{"id":202254,"date":"2026-04-19T01:18:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202254\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T01:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:18:25","slug":"old-photos-reunite-new-york-and-wyoming-branches-of-whaley-family-after-125-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202254\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Photos Reunite New York And Wyoming Branches Of Whaley Family After 125 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

While growing up in Niagara Falls, New York, Ernie Whaley\u2019s prized possession was a brown bear rug.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was his only tangible connection to his family in Shell, Wyoming, that he had visited decades ago as a young boy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember a woman they called Aunt Franny,\u201d said Whaley, 68. \u201cWhen I left, she gave me a bear rug that had the head and claws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ernie had kept the rug in his room for years and only knew that a relative had shot it. He wasn\u2019t even sure who \u201cAunt Franny\u201d was until his nephew, Will Whaley, started posting family pictures on the \u201c10 Things I remember about Greybull, Wyoming\u201d Facebook page.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will, 36, had inherited\u00a0a 1925 family album of a road trip to Yellowstone and Wyoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wanted to know who the people were and almost immediately, two of his Whaley first cousins, twice removed, contacted him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will also heard from old family friends and others who knew the Wyoming Whaleys well. T<\/p>\n

he people and locations in the old family album were quickly identified, and Will was ecstatic to receive family stories.<\/p>\n

The Wyoming branch knew right away who had shot the bear that had become his Uncle Ernie\u2019s rug.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Grandpa Tom who shot the bear,\u201d Cynthia Whaley Lanahan, 63, told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cI have a picture of him holding the bear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her Grandma Franie would have been a widow when Ernie visited and Lanahan was a youngster herself at the time. Their grandfathers were brothers which would make them first cousins, once removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know I had family in New York still, but that is where my grandfather and grandmother met,\u201d Lanahan said. \u201cMy grandfather had gone out there to go to college, and was working at the cereal factory when he met my grandmother and got married.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Left,Left, despite losing touch with their relatives in Wyoming, the Whaley family in New York was aware of its Wyoming history because of an article written in the December 1970 True Frontier magazine. Right, Clifford \u201cCliff\u201d Whaley (far right) was raised in Shell, Wyoming on the family homestead. In the early 1900s, he was sent to school in Niagara Falls, New York with his younger brother, Thomas. While Thomas returned to Wyoming with his New York bride, Cliff ended up living in New York permanently where his descendants remain. (Frontier Magazine, December 1970; Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"CliffordClifford Whaley was raised in Shell, Wyoming, on the family homestead. In the early 1900s, he went to school in New York and met his future wife, Evelyn Hill Whaley. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"ErnestErnest Whaley, the son of Clifford Whaley, lived in Wyoming for a few years after the death of his first wife. He returned to New York, his hometown, when his mom asked him to come back. The photo of him in his cowboy hat is a prized photo of his family who have always been proud of their Western roots. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)Arrow leftArrow rightDigging Up The Family Story<\/p>\n

Will, the great-grandson of Clifford Whaley of Shell, had inherited the family photos after his father died last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What little that Will knew about his family roots were from an article in the December 1970 Real Frontier magazine by Vera Saban, who he later learned was one of his many Wyoming relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saban had written that Will\u2019s great-grandfather, Cliff, had first arrived in Shell in 1890 from Texas when he was only a toddler and Tom, Cynthia\u2019s grandfather, had not yet been born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whaley family lore said that Cliff\u2019s wails from the covered wagon would bring the men over because the youngster did not want to ride with his mother and siblings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They then would take turns carrying the two and half year old on their horses most of the fifteen hundred miles to Wyoming.<\/p>\n

William and Alice Whaley, Cliff\u2019s parents, had married in 1874. They had six children and seven crop failures when William got Oregon fever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They loaded their children and belongings into wagons and on horses for the long trek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their oldest, Lucy, was 11 years old and their youngest Jay, was less than 3\u00a0months old, when they headed to their new home.<\/p>\n

