A California gathering of Utah friends

My Bird ancestors were early photography enthusiasts. As a result, I have access to hundreds of old photos, some dating back to the earliest days of photography. Happily, many are labeled with names, dates, and places. 

In addition to family members, there are photos of friends, neighbors, and colleagues. I love sharing photos that someone else's family might be grateful to see! Tagging photos and documents to a deceased individual's profile in the FamilySearch Family Tree will trigger a notification to relatives of that individual (as determined by connections in the shared Family Tree), alerting them to the photo's presence when they log in. 

This photo of Birds and friends/colleagues from MT Bird album #12 was taken in July 1948. Back row, L to R are Kenneth Madsen, Fred and Elizabeth Knobel, my grandparents MT and Florence Bird, and David Madsen. In front are Luna Brite, wife of Duncan Brite, and Mary Collins Madsen. (Was Duncan Brite possibly the one who took the picture?)

Drs. Bird, Madsen, and Brite were all professors at the Utah State "ag college" in the late 1930s. Fred Knobel was a Federal Land Bank Appraiser who lived in Utah during that timeframe. 

The photo was labeled with names and the month/year it was taken, but did not give the location. It seemed likely to be California, but I couldn't be sure. Resources from Google Books and Google Street View helped reveal the location as the Madsen home on South 14th Street in San Jose, California.

A brief bio in American Men of Science, A Biographical Directory (1949, Jaques Cattell, 8th edition) for Dr. Madsen was key to connecting the dots, confirming his connection to Utah State as well as providing his home address: 480 S. 14th Street in San Jose.

Using Google Street View and that home address, I was able to find a recent photo of the house. While the exterior "chalet" trim has been removed, it is easy to see similarities in the windows, roofline, porch, and pillars.

Enlarging the old photo makes the house number (480) clear. Enlarging the Street View photo reveals a faint "480" in that photo, too.

David Madsen's first wife, Anna Mir, died in 1946. The MT Bird family moved to San Jose in 1947. I have a vague memory of my grandmother telling me that when they moved to California, they bought furniture from the Madsens because David Madsen had remarried and his new wife "did not want the furniture from the first wife." 

Bonus find: MT Bird was also listed in the Men of Science directory for 1949, including details of his professional career that I had never heard before.