These pictures are phenomenal. What amazing pieces of history they've captured.
Frances looks incredible - and to be holding a child born 100 years later. That is amazing.
Old photos part 2
Harper, you come from a line of very attractive ancestors! My mother also came from a family of 15. Only 12 lived to adulthood.
What is Frances' secret to longevity:-) She looks amazing!
love them Nancy... you are so blessed to have all these family photos
Loved the Auntie & baby photo--it should be framed! Jo Ann---do you have any photos of your Grandpa on the farm? Harper, & Kathy---how wonderful that you have such photos in your possession---I've got to get into my Mom's attic, but not sure how much is left in the way of photos.
Dnut, I love being the granddaughter of a cobbler. How 'bout you?!
Nancy, that is the most wonderful family photo I've ever seen. I love it! Everyone dressed so well in those days. You have so many great photos. I'm impressed that with such a large family, the photos didn't get lost. How teriffic is it that your aunt Frances made it to 100?! The shot of your Papa on the gin wagon is priceless. I can see the cobblestone patterns in the road. Nancy, correct me if I'm wrong, or worse, rude, but was your great grandmother white and your great grandfather black? A mixed marriage these days can be difficult in some places. In those days, it was darn near impossible. Just curious!
You know, Dave, I had never noticed that poster in Granddad's shop until I put the pic up here on DG. That sure is an NRA poster. If my grandfather hunted or even owned a gun, I didn't know it, nor did my mother. That doesn't mean he didn't support the effort. I think things were different back then, too. You couldn't own an A-K47 back then. Owning guns hadn't gotten as out of control as they seem nowadays.
Great eye, Victor!! I took a photo of that photo at my cousin, Nina's house. Everything behind me reflected in the glass. Next time I go there, I'll try and find the foxy lady!
Thank you Jadajoy!
Marilyn, I don't have any photos in my posession. : ( My cousin has them and I took snapshots of them when I was visiting her house. When I go out to visit my mother in December, I'll take more shots of some other family pics that she has. If the thread is still going, I'll post them here.
Harper
You're not rude at all, Harper.
Mama's family tree is pretty mixed up. Her father & mother never married. She had 5 half sisters. 3 shared the same father, 2 shared the same mother. It's all very convoluted!
Both of Mama's parents were from Scotland (Isle of Skye).
They were crofter families. Crofters farmed on land they didn't own. Basically, their "rent" was paid with the crops they harvested.
The crofters were driven from their homes and many of the people emigrated to the US, Canada and British Isles.
That's how they ended up in St Kitts (British West Indies), where Mama was born.
Mama & Papa met & fell in love. Clementine (Mama's mother) was not a happy camper. It was bad enough that Mama was illegitimate, why did she want to add to the stigma by marrying a Black man?
Papa left St Kitts for America & Mama followed a couple of years later.
They married in 1902 (on Sept 24... my birthday!).
My mother said she doesn't recall hearing about any problems with their interracial marriage. She thinks people assumed Mama was just a very light-skinned black person. Her features were such that she could have been. Who the heck knows what gene pool was involved a century ago.
My mothers siblings ranged from very dark (like Papa) to tan to light. Some were born with dark hair, some were curly blonde. When the next generation started appearing, it was a crap shoot as to how they would look.
It makes for an interesting mix, that's for sure.
You never know when a recessive gene will pop out. It's a good thing we have these photos to show where we came from!
Otherwise a lot of the babies would have been blamed on the milkman!
LOL!
That is an incredible family history gabagoo! Sofonisba I like being a cobbler's gd too! It is such an interesting trade and not very common any more. I think my shoeguy would faint if I asked him to make me a pair of shoes (or a bridle) ^_^
Fascinating!! I'm glad I asked and I'm glad I know you. Thank you so much for such an in-depth answer. I loved hearing about the history. : )
Dnut, what's a bridle? Even more interesting, is when my sister was in high school (late 70s), she worked in the town's only cobbler shop. It's long out of business now.
As in a bridle for a horse http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//2000/300/30/1/42331.jpg
Wow - great family history, Nancy! It's true - there has always been so much mingling of the genes that it's silly to even try to classify - not only race, but ethnicity, nationality, etc. The show on Nat Geo certainly bore that out! Like a great soup - it's the combination of the flavors that makes it so good.