At South Pass, Saban wrote that William chose the path leading to the right and left the Oregon Trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They wintered in Lander and decided that Wyoming would be their new home rather than Oregon. William then, after much time searching out land, chose Shell Creek for his new homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften Alice Cutter Whaley lifted her eyes to the magnificent Big Horns, and took courage,\u201d Saban wrote. \u201cThe first day she had come to this valley she had noticed the inverted wedge of a mountain at the mouth of Horse Creek.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wedge formed a perfect \u201cW\u201d in the face of the mountain that Alice believed stood for Whaley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She saw the \u201cW\u201d as an omen, and Saban said “that this settling in was the right one and hopefully, the last one for the Whaley family.”<\/p>\n

For most of the Whaley family that was true, but not for one son.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WilliamWilliam and Alice Whaley arrived in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 where they raised eight children. Seven remained in Wyoming but their son, Clifford, moved to New York for school. He raised his own family back East and kept in touch with his Wyoming family but, over the years, the families lost touch. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"WilliamWilliam and Alice Whaley arrived in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 where they raised eight children. Seven remained in Wyoming but their son, Clifford, moved to New York for school. He raised his own family back East and kept in touch with his Wyoming family but, over the years, the families lost touch. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"WilliamWilliam and Alice Whaley arrived in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 where they raised eight children. Seven remained in Wyoming but their son, Clifford, moved to New York for school. He raised his own family back East and kept in touch with his Wyoming family but, over the years, the families lost touch. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)Arrow leftArrow rightEastern Migration<\/p>\n

According to family history that had been handed down through both family lines, Clifford and his younger brother, Thomas Whaley, were sent from their ranch in Wyoming to Niagara Falls, New York, to go to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was the home state of their mother Alice, and it is surmised that she kept connections back East. Both young men were employed at the Shredded Wheat Company, later known as Nabisco.<\/p>\n

Tom ultimately returned to Wyoming with his New York bride, Franie, but Cliff stayed and raised his family back East, continuing to work for the cereal company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He kept in touch with his family, but the distance and time proved too much and the ties grew weaker with each succeeding generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur branch of the family pretty much has stayed in Western New York since,\u201d Will said. \u201cOur family history has always been important \u2014 my dad, my aunt \u2014 they always shared stories growing up about Wyoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InIn 1925, Clifford Whaley of New York took his family on a vacation to Wyoming where he had grown up. They visited family and Yellowstone. A century later, his great-grandson posted these pictures on Facebook and was able to reconnect with his Wyoming relatives. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"InIn 1925, Clifford Whaley of New York took his family on a vacation to Wyoming where he had grown up. They visited family and Yellowstone. A century later, his great-grandson posted these pictures on Facebook and was able to reconnect with his Wyoming relatives. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"Left,Left, Tom Whaley is pictured with a brown bear he shot near Shell, Wyoming. The bear rug was then given to his young nephew, Ernie Whaley, who grew up in New York, only dimly aware of his relatives in Wyoming and not sure of the history of the rug. Right, the photo Will Whaley posted an old family photo of unknown relatives in Shell, Wyoming on the \u201c10 Things I Remember About Greybull\u201d Facebook page. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)\"WillWill Whaley of New York posted an old family photo of unknown relatives in Shell, Wyoming on the \u201c10 Things I Remember About Greybull\u201d Facebook page and within a day, the relatives were identified as his great-grandfather\u2019s aunt and uncle. Whaley was also reconnected with lost family members in Wyoming and is discovering family stories about his pioneer roots in the Cowboy State. (Courtesy Ernie Whaley)Arrow leftArrow rightTrips Back To Wyoming<\/p>\n

Cliff had gone back to Wyoming briefly with his new bride to live with his parents on the ranch but ended up returning to New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI could just imagine my grandfather leaving Wyoming and going to Niagara Falls where they had trolleys,\u201d Ernie said. \u201cIt was just different, but he did good socially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cliff was a Freemason and his wife was an Eastern Star. Ernie said that his grandparents did a lot of entertaining and used to play pinochle with their friends.<\/p>\n

