Photo Hunters: Family
October 18, 2008 by Mrs. Mecomber
Filed under Photo Hunters, eternal life, history
I love looking at old photos. The people in them have such interesting faces. I like to think about what life was like for them back then, before electricity, running water, and computers! I’m sure life was very hard– lots of labor as evidently etched on their faces– but they had their wonderfully simple joys, too. I have an old cake tin filled with 90-year old birthday cards, baby announcements, and invitations to dinner. Those old papers once belonged to my great-grandmother and she had labeled them to be burned after her death in 1967. But my grandmother wouldn’t burn them; she saved them, and I got them after her death. I’m glad she saved them. They are a tiny window to the past, enabling me to see and understand the simple pleasures and pains of time gone by.
I caught the genealogy bug from my late grandmother. I’ve managed to research one of my parents all the way back to the 600s, to a Norse king. It is so neat to discover your own family history! I found out that my family tree includes Half-Dan the Old (a Viking king); a king of Jerusalem in the 900s; William the Conqueror; Eleanor of Aquitaine; a few kings of England; a Mayflower passenger; a Lexington, Massachusetts, Revolutionary War hero; a Civil War hero; and numerous pioneers.
I have a small collection of photos, too. It is so neat to look at one’s ancestors and see their features on the faces of one’s children! It is amazing!
Here’s a very old photo, dating to around the Civil War:
I wish I knew who these people were– they are ancestors but the photo is unlabeled. But the older woman looks strinkingly like my late grandmother! The gentleman also resembles Silas Fyler, a pioneer of Central New York (when it was uninhabited by white men). His family had come here from Connecticut, descended from the famous Walter Fyler of Windsor, Connecticut.
Here’s another one dating from that era. That tall girl is my great-great grandmother. Her great-great-great(etc) grandfather, a young teacher names George Soule, stepped off the Mayflower in 1620.
When that young lady grew up, she married this handsome man from Western New York. My youngest son resembles him so much that it is striking! He is my great-great grandfather.
The man died from a bad leg amputation in 1889. He left his wife with 5 very young children. This photo was taken of them shortly after his death. The woman manages a smile, but the children are very sullen. That little girl kneeling to the right is my great-grandmother. I am named after her. I never knew her, because she died three months after my birth. I heard she was a fun-loving, spunky woman. I think I would have loved her very much.
Here’s my grandmother with her nephew. This photo was taken in 1932, when she was about 12 years old. She looks a little like that girl in the photo above (my great-great grandma) with the two girls at the table.
Finally, this is me. Well, no it’s not REALLY me! This is the lady I use for my avatar. She is my great-great aunt. I like this photo a lot. She looks so intense! And her brown eyes are so steady and firm.
So there you have a little story to go along with some old photos of my family! How did your Photo Hunt go today?
Comments are FIXED! Please leave your comments. This blog will no longer self-destruct when you do. Wow, what a day…
diXymiss on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 4:07 pm
What a rich family history! It’s a delight to look at vintage photographs and imagine what lives were like in those times gone by.
jams O'Donnell on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 4:08 pm
What wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing
RJ Flamingo on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 4:40 pm
That was great fun — I love looking at old photos, too. It’s a shame that you can’t i.d. that first one. At my house, anything in a frame has a label on it for just that reason.
Stop by if you get the chance – I took a different direction altogether!
http://flamingofotos.blogspot.com
aeirin on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 5:30 pm
wow. great collection of family pictures….
Mrs. Mecomber on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 5:33 pm
Testing comments. Please don’t self destruct…
KylieM on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 5:59 pm
What awesome photos, it is so fantastic to have them. I have some although they aren’t as old as this. Thanks for sharing.
Me on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 6:07 pm
Testing comments.
Cathi on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 6:16 pm
Your photo collection of ancestors is wonderful. I so envy you being able to trace your geneology so far back. That is fantastic! I love geneology however I cannot seem to get back any further than my great grandparents. The sad thing is there are published books out there with my family records but noone seems to know where they are.
