Sunday, February 7, 2021

When you lead a quiet life...

it is sometimes a bit difficult to find things to write about.  There is no food preservation activity in between grocery deliveries every two weeks, once I take care of whatever I get to add to my food storage.

This past week, for example, I spent a lot of time working on two crocheted afghans I am making for my two youngest Grands.  For me that activity is enjoyable and relaxing.  To most everyone else it is about as exciting as watching grass grow or paint dry.

But this morning inspiration hit in the form of something that has become a morning routine.  I always go over to Gorges' Grouse where he daily posts not only memes but also lots of pictures of bygone days.  I find these pictures particularly interesting because many of them depict the time when my Dad was a boy.  I can see what it was like when he worked on wheat thrashing crews as a young man or when he plowed the fields using a team of horses.  I have seen pictures of logging camps like the ones Dad worked in as a young man in northern Minnesota. 

Gorges includes pictures of people.  We don't always know who they are or the location, but the pictures show how they were dressed and what they did and what the towns and farms where they lived looked like, anywhere from the late 1800's through the 1950's.  Those pictures bring to life some of Dad's stories and I am most grateful for the time and effort Gorges puts into keeping us mindful of those who came before us.

So with that in mind, here are a few of my own treasured photos that perhaps someone other than my kids and grands might enjoy.

This is my maternal Great Grandmother, Adella Caroline Curtis Paul.  She was born in 1847 in Chenango County, New York.  By 1870 she, her husband Hollis Brayton Paul and their children were living near the town of Barnum, Minnesota.  In this photo she is standing in the doorway of their cabin on their farm.  Her son, my Grandfather, wrote that she loved to stand as she is seen here, watching the sunset of an evening.

This is my maternal Grandmother, Gladys Adell Morehouse Paul.  She was born in Minnesota in 1896.  She is shown here relaxing at our "lake house."  Dad had dragged home an old travel trailer, fixed it up and rented a lot on a local lake where we had the best summer ever for kids.  Grandma would often spend a day at what was, tongue in cheek, called our lake house. :)     


This is my Grandmother Rachel Alzora Olmstead Matheny (known as 'Allie') shown here with my Dad, her son and with my Mother.  The year is 1946.  She was staying with my parents to help out following my birth.

My Grandmother was born in 1870.  As a child she moved from Indiana to Minnesota by covered wagon.  She and my Grandfather moved to northern Minnesota where they farmed and raised their family of 9 children.  In the above photo taken in their front yard, my Great Grandfather is on the far left and my Dad is on the far right.  The photo was taken in the early 1920's.

This is a picture of my Dad, held by his sister in front of the first house my Grandfather built on their farm.  Dad told me that when his father built the new house, it was built around the old one, tearing it down bit by bit as the new house went up.  The date is 1911/1912.

My Dad is the small kid on the right and his brother is next to him.  Dad told me he had pitched a fit before this picture was taken because he didn't want to get his new overalls wet.  When you are the youngest of 9 kids, a new pair of overalls is a big deal!  This picture was taken about 1917 or 1918.  Many years later I swam in this same lake at this same spot.  This lake was also where in the winter my Grandfather would drive a hay wagon puled by a team of horses out on the ice and cut blocks of ice that they hauled home, packed in straw and kept  in their root cellar.  Those blocks of ice also kept Grandma's ice box cold year round.

I hope my kids and grands will enjoy this little piece of family history and thanks to the rest of you for indulging me.

At this time when so many are trying to erase or rewrite history, keeping track of our own family history is important.  It is who we are and we need to never forget where we come from.

13 comments:

  1. Your pictures are fabulous. Looking at them and reading about your family lets us all forget about the mess we're in right now, even if it's just for a minute.

    I, too, love researching my family. Learning names and dates is fine, but when you have stories and photographs to go along with the names, it makes them real people. They had real lives and real problems, too.

    I inherited my grandparents' abundant collection of photographs. But the greater treasure is that when I was in college, I took a genealogy/family history class. One of the assignments was to get a relative to write their family history. I had three grandparents still living, and just to cover all the bases, I told all of them I needed their help. As I was the first generation to go to college, and the first grandchild on both sides, they took their assignment to help me seriously. My grandmothers wrote about five pages each. My grandfather wrote over sixty pages detailing his life up until the age of 18. Unfortunately, he got no further before he died, but those first 60 pages are a treasure to me.

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    1. I am so glad you enjoyed this post, Jennifer...I too was gifted a large box of family photos from my Dad and have been lucky enough to have been able to add to them from cousins. The family histories from your grandparents are true treasures. I have been blessed with a family history written by a great uncle and the history dates back to the mid 1600's, another from the other side of my family, as well as many other stories and writings and letters by family members of long ago. The problem is getting it all together and organized. :) It is important that our kids and grands know their personal history. It is good to know others are doing likewise.

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  2. Loved the pictures--stole three of them. Don't stop now; keep them coming!

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    1. Steal away, my friend!! That is a very small price to pay for the enjoyment I get out of your posts. My all time favorite is the one of my Great Grandmother standing in the doorway of her cabin. I imagine I can come up with a few more. :)

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  3. Vicki, your family will have a valuable treasure thanks to all of your efforts. Thanks for sharing!

    Gorges, I follow your blog as well and love your pictures and history lessons. Thank you!

    Jennifer, I have often heard that those who inherit the family pictures are the ones who truly value and apppreciate them. :)

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    1. CW...I think my next project will have to be doing something with the photos and information I have gathered over the years so my kids and grands will know what it is all about. :)

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  4. That is wonderful, Vicki. :)
    I don't know that much about my family, but my husband's family has traced their roots all the way back to France with many pictures, birth and death certificates, etc.
    His ancestors were part of the Revolution and one may even have arrived with the Mayflower.

    Be safe and God bless.

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    1. Thanks, LindaG...It is amazing the amount of information that can be fund online now. My Dad's side of the family is traced to France and on Mother's side there was one Revolutionary War soldier but we can't claim the Mayflower. :) I think the earliest ancestor arriving here was from Scotland in 1635. Some find it tedious, searching old records but for me it is kind of like solving a mystery. I particularly like finding the reprobates and we have a few. :)

      Take care and God bless you and yours as well.

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  5. Vicki~ I love your pictures. My Mom has all the old family photos. We come from Farmers, Military, Mariners with a few Brigands sprinkled about. Red

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    1. Red...Glad to see the problem is fixed and you are able to comment again!!
      I have found that many who delve into their family history want to find royalty or other famous ancestors. I find the brigands and reprobates far more interesting. :)

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  6. I love the pictures. I have a few from the past too and I love looking at them once in a while. I do have a question about your food storage and canning. Where do you get the energy and strength to do all that? I wanted to can applesauce this year but couldn't find either lids or energy

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    1. Ann...Glad you enjoyed the pictures. It is fun to be able to see what some of our ancestors looked like.

      Having a couple of chronic illnesses has taught me - mostly the hard way because I have this stubborn streak - that I am not Wonder Woman and I can not work like I once did. I have learned to do things in stages and do them sitting at my kitchen table as much as possible. For instance, when I canned the turkey vegetable soup, the first day I prepared the ingredients, put them in Ziploc bags and tossed them into the fridge. The second day I filled the jars and ran them through my pressure canner. The third day I washed the jars and put them away. Dividing the work into several days makes it possible to do what I can not accomplish all at one time. Lids and jars are scarce here as well and I am hoping that closer to spring they will be plentiful again.

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