Quote of the Day:
“The past is never dead. It is not even past.” –William Faulkner
My Great-Grandmother, circa 1900
Great-Great Uncle, circa 1900
My Great Grandfather on the left, with his brothers
All I know is the people pre-date my Grandmother, who was born in 1902
A relation, not sure when this was taken
Receipt for a bale of cotton
My Grandmother's class, taken in the 1950's
And I had one final antique to include but for some reason the WordPress software is blocking it. But you know how a lot of families say they have “Indian blood” and you kind of buy into it if your family says it but you only half believe it. Well, this link is to a reproduction of a photo of my, best I can calculate, Great-great-great Grandfather probably taken around 1850. He was a product of a Cherokee mother and a Scotch-Irish-Huguenot father. He moved to Mississippi in 1818, two years before a treaty was to allow “white” settlement of the territory including Phoenix, Yazoo County, MS. Family lore is that he bought the property we still hold from the natives first, as a fellow Indian. My supposition is this is probably true because it allowed him to move over the treaty boundary early. Then, in 1820 he “became” a white man and got title through the government. Anyway, I’m pretty sure the claim that we have “Cherokee blood way back” is true, and if you feel like clicking the link I expect you will agree.
Travellinbaen 
So wierd that you are writing and showing photos about this today – I just left my families website on Heritage.com I think it is. I get an email about it every month and today I had time to check out the pictures. I always wonder why no one ever smiled in the pictures – they all look miserable really. In the last month my mom has produced photos of her mother in a bathing suit hamming it up on a pier- I would expect nothing less of her as she was my funny grandmother who would say the craziest of things to anyone.
My favorite photo above is your great grandfather and his brothers.
Those pictures are totally cool. I wish I had some like that of my family.
And yes, I agree that there’s gotta be some Cherokee in there.
Hey, I couldn’t watch that video you left me because my damn work network blocked that site!!! I’m going to try from my blackberry, but hope is small.
Such great pictures. Like Jessie Lou, my favorite picture is of your great-grandfather and his brothers. I love that you know the history of your family. I wouldn’t even recognize anyone outside of my immediate family..my parents walked away from their families to start their own. As a child I always wished we had that sort of family, with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Now, as an adult, I wish we had some family history. Good for you, in knowing the depths of your family tree. I think that’s wonderful!
I remember when I became a “white man.” Are these on your dad’s side. Cause some look like Sam. But I guess you could take anyone from those eras and they may look like Ole Sam. Just got that look I guess.
It’s hard for me to choose a favorite. I like the picture of my Great-grandmother because my Dad has always talked about her–she helped raise him in the early years and told him stories about the Civil War that she first learned when they were fresh in people’s memories. Also because I think she is beautiful, which is not a common trait in all the photos I’ve been scanning.
On the horse picture I love the mustaches, hats and the dog and I recognize the terrain where they are standing if not the exact location. JL, one of the reasons there were no smiles back then is the subject had to stand stock still for a long time waiting on the picture to take. In this picture there is a disembodied head between the man on the left and the brown horse. Apparently this person moved in and out of the photo as the camera was doing its business. You will note the pony’s head is blurry–the youngster couldn’t be still–while the adult horses are in focus and the dog is completely disinterested.
In the house picture, I don’t know if you can see it but there is a tricycle on the right side of the porch and the girl is holding a doll. The chairs are positioned in the dogtrot to take advantage of the breeze and again the dogs were either invited or at least not ejected from the family photo-op.
I love the lady on the horse too. First, her dress looks like the one Carol Burnett wore on her bit about Scarlett O’hara (made from curtains). But mainly I like it because the idea of a lady getting all gussied up for church or town or whatever and hopping on her horse side-saddle reveals such a different truth from the image we have of old south ladies being lifted up to a carriage in a white hoop dress that remains spotless. She also seems so conscientious of her dignity.
Barista, the vid is posted here too up about 10 posts from the bottom on Freestyle. But you’ll probably have to wait til you get home. It matched up so perfectly with your post yesterday I had to link. Keep in mind, I plan to work on it and make it better. I’ve been thinking over filmmaking techniques and script additions all week!
Well thanks for solving that little mystery for me. I know times were tough but…..
We have a great picture of my grandmother Byrd (she was the oldest and born in 1899) and her sisters way back when and then another one of them in about 1975 – that is my favorite. Two of those sisters married the Byrd brothers while a third sister married a man by the last name Bird. We always laugh about that.