I love, love these pictures and appreciate hearing stories behind them!! Alisande, my mom was called Babe by all her relatives, even though her baby sister came along some years later.

What a good looking family, Nicole--including that beautiful German Shepherd puppy!

Sjerin, it's a cute nickname. I don't remember anyone ever calling my Aunt Babe anything else.

This is my Dads Fathers family picture. His anuts and uncles and Grandparents.

This is my Moms family, she is the smallest one in the front.
This is my Mom's dads family, her aunt and Uncles and Grandmother.

Loving these photos and the beautiful families - thanks for sharing them!

I like the individual snaps of people smiling -- so fun to see the laughter. I also like the family group pictures, where you can trace family resemblances across generations. All enjoyable :-)

Alisande, the picture of you in 1961 caused me to do a double take, big time! Except for the hairstyle, (and the year it was taken) you are the spitting image of one of my nieces! ! Or maybe I should say she is the spitting image of you, as in 1961 she wasn't even a twinkle in her daddy's eye yet. Either way, it is uncanny!

I am loving seeing all these old family pictures! Judy, I wish yours had posted a little bigger, so we could see them better.

Okay, I'm off to find some pictures of my ancestors to post. . . . .

Rusty

Awesome awesome pictures! Love these kinds of threads! I don't have many left after the flood but I did manage to save some. I will have to get some on my phone.

Baby Audrey sometime in 1949 Hollywood California

Judy, you're lucky to have group pictures like that! Was it a family custom?

Audrey, you were adorable! Is that your mom? So pretty. I'm a fan of sepia photographs, but had an urge to adjust the tone on this one. I figured it had yellowed over time, which often happens. If you prefer your original, my feelings won't be hurt. :-)

Beautiful baby

1960 my mom and her sisters in law

from the left-Aunt Helen, Aunt Shirley, my Mom, Aunt Kay and last, Aunt June

Around 1962 all of the kids of the Aunts above

At the back,my one sister and in the front me with my hands shading the sun from my eyes.

Well I got one done. This is my grandfather on dad's side. I was in a I French play at school and that was the dress I had to wear. Old style. I think I was in my junior year in high school.

The "spots" on the dress are actually sunlight through the trees.

This is my dad's family. Left to right oldest to youngest. Dad is far right the youngest. And his mother and father. This is the same grandfather as in the above picture.

This is the big house that hurricane Audrey took the top story off of with all of us in the house.

This one is of me laying on the bed at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel, probably mid to late 80's. It's a terrible picture but my long hair shows.

"Raven" is certainly a good nickname with those long dark tresses -- beautiful!

Me and my dad. I still have chubby legs!

Natesg, you and your dad look like you could be in a movie together.

Raven, you were (and are, I'm sure) an exotic beauty. You probably feel about your long dark hair the way I feel about my long blonde hair: I miss it! But maybe you still have yours.

Ont_gal, I'll bet all your aunts loved their little niece. So cute!

My mother and her reserve grand champion steer at the Calgary Stampede. This would have been around 1948. She was the only girl showing livestock at the time.

No I finally broke down several years ago and cut it off. Now it's very short and easy. But yes I do miss it at times.

You also had beautiful hair. You look like a movie star in that picture!

Well. I kind of got side tracked the other day when I started to look for pictures to add here. But I've finally come up with a couple.

My Dad (2nd from left) with 3 of his siblings:

My maternal Grandmother:

My brother, sister and I (I'm the adorable baby in the middle.):

And last but not least, me with 3 of my favorite 'things', my Dad, my horse and my dog:

Life was so-o-o-o-o different back then!

Rusty

I find myself scanning the background of these photos for clues about life "back when". In Alisande's first photo, the window reflects laundry on a clothesline behind the photographer. And how about the bride's maids wearing black veils and each carrying a much bigger bouquet than the bride?

I wish I had more family photos. I think on my father's side my cousins ended up with a few. On my mother's side I just don't think there were many to begin with. Mom also said anything of value in her family always ended up in a flood, fire, or tornado. Treasure those photos!

