Sepia Saturday – Sisters, But Not

Posted on November 24, 2012 by kathy

Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images.

Today’s prompt image is a photograph of Lala Williams and Elgie Crook from the Samuel Bell Maxey Collection at the Texas State Archives. Upon first glance, we might assume that the two young girls are sisters. We would be wrong – but not entirely. Elgie’s mother and Lala’s father were siblings. Elgie’s mother died when she was a little girl and she was sent to be brought up by her uncle. The cousins grew up as sisters.

And so I have chosen a picture of two (older) girls who are not exactly sisters, yet they are.

Pals

The young woman kneeling is my grandmother, Eveline Coates. She is pictured with Edna Hoskins. On the back of the photograph, my grandmother wrote “Pals”.

And so we know that she and Edna were close.

Eveline and Edna grew up in the small communities of Walnut and Mystic, Appanoose County, Iowa. In the 1920 U. S. Census, their family homes are separated by one house. Eveline and Edna both married in 1923 – Eveline in February and Edna in August. With the marriage of Eveline Coates to Thomas Hoskins, Eveline and Edna became sisters…in law.

I have a picture of Edna that may have been taken on the same day.

Edna Hoskins

I think Edna looks happier in the company of Eveline. Or maybe she just didn’t want to stand in the cornfield.

And here is a picture of Eveline wearing the same dress – but this doesn’t look like it was taken on the same day. Her hair is different. She is in a different location. And she has a pretty lace hat.

Eveline Coates

It is hard to tell, but Eveline may be wearing a ring on her left hand – possibly her wedding ring, which would date this picture (or both?) as 1923 or later.

A few years ago, I found a heritage craft in a magazine that I took inspiration from and made this little tribute to Eveline and Edna.

To see what others have created with today’s sisterly prompt, visit Sepia Saturday.

Lost Items, Lapses of Memory, and Not Seeing What is Right in Front of Me

Posted on November 13, 2012 by kathy

I found it.

I couldn’t find this picture when I was writing Little Rockers. My pictures are a mess.

Holding Cousin Cherie

And I found this picture of Grandma Abbie after I published Amana Rocking Chairs.

Abbie in her Amana rocker

It was taken when my grandmother had moved to an assisted living apartment. She usually smiled for pictures. I don’t think she was ready.

I’ve been corrected.

When I wrote about My Big Tall Italian Wedding Cake, I made at least one mistake. Dad(Jim) tells me that, although he was already in Odessa, TX at the time of my wedding, Mom and my sisters were still in Clovis, NM, which makes Mom even more of a super mom – driving my wedding cake and my three little sisters the six hours to Waco during the time she was preparing to sell our house and make a move. Dad drove in separately.

And on the subject of faulty memory…. I write many of my personal memories here. I believe them to be true. Maybe they’re not. You might want to read You Can’t Trust Memory! from the Heart and Craft of Life Writing blog.

I’ll just keep writing like I remember it. I hope people will comment or otherwise tell me their version of the story!!!

Here’s the picture to prove it.

The day Dad(Jerry) and I were in Bethel Cemetery, we couldn’t find the headstone for Ann Rutledge’s mother. Dad returned a few months later with cousins Alice and Adele and they found it right off the bat. Here’s a picture they took.

Grave of Ann Rutledge, Bethel Cemetery, Van Buren Co., Iowa

I know I looked on that row. How could I have missed the tall headstone with a GAR marker?

The sun was really bright that day.

Rainbow Fliers from the 1940 Presidential Campaign

Posted on November 5, 2012 by kathy

With the presidential election on everyone’s mind, here is a bit of memorabilia from the 1940 presidential campaign.

This first scan is the Reorder Blank for the First and Second Flights of Rainbow Fliers in support of the re-election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

These came from the papers of my grandparents, Eveline Coates and Thomas Hoskins. As you can see above, the Rainbow Fliers were from the Women’s Division of The Democratic National Committee. At the bottom of the order form is the suggestion: if this second flight of fliers is assembled in sets for distribution, the most pleasing effect can be obtained by arranging them in the order in which they are listed above.

Mine look a little drab. Surely this rainbow was brighter in 1940.

Rainbow Flyers were fact sheets on colored paper used in the fight for women’s suffrage. They were handed out at events, left in mailboxes, or otherwise distributed to promote the cause of a woman’s right to vote. This approach was successful in the suffrage movement, and was adopted by women working in the Democratic party in subsequent presidential election campaigns.

I don’t recall hearing my grandparents talk about politics or their voting habits. Perhaps these flyers were left in their mailbox, but that doesn’t seem likely since it is a complete (almost) set including a reorder blank. Maybe Grandma went to a meeting and picked up a set… Maybe Grandma picked up several sets to hand out to her friends and neighbors… Maybe one of Grandma’s friends tried to entice her to get involved and left her with a complete set to study… I’ll probably never know.

First Flight: