Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Wistful Wednesday : Roots Part Six

We all have relatives who we don’t know.  I have lots of them since my parents are both parts of large families.

These are relatives note the photo

Who are these people?  What year was it? Where are they at?  Is this spot the foundation of a home in French Lake MN?  Why are they standing near a photograph of my Great Great Grandmother Briita Liisa and her third husband?

Leinonens

These are relatives note the photo

Perhaps they are all Leinonens…cousins!  Someday we may know.  I got a nice email from Ardelle one of the Leinonen relatives who offered to give us a tour of the French Lake and Annandale areas where most of the Leinonen’s settled.

At the end of the month I will attend a genealogy seminar.  I have some more research I would like to attempt.

I urge you all to drag out your old photos and make sure they are marked with the Who? What? When? Where? ...perhaps you should put it on your to do list this winter!

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19 comments:

Mike@Bit About Britain said...

If I were a betting man, I'd say sometime in the 1920s; probably not in North Yorkshire. The two ladies and the two gents on the right have very similar features - but that doesn't mean anything in itself. Very good advice about noting details of old photos; perhaps number them and create a log rather than write on the back of the photos. Wish I'd done that years ago! All the best.

Anonymous said...

A good reminder to identify folks in photos.

linda m said...

Whenever I take a photograph these days I always put the "who, what and where" on it so people will know who what and where at some later date. Love genealogy.

DJan said...

My digital library puts everything in for me, except who it's taken of. And I can do that, too, if I remember. Most of my earlier pictures are self explanatory. Those ladies in your picture are both of about the same heft, too, I notice. :-)

MTWaggin said...

I also find that many of the people in some of those really old photos just look the same! LOL We had the same issue going through our old photos, luckily before my Grandparents died we sat them down and did write on many of them. Don't always get that opportunity tho.

Intense Guy said...

Such an odd arrangement - the chest with the back-mounted photo, standing in front of a stone lined hole.

One would assume they are honoring the memory of your Great Great Grandmother Briita Liisa and her third husband - and yes, one would further assume this is the "old homestead"... what is left of it.

Red said...

That's a very interesting photo . You wonder if there's any significance of the old foundation or if it was an accidental location for the photo.

Unknown said...

I bet those "hefty" ladies made huge meals for those men in the picture. Probably the men worked off the food in the fields and on the farm but the ladies were occupied with household tasks and much cooking. Many of us had overweight grandmas and aunties.

Shirley H.

Linda Kay said...

It looks like the ladies and the guys are getting enough to eat. We have lots of pictures from my husband's mother, and we have no idea who is in them. Jerry hangs on to them just in case he has a cousin who might know who they are.

Cynthia said...

Those faces are definitely related to each other! My guess would be that the folks in the oval picture built that foundation and lived there, hence the photo and the hole included. I hope you find out the details. I love a mystery, especially one that is solved.
There is so much news about an obesity epidemic being a modern phenomenon but the more I look at old pictures, the more I disagree. As hard as these folks probably worked, they didn't escape the weight gains of age one bit.

Lynda said...

That is on my list of things to do before I die. I Truly need to get it done - - even in bits and pieces.

lisa said...

I am a very bad person, when it comes to labeling my photos. The sad part is that with all the technologies, you won't know if it is an original or fake. I kind of miss the old fashioned photographs, the digital era is nice but I kind of like the actual paper pictures.

Primitive Stars said...

Love looking at your old black and whites Connie. Such a different life way back then, Blessings Francine.

Nancy said...

Thankfully, I had my mother ID old photos before she died. Some she didn't know, but many she did. I fear much history will be lost in this age of digital photos and no way to ID them.

RURAL said...

As more and more of my elderly relatives pass away we realize just how much history is gone when they are....

Jen

Marty said...

I've seen few pictures more intriguing than this grouping of people around a framed photo.
Really makes you wonder about the significance and what prompted them to do it.

Linda Reeder said...

My husband is the family genealogist, and he spends hours working with old photos, scanning them and trying to identify the people in them.

Henny Penny said...

I get lost in old pictures, trying to imagine what the people are like and what it was like living back then. That is an unusual picture.

Rita said...

I have a box full that will be marked as well as they ever will be because my grandparents and parent's generations have gone through them. There were a lot nobody knew who they were. Those kind of old pics are just fascinating! Makes you wonder.... ;)