Dawn, your mother was a pretty girl! Rusty,
your dad in his sailor suit looks a little like one of my grandsons. Your
grandmother must have been very young. I look at the clothes she wore, and as I
sit here in my t-shirt and hoodie I’m so grateful I don’t have to wear them! I
agree—you were adorable. And so was your dog.
:-)

Matthias, when I was a kid I took for granted
our many photo albums bulging with pictures. My dad was an avid photographer
who did his own developing and printing. But when I grew up I realized how
lucky I was to have this wonderful record of our family. My childhood friends
feel the same way, because he photographed them and their families too.

This might be the laundry line you saw in the window on another day: my cousin Barbara and her mother, my mom’s sister Elsie, 1944.

I love these photos & memories. Thanks for sharing. What nice looking and interesting families.

Alisande -- what a fantastic clothesline photo!

My son, who turns 53 in Nov. He thinks he's old, lol!

Glenda, what a cutie! How old was he in the pic?

This is my great-great gtandfather. I was able to hold his 1856 daybook at the historical society. I also have his old Seth Thomas clock. His family is shown playing croquet. Love old photos.

This is a very old photo of my great grandmother which was Micmac and married a Scotsman. They were so discriminated that they lived away from most of society and farmed their land. On this day a photographer came by and asked to take their pics, they had just come in from the field and he had taken off one shoe and was asked not to put it back on. I look at it every day and feel proud.

My maternal grandmother Amy. This was taken around 1960. In the 80's my mother had a photographer touch it up..hence the slight coloring.

Us five girls with parents. I'm in the bottom right. Born blonde but soon darkened. (I was the black sheep... and proud of it.)

Natesg, your
g-g-grandfather was handsome! What did he write in his daybook? Did you wish
you could claim it and take it home? I’m sure I would have felt that way, but I
know it would be safer at the historical society than in my house. The croquet
photo is so interesting. Can you imagine being out in the summer sun in those
dresses? I love the house. It reminds me of an old New England house where I
spent a lot of time as a child.

Yaya, I had to
look up Micmac, but now I understand what you said about discrimination. It’s
so sad, isn’t it? I’d like to think prejudice is something relegated to the
past (my dad, born in 1903, fought many fist fights as a teenager because his
father was Jewish), but of course it’s alive and well in the present day all
over the world.

Such a nice portrait, MamaPinky.
If it started out as a B&W (in 1960 it could have been either one), they
did a lovely job of tinting it.

Yeonassky, five
beautiful girls! Your parents look happy and proud, and I can see why.

Many thanks to all!

My dad and pals (around 1929)

I guess that my first grade group picture is 'old', although I don't think of me as 'old'. One teacher, forty 6 year olds, no aids, I am fourth from left, in third row. 1947

Me 5 years earlier with the family cannon

lgmd....."the family cannon".......I'm laughing over that one. For some reason, the more I think about it, the funnier it seems to me. ;-)

I'm also fascinated by your class picture. Where was this taken? I'm in love with the surrounding landscape. Over half of the children look absolutely miserable, don't they? A class of 40 first graders is amazing by today's standards; perhaps that explains the glum faces? Lol.

My kindergarten teacher resembled this woman, except for the smile. Miss Wallace's face would have shattered into a million pieces if she had smiled!

Yaya, I would feel proud, too. Their photo made me pause more than any other, thank you so much for sharing it.

rhizo, the class pic was in the front yard of the 2 story vine covered school in a very small coal mining town in central PA. Grades 1 thru 8 were in the top floor, 9 thru 12 in ground floor. Some of the high school classes were held in the basement, as was the cafeteria which came about in later years. I went to all 12 grades there and my daughter went to first grade there in 1966 with the same teacher. The school was torn down just last year.

The 'family cannon' has been a family joke for years...I have no idea where it came from or why. It was mounted on a cement slab in our front yard.

