Solved! My name is Thomas M. McKee

We're starting the year off with a bang by solving three photo mysteries in one!

Mystery 1: Telephone Man	New Evidence
Mystery 2: Man with Dog
Mystery 3: Man with Top Hat

Mel Ferrer recently discovered the photo at right, which not only features the same man, but also the signature of the sitter! In addition, we've discovered that actor-ancestor, Thomas Edward ("Tuck") Grace had the same "Man with Dog" photograph (currently owned by Cousin Maggie Grace Murphy). This photograph  features the inscription, "my great-grandfather." Since Thomas McKee was indeed Tuck's great grandfather, we can safely say, "Mystery solved!"

Now … if only we only knew more about Thomas himself. Here’s what is currently known:

Thomas Matthew McKee is my 3x great grandfather. He was born in about 1846 in England and in the 1870s came to America with his wife, Amelia Huetson. Sometime in the late 1880s he abandoned his family and moved to California. Although he never remarried, when he died in 1921 he tried to cut his family out of his will by leaving all of his sizable estate to his two half-sisters (names unknown).

According to family lore, his daughter (and my 2x great grandmother) Gertrude Grace, obtained power-of-attorney from her siblings, traveled to California, contested the will, won, and returned to Memphis with enough money to build side-by-side homes for herself and her sister Bertha.