Harper - and the bridle suite is for that strange guy with odd habits. ^_^
I love peach cobbler.
I think Mama takes after her dad Harry. I love looking at the resemblances in families. I used to draw and paint portraits so I can't help noticing. I think I look the most like a second cousin in my father's family. I often see cousins that look alike.
Could be a problem if you paint the mailman, booj!
Very neat story, Nancy.
my sister looks exactly like one of my cousins - of course my fathers sister did marry my mothers brother
Gosh, what a great story, Nancy. I know that older generations don't always think that their stories are interesting to the younger ones or they're ashamed, so sometimes you don't hear what everyone really thought and why. I was also going to remark on how handsome your family is . . .
It's so cool, this connection you all have with what you're descended from . . .
i agree nancy, those pictures and your famliy history is very interesting!
It's a great story---you're lucky, Nancy, that you know your family's history---I only know up to my grandparents. And I look more like my Cousin Jim than I look like my brother or sister.
Here's a pic of Papa's mama... called "Yaya".
Her name was Mary Christiana Nias Brown. She was 89 at the time this was taken.
This was taken in 1947 when Papa & one of his sons took a trip to St Kitts. It was Papa's 1st time back since he emigrated to the US in 1902.
Imagine not seeing you mother for 45 years!
They brought her a copy of the pic I posted above of the whole family.
They had sent her assorted photos over the years but this was the first time she was able to see all her grandchildren together. She cried.
i bet she cried and i'm sure everyone else did too! you are lucky to have all these photo's to remember your family.
Here are Mama's relatives.
The MacLachlans.
Left to right -Douglass (uncle), Donald (grandfather) and James (great-uncle)
yes you are very lucky to have all those!!!... amazing in fact... the only family I know on my moms side is my grandmother... everyone else is still in poland.. no clue about any of them.. my mom has some photos and she might not know who some of them are... nothing like the gems you are posting
One more - Papa with 4 of his 8 brothers. I don't know the year it was taken.
(Photo not in the greatest condition as you can see)
In the rear: Septimus & James. Front: Charles, Hilton & Hezekiah (Papa)
I think these were the one ones who came to the US. I think the others remained in St Kitts.
This message was edited Sep 29, 2009 10:57 PM
Nancy - your posts here reminded me to look at your weekly garden pictures that I liked so much last year.
And then I got caught up in your family album. I just LOVE the picture of your mother and her sisters at Little Olive's wedding.
So are you the genealogist in the family?
My mother was a geneaologist and wrote a book about the Descendants of Nathan Spicer. She did all her work via letters back and forth from Fairbanks Alaska in the 60's and early 70's. On our vacations to the Lower '48 we'd always stop and get pictures at a few cemeteries. I haven't gotten to your cemetery photos yet.
Kathy
So handsome - and those names!
LOL! Yep, some of the names are unusual.
Septimus was saddled with an odd middle name as well - Onisimus!
Imagine going through life as Septimus Onisimus Brown!
Papa was Hezekiah Hilkiah Atherling Brown.
Other brothers, Prince Alphios & Hilton Hymenus.
Coolimus!!
Nancy, just priceless.
Victor, that was funny! I found the ghost girl-cool.
Harper, Victor explained (above)that it was a different NRA that was part of FDR's New Deal. The national Recovery Act. Not too different from our new recovery act.
Thanks Jen.
Not a problem.
Those are great names! I think most names today are rather ho-hum.
Wow, great photos, names, history, EVERYTHING!! Thank you so much for sharing this, Nancy.
Oh! National Recovery Act! At first, I thought Victor was joking. I guess that's one instance where being the jokester gets in the way of being believed. (hee he...). Thanks for posting the info Jen!
I guess I have always loved flowers. This is about what my garden looks like right now..slim pickins and falling "peadles". I think I was about 5.
Sweet!!!
Awwwwww!
"peadles"
That's SO cute!
That is a much better word. Just edited my Webster. Thanks abbyday.
Too cute!
very cute!!
Got some old pics from my other. Took pics of a few.
Here are my grandparents (dad's side). Check out my grandfather's haircut! Decades ahead of his time.
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