My Great Aunt Edna is on the far left. Unfortunately, she’s the only woman I can identify. The caption says “Doris Feb. 2, 1916” My maternal side, from Edna’s sister’s photo album, Charlotte, my grandmother. Edna was born in 1890 and passed at 100 in 1990. So she’s 26 Years old in this photograph. Durand, Illinois. Aunt Edna and Uncle Edgar did not have any children. He passed in 1965.
Tag: ancestors
About A Hundred Years Ago
My Uncle Robert on a Tricycle in Durand Illinous
My Grandfather at the Wheel
And my grandmother Charlotte is standing on the left, next to my Uncle Robert(b 1914), who is holding the dog. Aunt Edna is in the backseat and her husband, Uncle Edgar, is seated on the running board. Durand Illinois
Great Aunt Jessie Van Sickle
My grandfather Judd Dewitt Van Sickle had 6 siblings. His sister Jessie Van Sickle was the only one to reach young adulthood.
I’ve seen the siblings’ markers surrounding the parents’ graves in Durand, Illinois cemetery.
Jessie was Born in 1878, and she passed on May 27,1904. My cousin John said she was studying to be an opera singer. There are notes that say their mother, my Great Grandmother, Lucy Maria Judd passed from “la grippe”(influenza)
1943 Lincoln, Illinois Throwback Thursday
Our mother Marian Van Sickle Hendricks on the far left and then our Great Grandmother Rosa Kerr (Mother of Mary Alta) standing next to our mom
town of Lincoln, Illinois 1943
My Maternal Grandmother Ancestors
Throwback Thursday
One Christmas, our mother had a copy of this photo made for each of us.
Mary Smith Rowley and Eugene Baker Rowley
My mother’s mother Charlotte Elizabeth June 13, 1888 front left
May Blossom. May 1, 1883 standing
Edna Blanche July 2, 1890 on her father’s lap
Rockford, Illinois
Four Generations of Ancestors
On my mother’s side.
Four Generations
My Great Grandmother Mary S. Smith Rowley
My Great Great Grandmother Charlotte Ann Clark Smith
My Great Aunt May Baker Rowley Potter b.1883-d.1972
her son Melburn Clark Potter
b.1906-d. 1940
My Great Great Grandmother Charlotte Ann Clark Smith
Born in Ohio 31 May 1834 Died Durand Illinois 22 January 1916 Aged 81
Buried in Durand Winnebago County Illinois Laona Cemetery
My Great Grandmother
Mary S Smith Married Eugene Baker Rowley in 1880
Born in Durand, Winnebago, Illinois, Died 1917
Daughter of Clark Smith & Charlotte Ann Clark
Mother of Clair S Rowley, May Baker Potter 1883-1972 Charlotte Rowley Van Sickle 1888-1980, Edna Rowley Morey 1892-1990,, Cecile Rowley Caven 1897-1957
Storms a Coming by Jane Miller – Guest Blogger
Storms a coming.
by Jane Miller
My husband and I live with his mother in an old farmhouse with parts dating back to 1842. Except for the window lined porch that faces west, the house is structurally the way it was 100 years ago when the third generation of the Hunter family lived here. Their ancestors were a Scottish Presbyterian family who cleared this portion of Depreciation Lands.
Often my thoughts go to life as it may have been stretched out over a nearly 200 year history when the family sustained themselves with their labors in the fields and there were horses in the barn. Now the horses are gone. The farm is in transition. Our work of the day includes for me, the care giving for my mother-in-law, Lois—almost 90—and the patients my husband “sees” on a computer in his office that was at one time our dining room and in generations past, a kitchen. The beauty of the evolving nature is one constant. We especially enjoy our summer evenings.
On one of the first warm nights this year we sat together on the back deck after mom was in bed, I grieved the loss of the horses and a pasture plowed under by Farmer Beahm, who will soon plant field corn. The sun was heading for its sweet spot between the tree-lined hills as clouds gathered bits of gray.
I remembered an evening nearly 35 years ago on May 31, 1985, the evening a 25-mile long twister took out the trees of that hill and my mother and father-in-law, along with our three-year-old son, hit the basement. I think they wanted a room with windows to better see a storm a coming in addition to daily witnessing the beauty of nature.
On this May evening—one of the first ones a coat and blanket not needed—another storm was brewing. It was May 12, just before the world began opening up to our “new normal” and all of the unknowns this will bring. Then in the skies, a real storm collected clouds and we were fascinated as we watched where the sun would soon disappear in the West. Rick had a Scotch in his hand. I had my camera.
The beauty of the moment mesmerized us and we didn’t heed the warnings of the winds. Our eyes were on the skies, when rain pelted us. For the moment we laughed through the winds, making sure my camera was safe and Rick anchored down the furniture we had to evacuate.
I thought of the storms of the past and the ones that are brewing and a word came to my mind about life on the farm. Resilience. Crops fail. You replant. Animals that sustain you will die. It’s not a moment to moment feeling. It’s a joy that doesn’t depend upon what is happening to you. It’s about being grateful for every moment in every time.
Life goes on and it’s always day by day. Farmers look for their rewards at the end of the day.
Storm a ComingMiddle Row, Second from the Left. Throwback Thursday
A faded school photo found in a desk drawer while cleaning.
In the middle row. Second from the left. Charlotte Rowley in the dark dress and her younger sister Edna Rowley next to her. The handwriting of the list of students is unknown to me but I thought it was a good find, to see all the names. No date I could see but Charlotte was born in 1888.
So many old photos are unidentified.
Now the printing on the cardboard is my mother’s hand –Historical Pictorial
H
A Bride in 1904 My Great Aunt May
Married 28 January 1904. Durand, Illinois. My great Aunt May B. Rowley (b.1883-d.1972) and her husband Ralph Alson Potter (b. 1882-d.1971). My grandmother Charlotte’s sister.
I visited Uncle Ralph and Aunt May’s home in Durand when I was a kid. I remember I didn’t understand the words on a plaque over his garage- Dun Workin’ .
They had one son Melburn Clark Potter. b.1906-d. 1940