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Family hoping to find military photo of great-grandfather sold by accident

Juanita MacLean is hoping to find the person who bought a cherished photo of her grandfather in a sale earlier this fall.

The photo of Herbert Victor Betts, a handsome, moustached man in a military uniform, was sold by accident in a household sale in mid-September. And MacLean wants it back.

She said the picture was in a large, oval, wooden frame and originally hung in her mother and father's home on the Kingston Peninsula.

The picture ended up in the house of one of her sisters in Lincoln, southeast of Fredericton.

MacLean, who lives in the Fredericton area, said her sister died a few years ago and her brother-in-law died last fall.

Left to clean out their parents' house, MacLean's nephews decided to hold a household sale.

It's sad that it got sold by mistake, and I would like to see it hang in the legion. - Juanita MacLean

They let people in the house to walk around and buy items, which included the picture of MacLean's grandfather.

"They didn't realize it was a picture of their great-grandfather," she said. "They put it in with the yard sale stuff and someone picked it up."

MacLean said her brother, Terry Campbell, would like to hang the picture in the Royal Canadian Legion.

She believes her grandfather is wearing the uniform of the New Brunswick Rangers in the photo and thinks it was taken during the Second World War.

MacLean has posted the photo on Facebook and is hoping social media will help her find the photo's buyer.

"But chances are it's gone. Like someone would have bought it for the frame and took the picture out, that's what I'm worried about.

"I mean it's been shared hundreds and hundreds of times on Facebook."

Facebook/Juanita MacLean
Facebook/Juanita MacLean

But MacLean is not giving up hope.

Finding the picture would mean everything to her family, she said.

"Oh, it would mean a lot, it would mean a lot. It's sad that it got sold by mistake and I would like to see it hang at the legion."