A customer plopped down stacks of vintage black-and-white photographs at the front counter of a Plant City thrift store. The victorian faces lured employee Ken King to their mystery — a man with a sheriff’s star, three daughters, a black couple in fine clothes.
The photographs had been found tucked away in the attic of a historic home in town.
King’s natural curiosity bubbled up.
Who were these people? Where did they come from? And why did they leave all these photographs behind?
He bought the photographs for $40. And he would devote the next six years of his life to finding out the answers to those questions.
THE MYSTERY UNRAVELS
The kitchen sink-sized, plastic bin King keeps the photographs in is stuffed to the top. Two velvet albums are falling apart, a glimmer of their former condition sparkling in the swirling metal latch. They date back to the late 1800s. King washes his hands after he handles them, unsure of if the old metal contains mercury.
The photographs came with an animal skin case packed with documents — land deeds, insurance contracts, business records. And most importantly, names.
“If it wasn’t for the paperwork, they’d just be pictures,” King said.
Their identity: the Jacobys.
He scours the internet, reconstructing the family line from bits and pieces he finds online, all in hopes of finding the living descendants of those ghostly figures in the photographs.
“The descendants of this family, if they still survive, would probably like to have these photos,” King said.
King has been interested in history since “his first breath.” He has spent hours upon hours searching through archives and the Internet to find shreds of information about his own family. To him, the tupperware full of the Jacoby’s memories is a treasure trove.
“If there were pictures of my family, I would love to have them,” King said. “But I don’t think they’re out there. That’s a one in a billion chance.”
He has come to know the faces in the photographs from night after night of studying them. He even has a favorite: a nameless man in a fedora. Many of the pictures are of him throughout his life, from when he was a child to his mid 20s. He never outgrew his chubby cheeks.
“I need his name to tie everyone together,” King said.
Another man who catches his eye wears a sheriff star. King said he looks like Leslie Nielsen with an Irish beard.
“I’d love to talk to their ancestors like I knew them,” King said.
And King does know them.
THE MYSTERY CONTINUES
There’s a lot of information King has gathered on the family, and as a student of history he has been able to make some assumptions about the family’s station in life.
Through the documents that accompanied the photographs, he learned that the family was made up of hardworking, career-minded individuals. They held a variety of job — farmers, shoe shop owners, sheriff.
The photographs were taken at a professional studio with a designed backdrop and impeccable lighting. The family members wear expensive wool clothing, pocket watches and silk bows.
“Back then, photographs were expensive,” King said. “And these are professional photography studios. To have that many they had to have some money or influence.”
Along with the family photographs is a portrait of a black couple dressed in equally sharp attire. This is a telling hint.
“What distinguishes these is the black couple,” King said. “What relationship did they have with them?”
King has a couple of hypotheses as to who the couple is. It is likely they were longstanding servants the Jacobys saw as part of the family, a nanny or caretaker. The couple just adds to the mystery surrounding the family.
Are they alive? How did the pictures get to Plant City from out of state? Will he ever find the family?
“It’s just a curiosity how they ended up in the attic,” King said. “Someone moved here and had to store them in that attic. So I wonder where they’ve gone.”
Have a lead?
Ken King hopes to find the descendants of the Jacoby family to give them back their family photographs and other documents. The pictures were found in an attic of a home in Plant City before the home was demolished. The family is from out of state.
If you have any leads or think you might have a relation to the family email Ken at jkbyphoto@tampabay.rr.com.
The next case
Along with the Jacoby family, Ken King bought another album found in the same attic belonging to the Cadiz family. King thinks the family is from the Tampa Bay area. The photographs date back from before World War II. There was also a 1980s-era program from a Tampa/Lutz funeral home. He hopes to find the family after he closes the Jacoby case.
“That’s a different story,” he said.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com
