Family Photos

 

Recently a cousin found this photos among family papers. As they all came in doubles, she gladly passed copies on to us. This is my Grandpa with his mother Great-Grandma Anna. We did a bit of thinking and figuring and think these were taken just before he was drafted in 1941.

 Isn't Grandpa natty in his winter coat and fedora? This must have been a special occasion. He even has a white scarf tucked around his neck!

Here he is a few months later with one of his brothers. We think this was probably taken when he was on leave before being shipped over seas.

After serving in the Army, being wounded several times, Grandpa became a carpenter and settled in Chicago to raise a family. Even though he was not the easiest person to always get along with, like his mother Anna, he had a deep sense of family duty. Not just duty, but clannish-ness, a stick-together-through-thick-and-thin-always-there-for-each-other-ness. The highest praise his sisters could give was"he was the best brother". I am glad to say, it is becoming a family trait, passing down through the generations.

Great Grandmother Marie

Marie around 1916-18

Even though my Mom or I had ever met my great grandmother Marie, we always remember her for her housekeeping abilities. She instilled such a strong sense of cleanliness, proper housekeeping and care of one's family in her daughter(my grandmother) it is still going strong!  

Maire with her children and husband.

I know that sounds like a strange legacy, but that is what we remember of Marie. We don't really know much about her, other then the usual facts. She married a not so stable man, had three children, divorced and later re-married. Her personality doesn't show up in any of the family stories and so she remains a bit mysterious.

 Marie, like any good housekeeper wearing a a cute apron!

Walking in Their Footsteps....

 Recently, my sister and I made a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our Grandma lives there, in the same town she grew up in and met and married Grandpa. The same town he grew up in and the same town Great Grandma Anna grew up in. We got a chance to visit the old farm and take lots of photos!

 The lane to get back to the car, left at the bottom of the hill at the gate.

I love the texture of the house, logs, chinking and a bit of siding. The farm is unoccupied and the grass is knee high. It made for very picturesque pictures!

Starting on the right, the milk house, pig sty, hen house and very last the outhouse. We are not sure why they are all built very close together, perhaps to make it easier to get to them in a blizzard....

 Isn't that a nice red? It looks like the tar paper came that color.

A picture of some of the other outbuildings. The only ones standing are the ones I mentioned above. It is sad they are all falling in, but not much anyone can do.....

Anna feeding her chickens in front of the barn.

I am so glad we got to visit the farm. It was so very nice to see where so much family history happened......



Great Great Grand Aunt Elsa

 This is my Grandmother's Great Aunt Elsa (right). That makes her my Great-great-grand Aunt!! Say that seven times fast! Born in Finland, she followed her sister to America in 1913 when she was 19 and became a successful seamstress. I bet she made her lovely outfit in the picture above!

  In 1923 she married Nilo and they settled on a small farm to raise sheep. Even though she wasn't a seamstress then, my grandmother remembers the lovely things she made and the sheep she raised. Aren't they a dapper couple?

This is one of her sewing books. Years and years ago poking around in Grandma's wonderful closets I came across it.

Published it 1930 by the Women's Institute of Domestic Art and Sciences. The set consists of eight booklets covering just about every subject on sewing. From how to choose the right fabric to basic sewing stitches to making collars and cuffs to fitting and alterations.

One of my favorite sections, how to make a Jabot!!

Another picture of Elsa and Nilo later in life. Love her hat!

Photos!

I am so excited to be sharing with you today old photos of aprons, not just aprons but my relations wearing aprons! I love old pictures, especially when they are of relatives. My sister is the unofficial family historian. She had taken it upon herself to digitize and catalog the family photos. At least once a year she goes to grandma's and gets another batch of photos. So these are freshly discovered!

First of all, here is Great-Grandma Anna. As you can see she has one of her trademark aprons on! She is holding two of her grandchildren. This is only the second picture I have of her is color. It was a very exciting find!

Aunt Margy (wearing a cute half apron with stripes!) with her son and an unknown lady. She is a great aunt on my Dad's father's side or something like that!

My grandma and her sister playing with their new dishes and wearing aprons!

I love this one, too cute.

Great-great Grandparents Andrew and Alma with their son. They were Finnish.

This week has been a little crazy as my car died on Saturday. Not just broke down, laid down and died dead!  So I am in the midst of car shopping, not the most enjoyable thing. I hope everyone's week is going well!

Great-Grandma Anna

If you have seen my website, you will know that my Great-Grandma Anna was my inspiration for starting Apron History. Today I will tell you a bit more about her.

wedding photo 1916

Anna was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1896. She married my Great-Grandfather in 1916 and had 7 children. Unfortunately, he was killed in a mining accident in 1930.

family photo abt 1926
In 1933 she married a widower with 9 children and they had 2 more children. Between the two families they had three farms and 18 children! A lot of hard work! And in the middle of the depression! No wonder Anna always had an apron on! She was a hard working, cheerful woman, who never complained. Unfortunately, I never met her. She died before I was born. But she has left a wonderful legacy behind, of hard work, love of family and Aprons!

Anna and one of her daughters

Feeding her chickens!