Detective Work: Part 1

Last November, I posted a photo that we've come to call the "teddy bear revolver photo." It features a cool cat standing in the shadows, three children, and a man in the center holding a teddy bear and a revolver. Originally, the mystery was simply the identity of the central figure. Since then, the mystery has changed and evolved; new information has surfaced, and new players have come forward to help work this out.

And it has been a blast! So instead of simply posting the identity of the mystery man, I shall show our work and reveal the various breadcrumb trails we followed to reach the final solution.

Part 1 follows reactions I received from the original post. I claimed that the man in the shadows was my great grandfather, Olin Ferrer. But Laverne Daly, grandaughter of Bertha McKee who grew up next door to the Ferrers, disagreed. I also claimed that the children were Owie Ferrer, Joseph Grace, and Hame Ferrer. Laverne disagreed with this as well.

The image below illustrates how we followed up on Laverne's feedback. Stay tuned for next week's post in which our detective work takes us into ... World War 1?!