Each generation thereafter would return briefly to visit relatives in Wyoming and even move temporarily until the families completely lost touch of each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the connections were lost, Cliff took his family to Wyoming for a long vacation and this is the 1925 photo album that prompted Will to post pictures on Facebook and connect with his Wyoming relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another trip that the New York Whaley\u2019s are aware of back to Wyoming is when Cliff\u2019s son, Ernest, born in 1911, worked on the ranch in Wyoming when he was a young man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The picture of his dad in his cowboy hat is one of Ernie\u2019s favorite family portraits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDad had a first wife that died in childbirth, and he left, and headed out to Wyoming, worked on his grandfather’s ranch for a couple years,\u201d Ernie said. \u201cThe story goes that his mom missed him so much, she talked him into coming back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ernie\u2019s own visit to Wyoming, when Aunt Franie gave him the bear rug, was in the 1960s. He remembers his usually cautious mom trying to take his photo with a live bear in Yellowstone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother decides she\u2019s going to get out of the truck with me, have me toss bread to a bear, and take a picture,\u201d Ernie said. \u201cWe get out, I toss the bread, the bear grabs it without stopping and keeps coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I ran, jumped in the truck, slammed the door and she was so mad at me because she didn\u2019t get her picture.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ernie\u2019s older brother, Will\u2019s dad, also lived in Wyoming for a spell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my brother went out, he went to Shell and was asking around, and the waitress says, I’m just looking at you, I can tell you’re a Whaley,\u201d Ernie said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2007, Will made his own trip to Wyoming as a young teenager with his family, but by then, the family had lost touch with all their relatives and only visited the landmarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Whaley family had homesteaded in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 and all but one of the eight children had raised their own families in Wyoming. (Courtesy Cynthia Whaley Lanahan)\"TheThe Whaley family had homesteaded in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 and all but one of the eight children had raised their own families in Wyoming. (Courtesy Cynthia Whaley Lanahan)\"TheThe Whaley family had homesteaded in Shell, Wyoming, in 1890 and all but one of the eight children had raised their own families in Wyoming. (Courtesy Cynthia Whaley Lanahan)\"CynthiaCynthia Whaley Lanahan grew up in Greybull, Wyoming and knew that her great-grandmother was originally from New York. She didn\u2019t realize, however, that one of her great-uncle\u2019s had gone back and raised a branch of the family in New York until her first cousin, twice removed, started posting old family photos on Facebook. (Courtesy Cynthia Whaley Lanahan)Arrow leftArrow rightReconnecting With Wyoming<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was always very interested in Wyoming and just the West in general,\u201d Will said. \u201cHe had a real fascination with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Will was left with the photo album, he was eager to learn all he could about his Wyoming family and is excited to learn what other family treasure he has yet to uncover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just googled \u201cWhaley Wyoming\u201d and found a post about a Jim Whaley,\u201d Will said. \u201cI had a picture in the album that says ‘Jim\u2019s Cabin,’ so I posted that, and I thought maybe there are still people out there that would care about these.\u201d<\/p>\n

The picture was recognized and Jim was identified as an uncle to the Whaley\u2019s in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily members I didn\u2019t know existed have reached out,\u201d Will said. \u201cEven people who aren\u2019t family are saying how cool it is \u2014 what a great piece of Wyoming history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanahan is just as excited to meet her New York family members. She\u00a0had grown up in Greybull, unaware she still had relatives back in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now she is working with Will to add the new branch to the Whaley family tree on ancestry.com.<\/p>\n

She said that they had just held a Whaley family reunion in Shell and would love to plan another get-together so that the Wyoming Whaley\u2019s can meet their long-lost relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really cool to discover connections you didn\u2019t know existed,\u201d Will said. He is still reeling from the shock of finding his extended family so quickly and the eagerness they all have to\u00a0one day meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWyoming just always was important to us,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been cool to discover our family stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While growing up in Niagara Falls, New York, Ernie Whaley\u2019s prized possession was a brown bear rug.\u00a0 It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-202254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-city-news","12":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}