Mail Delivery
There are so many of the very old photos in the boxes with nothing written on back. I know that, except for a few clearly marked, they come from my maternal family. I didn't know any of these photos existed until my mother died, so I never had an opportunity to ask. I come from a fractured family. I barely knew my paternal side, never meeting some of my father's siblings. I knew my maternal grandma, thankfully, but any contact I'd had with anyone else ended when I was around ten.
I know personality disorders are difficult to understand. Believe me, I've heard it all, but folks -- they are real and not all that rare. There is no need to look farther than DC to see many and one in particular.
One thing I know for certain and have the evidence to prove it. My ancestors really liked their camera!
27 comments:
Horse-drawn wagons were the staple of our Nation, so many people don't realize that! Thanks for Posting, I'm always intrigued by the history of yesteryear.
That US mail coach is a keeper. I've never understood why some people hold family so sacred, considering the degree of dysfunction in a lot of them. I never knew any of my father's side of the family, didn't even know he had multiple siblings in our town! I think it was my moms doing, who knows why.
Our mail deliveries are now so slow (they can take anything up to a week) that a horse drawn service might even be quicker!
My mother told me a lot and wrote on photos and in her album. It's quite a treasure.
I regret not sitting down with my parents and grilling them about the people or places in the pictures. My dad did an OK job of keeping a scrapbook and writing names, but only for a few years. I found an old photo album and sat down with my dad when he was about 90. He smiled as we looked through the pictures and they really did take him back. But, I asked him about one picture - he was around 7 when it was taken. There was a boy sitting next to him and I asked who he was. His answer, after squinting at the picture for some time, "Oh, that was the kid next door." Not exactly what I was looking for!
My second great grandfather, Gilman delivered mail. In Michigan sometime in the 1800's
What a beautiful photo, that old horse-drawn carriage!
I hope you enjoy looking at your many family photos. It's a shame, of course, that you can no longer find any information about so many of them. Just enjoy them, enjoy the beauty in the lives of your ancestors. And there was certainly beauty there.
That's impressive that they took so many pictures back then! If only you knew more about them.
I have inherited the generations of photos, too. And like yours, most are unmarked.
I do love this vintage photo!
When I was 5 and 6 I lived with my Nanna in Jamestown, NY and at that time they were using horses to plow the sidewalks.
What a treasure trove! I had the same experience after my mother died. There were so many photos, but Dad knew little about them, even the ones from his family, as like your family, his had had a rift and he never got to know his paternal grandmother. But those photos sent my sister and I digging and now she has developed an extensive family tree.
That photo is lovely...
I have a lot of that history in photographs, Tommy.
It's been culturally ingrained, Boud. I've read this is changing. My mother drove all family away with constant lying then turning it around that they were lying about her. they'd had enough.
I know in parts of this country that is true, too. We've been fortunate, nick.
That's wonderful, AC. I wish someone had thought of that with these photos over the century.
At least you know he was the kid next door, Dreaming!!
My great-grandfather was a teamster. In the true meaning of the word, Dora.
Good advice, Viola. It is a treasure trove.
I have one of the cameras, Cheerful. Not going way back, but old. I should research it.
I know you are a researcher, Miss Merry. It's sort of amazing what determination can deliver.
It's damaged but still tells the story, Linda.
That's amazing, Lori!
I have a good start on a family tree, but very little photos of people have shown up, so I still don't know who these people are. I did find that a great-great grandfather, an immigrant, fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union, Sue.
Thanks, e. It's so good to hear from you.
Old photos are the true treasures in our lives. This one is fabulous!
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