Now if you want to see scowling children this pic is from 1904. Four of my Dad's older siblings are in the pic, but I can only guess which ones. It was of course a one room school, with just one teacher.

Oh my goodness! I would love to see a reunion picture, that's for sure! Scowling children is so apropos, lol. I'd loved to have been able to talk with that pretty young teacher about her experiences and memories. Fascinating.

I just hope that she didn't turn out like my Miss Wallace, who so demonstrably disliked children.

I finally have one! So I am bumping it back up. MY daddy. He's the commanding officer being saluted. Aint he handsome?

He sure is, Rob. He wears that uniform very well!

I was thinking of bumping up this thread myself, as I found a little print of my mom on her wedding day. I wonder if she made the dress.

I love this thread! This is my great grandmother and I think my great grandfather on their wedding day in Herefordshire, England:

The reason I say I think it’s my great grandfather is because it could actually be my great grandmother’s second wedding, in which case this gentleman would be my step ggf. I’m thinking, though, that it’s her first wedding because I doubt a widow would’ve worn a (presumably) white dress on the occasion of remarriage.

My great grandparents

Arminta (RATLIFF) MURPHY, my Great Grandmother and victim of the Civil War.

She was born in Pike Co, KY and her family removed to Texas co MO around 1855. There, her father, Robert RATLIFF, acquired a sizeable farm. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Robert was conscripted into a Confederate Company, was captured, and sent to a prison at Alton, IL. After imprisonment, he died 3 months later from dysentery, leaving Arminta and a younger brother alone on the farm. Arminta was 16; her brother 14. Arminta and brother became homeless in 1867 when the county sold the farm by auction for back taxes.

I do not have documentation for the date of this photo. From circumstantial data, I place the photo before the Civil War, probably ca 1857.

I love all these photos! Sammy, yes, I think people were rather strict about the color of a wedding dress in those days. Or at least in some days. When my grandmother married in the 1890's, her dress was purple! I still have a tiny piece of it. She was an opera singer; maybe they did things differently. :-)

Jemdandy, it sounds like Arminta would have been very young in 1857--certainly younger than she appears in this photo, even allowing for the fact that ages are often difficult to gauge in these old images. In any case, I'm glad she eventually married and had a family. I hope the same was true of her brother.

What a pleasure to look at all this history and such interesting families. My family had the 3 oldest kids first and then the second 3 later. I'm in the latter batch. This must be 1954, First Communion, maybe? Older brother is not impressed, LOL.

Alisande: About the Arminta photo

My mother assumed this photo was the original, but on examination, I think it may be a copy that was made as part of manual rework. My photo shows signs of manual work on the image, particularly in her hair and shading around her ear. It appears that this image has hand drawn features, i.e., rework. It may have been a spoiled image that was repaired. My guess about the process is thus: A working copy was made of the original. This copy was enhanced using charcoal and artist pencils detailing a number of features. The reworked image was photographed and that's what I have, one of those copies.

You may be correct about her age in this photo. She seems older than 16 to 18 years. I would guess mid-twenties. Its my theory that she would not have sat for a portrait during the period of 1861 through ca 1870 because she would not have had the means nor money to spend on non-essentials. This pushes the date out of the Civil War period and toward her marriage in the 1870s.

Some important dates in photography:

1851: Wet Plate, Glass

Frederick Scott Archer, a British photographer, coated a glass plate with a sticky, wet substance called collodain. This glass plate was dipped in light sensitive silver salts and it had to remain moist during the exposure, hence the term, wet plate photography. (The coating would crackle if it dried out before further processing.)

1856: Ferrotypes or Tintypes

Photographers began using thin metal plates instead of glass to hold the collodion emulsion. These plates were called ferrotypes, and became known as tintypes. The images on ferrotypes are reversed left to right. A lady may appear to have a wedding ring on her right hand; For years, folks thought that Billy, the Kid was left handed until it was realized that his image was reversed on the tintype.

