Category: Sepia Saturday

Another tough one for me! I have nothing that really fits for this at all – no Russian ancestry (none known anyway), no  photos of demonstrations.  However, it’s easy to imagine these two gents with their instruments marching in some sort of parade, so I’m going to call that close enough for this Sepia Saturday.  It’s well known that Alfred Herbert Powis (on the left, affectionately referred to as “Herb”) played the trumpet as part of a number of different bands.  Seated next to him, holding  some sort of french horn (a piccolo french horn perhaps?), is Bert Brown.  I haven’t quite been able to pin down who “Bert” is, but it’s possible he’s Albert Brown who lived in and around Clearfield County, PA.  Herb was born in 1892 and the two look to be about the same age, so I’d imagine Bert was about 28 or 30 when this photo was taken.

The stamp box on the back indicates this was taken somewhere between 1907-1929.  Herb  served in WWI and passed away in 1926, and this looks to be from his post-war days, so I’d say somewhere around 1920 or thereabouts would be good for a date.  You can just barely make out a ring on Herb’s finger, and he was married in 1918, so that helps set my idea of a date.  The location is most likely somewhere in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and it’s pretty interesting that they took a photo somewhere in the woods instead of in a nice studio, but it makes for a pretty  backdrop.  The uniforms appear to be non-military, but would be something I’d expect an organized band to wear.  It’s really a lovely photo, and clearly Herb and Bert were close enough friends to have a photo taken together and shared with family.

Better late than never, I suppose!  It’s been an incredibly hectic month around here, but I’m still trying to keep up with Sepia Saturday (or Sunday, as the case may be) even if I’ve let the regular blog posts fall by the wayside.  The closest thing I have to this week’s prompt is something rather dear to me that I’ve been itching to fit into a prompt.  In 1925, when my great grandma Olga Powis was only 25, she got a job as a telephone operator.  She continued at that job for 33 years until the system switched to a new system in 1958, making switchboard operators obsolete.  As a single mother who raised my grandpa after his dad left very early on, I’m sure this was a great way to help her support her family.  The photo above shows her at the switchboard, and she took time to write a note on the back (later in life), “June 1955, On the job, Number Please.”

The way my dad tells it, she was quite the handy gal, and would regularly go back behind the board with the hot poker from the fireplace to make repairs, basically soldering back together bits of the board.  The spirit of tinkering with something to get it right, fixing things by yourself, taking things apart to see how they work is definitely alive and well in my family from my grandpa, Olga’s son, to my dad and me and my brother.  For me, it was  empowering, in a way, to know that my great grandma may have helped set the stage in her era, for me to be able to be a woman working with computers and technology.  Whether it’s learned behavior or part of our genetic makeup, I’m not sure, but there are so many stories about all of us in those four generations fixing, tinkering, and taking things apart to see how they work.  It’s nice to think that it might have started with one strong woman who wasn’t afraid to fix things herself.

The article below is about the end of the switchboard system and mentions her by name (along with a photo) and alludes to the fact that the voices of these operators will be missed as people will now be able to dial numbers directly.  (Click the article to see a larger version)

 

 

A postcard this time instead of a photo for Sepia Saturday, but it ties together a few other Sepia Saturday posts and fits the prompt image pretty well!  The postcard is written by Boyd Wagner, father of the two kids from  Sepia Saturday 248, husband to Mary Elizabeth Harris from Sepia Saturday 239, to my great-great grandmother Jessie (Battin) Powis.  Boyd and Mary weren’t married until December 20, 1909, so this was sent just two weeks before their marriage if I assume the date to be December 2, 1909 on the postcard.  The postcard was sent from a now non-existent post office in Expedit, Pennsylvania, a small mining town in Cambria County.  It’s a shame the postmark wasn’t better stamped to show the date and location!  Boyd sent the postcard, writing, “With best regards to all, Boyd,” a short and sweet greeting.  As the front of the card states, the image is from Coalport, Pennsylvania, and is a very similar view to the postcard from Sepia Saturday 243  albeit some 40 years time difference.  The one thing that stands out in the postcard above is the same chuch, Coalport Methodist, as  seen in the newer postcard, standing in the bottom left corner, steeple and all.  The church, built in 1902, still exists today in its same layout and my last living grandparent is still a member.

It was a little bit of an odd image for the prompt since it’s not really sepia, but an illustration but it made for a good challenge to match up a photo!  I’ve picked out these two because they were right next to eachother in the album and I’d love to know more about them but haven’t found too much.  They seem to be some sort of instant photo like those from photobooths or something like that.  For a date, I’d say something around 1930 or thereabouts based on the age of the other photos in the album near that page.  They were both definitely taken in Holland and I doubt either woman left The Netherlands.  They’re not incredibly flattering, or about as flattering as an instant photo can be.  The photos are only about an inch wide by 1.5 inches high and are on a heavy cardboard material.  The lettering at the top appears to be part of the backdrop in the photo booth, and there’s a metal hand holding a card with a number, presumably to help identify the image upon pickup.

On the left is Ellechien VanEerden, born 17 November 1876 and died 15 March 1945 in Holland (around Groningen).  It doesn’t appear that she ever married, but she was the sister of my husband’s maternal great grandmother.

On the right is Gertrudia “Grace” Dijkema who married Wessel Visser.  Gertrudia was born 13 September 1886 in Hoogezand, Netherlands and died in 1922 (date unsure).  She was the sister of my husband’s maternal great grandfather.  I don’t know too much about her, but it’s nice to have a photo that was labelled!

So, two ladies from two sides of the same tree!  I have to admit a fondness for these tiny little photos since they were probably taken spur of the moment, not in best-clothes and aren’t entirely perfect – a little blurry and damaged.  Still, a blurry and damaged photo is better than none at all, so I’m glad they’re still around!