Siobhan on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 6:22 pm
I love looking at old pics, they’re amazing. I wish I could teleport right into them and talk to people from even just a few hundred years ago. That would be so brilliant.
P.S. An ancestor of my husband’s was the captain of the Mayflower. And, his maternal grandfather’s uncle was Butch Cassidy. Cool, eh?
peppylady on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 6:36 pm
Thank you for stopping in and sure glad I came back what a wonderful history.
I done some genealogy in my family but haven’t for while.
My great grand mother on my dad father side came from New York, a town of VanHornsville in county of Hermerkier. But she left when she was five and move to Michigan.
jerla on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 6:46 pm
hi i was here visitng you, thanks for ur comment. You got a nice family pictures here too. I’m sure those are your ancestors!
Tammy on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:12 pm
Wow, wonderful photos! I wish I had photos dating back that far.
Thanks for stopping by my PH post!
Staci on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:12 pm
It’s amazing that you’ve been able to trace your family back through so many generations. I enjoyed reading and seeing such wonderful photos.
Thanks for stopping by today!
marites on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:18 pm
you are so lucky to be able to trace your family way far back. I would have love to be able to do that with my own. But there were no photos that could help me start. Thanks for stopping by my PH post:)
Marie on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:32 pm
Like you, I love vintage photographs! I always wonder what life was like at that time for those people. How much did they have to save for that picture? Were they always somber, or did they have fun? What was their idea of fun? So many questions and, most of the time, fewer answers!
Beautiful pictures! Also a wonderful tribute to your family!
http://dragynm.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/oct-18-2008-photo-hunt-family/
annant on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:38 pm
oh-so-vintage-pics u have!
like them!
have a great weekend!
Tara @ Feels like home on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:43 pm
You are so fortunate to have photos of your ancestors. I think the earliest pictures of my family are from the 1950′s. It’s unfortunate.
Alice Audrey on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 7:48 pm
You have a lot of great old photos! Thanks for sharing.
The Social Frog on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 8:20 pm
Wow, great old family photos
Thanks for visiting my blog!
jewels on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 8:22 pm
I love vintage pictures. Thank you for leaving the link on my blog when you visited. I, too, love genealogy. It’s so awesome journeying back in time to find distant relatives. Hope your day was great.
inyang on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 8:32 pm
oh dear, i really enjoyed your photos especially the stories that goes behind each of them. lovely!
thanks for dropping by at my entry
ian on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 8:50 pm
wow! it’s such a delight to be able to work and uncover tangible ties to your past. not too many people are as fortunate or as patient =] well done =]
Jenny A. on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 8:53 pm
That was really neat. I had wondered about your avatar—and now I know! I also scan those old photos and try to get the slightest inkling about their personalities. Cool! Thanks for the visit!
Dianne on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:02 pm
These are wonderful photos! I know my fellow collage artists would love these too. I have bought a bunch off of eBay and copied them to use in art.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and your nice comments.
Gabriel on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:04 pm
Absolutely amazing. What a great bunch of vintage pictures you have!! The story was very well put together too. A great post for this week’s PhotoHunt. I’m glad I came!
Thanks for dropping by. Have a great week!
My post…
Clara on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:09 pm
Great photos! My brother has the genealogy bug, too. One of our ancestors brought the first plow to North America. The rest of us are more mediocre. I got my vintage picture from him. He has pictures of quite a few of our predecessors. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your photos with us.
Gypsy at Heart on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:12 pm
What a wonderful history. I am still trying to put names with photos I have inherited. Unfortunately, almost all those who can identify the people are gone. The memories of the others are cloudy. I try to put names on all the photos I take.
gengen on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:48 pm
What a great family memories…Happy weekend.
Barbara H. on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:53 pm
What treasures!! Last year I was given some pictures of my grandmother who passed away when I was four, and they made me feel like I knew her a little better.
