Ferry Park" but couldn't remember the name of the laundry. As stated in the module, the handwritten notes listing the head of household was interesting and could be challenging depending on the penmanship of the census-taker. I checked out many, but not all of the websites listed in the module but was largely unsuccessful. HeritageQuest did not impress me and yielded many dead ends. I'm not sure if the snafus were generated because of phonetically spelled or misspelled names but I kept running into obstacles. Also, many Chinese names are listed surname first, given name second. This was true in the case of my great-grandfather, of which little is known. As the oldest grandchild, my mother recalls meeting him once when he was ill and came to Houston to live with their family for a short time. There is mystery surrounding him, not the least of which is the enigmatic Caucasian wife (not my great-grandmother, which must be a whole other story) he brought with him. My mother only remembers her as "tight-faced and blonde," a description which cracks me up but is typical of my mother. Later, she called me to add that her name "might have been Helen." Also, she had a parrot by the name of "Rosebud." Interesting that these minute details are what are memorable of this first and last family reunion. There's one photo in existence, apparently, of my great-grandfather and that is of him holding a violin. The whereabouts of this photo are currently unknown. My mother rattles off a list of various siblings who may have pilfered the family heirloom but personally, I strongly suspect "fowl" play on the part of the parrot.