Sepia Saturday - Old Orchard, 1930

Recently, when my father-in-law, died we came into possession of my husband's grandfather's papers and photographs.

Some of the early photos are simply awesome; showing my husband's Grandparents as a young, frivolous couple.

Several times in their young married life they ventured from their home in Montreal to the seaside at Old Orchard, Maine. They forged friendships there that lasted for decades.

The pictures featured here today were taken on the Brownie shown above. However, Nana, below seems to be using a smaller folding model. Please click on any of the pictures for more detail.

I love my grandmother-in-law's bathing costume. Is it an original Jantzen? Here's a picture of the iconic Jantzen bathing suit.

And I adore the friend who looks like Charlie Chaplin sans moustache.

©Hazel Smith

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Shameless self-promotion...All photos except the Jantzen models are the property of Hazel Smith. Please visit my other blog www.theplumplum.blogspot.com. 

where repros of some of these photos are available for sale. 

Sepia Saturday - Great-Grandfather Brooker

I know very little about this guy. He's my great-grandfather on my mother's side. Some people just seemed ashamed or oblivious of their past and my own Grandfather was guilty of that; he never said much about his own dad or mum. This is the only image I have of him.

William Brooker was born in 1874. When he was 17 he was working as a lathe worker at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. He had brothers who were twins, Alfred and Harry. One or some combination of the three brothers fought at the 2nd Boer War.

William married Mary Ann Sturman who had been born in Barbados as her father was a sea-captain and through some twist his wife traveled with him. Mary Ann's sister was born in Nova Scotia. According to records, William and Mary Ann were married in the March quarter of 1900. On December 31, 1900 my granddad was born. I'm guessing the portrait above is from his wedding day.

In 1901 William was living with his in-laws at 35 Hill Street Woolwich and working in the Woolwich Dockyards as an arsenal machinist. By 1911 he was an Engine Fitter, probably at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham. I find Google Street Maps a lot of fun when I'm researching my family in England. Don't tell,  but I walk right up to my ancestors houses and have a look. Unfortunately in William's case, the street addresses I have for him are long gone.

My Great Grandfather was an excellent amateur boxer. This was a fact he kept hidden from his children until they were grown lest they want to follow in his footsteps.

I think he's handsome.

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Sepia Saturday - More Joe Plewis

Oh, dear. Sepia Saturday's got me hooked. Genealogy is a true passion of mine, one that's been obsessing me since I first got my computer and discovered Ancestry.com.
 
I do have pictures of ancestors that go further back than Joseph Plewis. I have a hilarious one of his father and I have one of his mother-in-law that must date from around 1860 because she's dressed like Mary Todd Lincoln. But she's CREEPY.  But Joseph Plewis born 1853 is the oldest ancestor I have information on so you'll have to bear with me again this week.

Here's a picture of my Great Great Grandfather circa 1893 when he was with the fire brigade and working on his facial hair.

Here's a much later picture, probably around 1922-23 of Joe and his lovely wife Harriet. Family lore has it that after Queen Victoria died in 1901, Harriet wore black for the rest of her days, that is, except for special occasions when she was feeling especially frivolous and wore a really nice shade of eggplant. If you are able to zoom into the picture, I now am in possession of the brooch Harriet is wearing at her neck. (Sorry for the blue in the picture - it was very dark).

Joe's dad Edward Plewis, spent most of his life as a farm labourer in and around the village of Hoo, mostly as labourer at Mackay's Court Farm. Joe's youngest sister Elizabeth married a chap named James Mugeridge Bridger, (sometimes he used the Bridger, sometimes not). Anyway, at some point, Elizabeth became the lady of the house at Mackay's Court Farm, where her father had worked for so many years and her sister had worked as a nursemaid.

Mackay's Court Farm is the location of the next two photos. They show the celebration of Joe and Harriet's Diamond Wedding in 1932.

Here's Joe with Harriet on the left - maybe she's wearing aubergine today - and his daughter Ada on the right. My own grandfather (from the other side of the family) managed to get in the picture between them.

Here they are again sitting with their sisters.

I've seen the guest book for this special occasion. It's great to read because not only does it contain the names of the dignitaries that attended, it has the childish scrawl of the aunts and uncles that I can only remember as old folks. My grandfather signed my mother's name on her behalf. She was three and a half and what she remembers about this party is getting stuck under the barn!

Here's Joe, at age 87, at the dedication of the fire engine that was to bear his name and carry his flag-draped coffin to his own funeral.  I think that's a bishop.

An aside - one of Joe's nieces, I think her name name was Nance, lived on a nice old farm called Shakespeare Farm on the Hoo peninsula. My mother remembers visiting it and loved it. She remembered the views over the River Medway and she rembered the porcelain toilet hand-painted with violets. When I Googled it I found that it was one of the largest landfill sites in England. Nice view though.

And that's all she wrote. But maybe if you twist my arm I'll remember something else.

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