Michelle on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 9:58 pm
I love your blog especially as I am from western NY. You show the state off well. And I love these photos and the stories that go with it..
Napaboaniya APAD on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 10:35 pm
Wow~ That’s a nice set of vintage photographs you’ve found.
YTSL on Sat, 18th Oct 2008 11:45 pm
Interesting re your taking your great-great aunt’s photo to use as an avatar. Is that the same with the name too?
mama meji on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 12:38 am
Wow! What can I say. You have a very precious set of old photos. Really priceless.
arlene on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 2:45 am
you have interesting vintage photos with beautiful story along with it. Wish i can have entry like yours, but the oldest pics we have at home are dated back only in the 40′s and they are of my mom. But my mother is into genealogy now but only dates back from her fatehr who is my grandfather.
Randi on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 3:00 am
That´s a great sequence of wonderful shots.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Dragonstar on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 6:14 am
You’ve done very well to trace family links so far back – it’s not easy!
Lovely to have so many old photos.
mistyeiz on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 7:53 am
lovely shots!! what priceless pic n to be able to trace them back is simply wonderful. thanks for stopping by.
Daisy the Curly Cat on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 8:18 am
You have a great assortment of old family photos. When I see old photos, I like imagining what their lives were like, too.
Mitch on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 9:28 am
Oh so vintage! Priceless!
Mrs. Mecomber on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 9:42 am
Thank you for coming back to comment again, after yesterday’s technical problems.
I see that many people love old photos!
YTSL: Yes, I use an old family name as my pen name, too.
Rach (Heart of Rachel) on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 10:00 am
It’s wonderful that you have greatt photos of your ancestors. These vintage photos are treasures.
Gandalf and Grayson on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 10:04 am
We love you vintage old-time-y family photos! Mom loves photos like you love photos. She has photos of people she doesn’t even know!
Vixen on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 10:14 am
Those are fantastic. One of these days I am going to have to spend some time at my Grandma’s cabin with my scanner and get some of her old, old photos. I too am fascinated by geneology. My families have traced back (my mother’s and father’s side) quite some ways, but we knew virtually nothing about my husband’s geneology until my son spent some time (and a year subscription to mygeneologydotcom) and found tons of information and many, many cousins back east who wrote him many emails about how glad they were to finally find out what happened to my husbands paternal grandfather. His parents are both deceased and my husband was so thrilled by the stuff my son was able to find out.
Amanda on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 10:27 am
Those are great photographs. I love old photographs.
Have a great weekend!
Amanda
Enigma on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 12:36 pm
WONDERFUL to use your family vintage photos to interpret this theme!! GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing the images and the story.
eastcoastlife on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 1:40 pm
I love your old photos! I wish I had photos of my ancestors. Alas, they couldn’t afford to have their photos taken then.
I love that great-great aunt of yours. She left a deep impression on my mind.
Ida on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 9:22 pm
They are wonderful pictures of your ancestors. I just love those old seapia tone pictures.
vulcanhammer on Sun, 19th Oct 2008 11:07 pm
Excellent and fascinating! Those photos are timeless.
dmeemai on Mon, 20th Oct 2008 4:46 am
… a classic and timeless heritage that your family has preserved; handled very carefully. They are beautiful like the ones that could be seen in history books or museums treasured and priceless…
Impressive! Double wow and very special!
Lissa (Forever Foster) on Wed, 22nd Oct 2008 9:37 am
I’m so pleased these photos survived! I can only imgine the wealth of history that tin contained. A wonderful way to mark the family theme. I’m really pleased I made the time to catch up on the weekends list:)
Irene on Thu, 23rd Oct 2008 11:51 am
WOW! Those photos are really something very precious.
Kat - Sassy Irish Lassie on Fri, 24th Oct 2008 9:47 am
WOW! What great vintage photos. I have a lot of my ‘old’ family photos on the walls. I love to look at them
Chikai on Sat, 25th Oct 2008 6:59 pm
thanks for checking out my entry last week!
Be scared, be very scared!