1861: Matthew Brady produced the first of his famous Civil War photographs. (Brady's crew, not Brady himself made most of the photos from the front lines. However, the Brady Civil War photos were a private effort organized and financed by Brady.)

1871: Invention of the dry plate process

A British physician, Richard L. Maddox, replaced the collodion with gelatin. The gelatin could dry on the plate without cracking or harming the silver salts. This eliminated the need for a photographer to carry around a darkroom and lab with him. This was one of the greatest advances in photography.

Late 1870s, light sensitivity of gelatins were improved. Early Daguerrotypes required an exposure of 10 minutes of more (tough for portraits!). The new gelatins of the late 1870s could be exposed in 1/25 second,

This picture is in terrible condition. It was rescued from the flood but it suffered serious damage. It stuck to the glass and is just falling apart. It is a picture of my mother's father and mother in their horse drawn carriage. Unfortunately it was the original and only one.

My father and his sister Geraldine.My father's family, circa 1940. My father is on the second row from the top and is third from the left. His brother Van is direction in front of him. I don't know who most of these people are, but the photo includes my father's father, his brothers and sisters, and their children. Spouses are also included. Notice all the women are wearing hats. The men have taken their hats off, but I'm sure they all had them.
My father's mother.Her parents; my great-grandparents.Aunt Geraldine, my father's sister again.

I have more, but I have to figure out where they are.

My first cousins, Allen and Raymond, plus my paternal grandmother.Paternal grandmother, plus all her grandchildren, including me. I'm the one in front, giving profile. The baby is my brother Mike. This photo was taken before my youngest brother was born, and our grandmother died about year before that.My mother holding me, plus my sister standing beside. Photo taken at my maternal grandparents' house. My first birthday party. I'm sitting at the table, and my mother is watching me. Most of the guests were my sister's friends. My sister opened all my presents at this party, and you can see her opening one now in this photo. This is the house that my great-great-grandfather built in 1870, but I don't know when the photo was taken or who these people are, but they are relatives of some sort.

I love all these old pictures!

Where were your pictures taken, Lars? We have a lot of old houses around here (and I live in one), but I don't recognize that style of architecture. Your Aunt Geraldine was quite a beauty!

The pictures (except for the one of my mother with me in her lap) were taken in central Texas, near Temple, which is between Austin and Waco. The homestead started out as a very large farm, and my great-great grandfather hired a lot of people to work for him. The 1940 picture was taken at my father's aunt's house. The other pictures (with houses) are at the house where I grew up. This house was built in 1932 by my grandfather (with help from his father) and replaced the 1870 house.

This is my father in uniform from WWII, probably at the end of the war.Cousin Janet, third from the left, 1957, as a cheerleader. She was my favorite cousin.This is a photo of the store that my father bought in the small town three miles from the farm. This photo is from the 1940s, I believe, and my father bought it around 1962 and turned it into a farm supply store. The person in this photo is not a relative, and I never met him. These are my great-great grandparents, who immigrated from Germany in 1844. I think these portraits were made in Germany, and my brother in Texas owns them now. When my GGGF's parents died, they left a large amount of land in Germany to him. He had one sister that also survived their parents, and she inherited all the farm equipment and tools - the son inherited the land. Without tools, my GGGF rented the land to others and bascially did not work. However, when he wanted to get married, his prospective in-laws insisted that he get a job. His first idea was to emigrate to South Africa, but then he decided on Texas instead because a lot of Germans were going there at that time. So he sold his land and left, landing in Galveston. He bought about 3000 acres of what is now Houston, but because it was swampy, he sold that and moved to central Texas, where he started a plantation. He moved before completing the deal to sell his land in Germany, and I have copies of some of the letters written back and forth to Germany to finalize the deal and have the money transferred. They are difficult to read because he wrote using German cursive, which is not easy to decipher. My GGGM was Swiss-Italian, and I still have relatives in Switzerland with her maiden name, Friderici.

Not Bonnie & Clyde, but my Mom's parents with their 1919 Pullman car.