Sepia Saturday 210 Old books, photos and memories

This week's prompt appeals to me because I am a book lover a genealogist, amateur historian, and love to share family stories here.  It symbolizes memories drawn from discoveries over the last several years, with the passing on of elderly relatives, finding those old photos or documents was the good in the grief...just wish there were someone to ask about those new to me treasures. Wistful too because there will be no more discoveries in the backs of closets of relatives who have completed their earthly journeys, all having gone on now.  Well, I might rediscover something again here among our troves of albums and photos, something perhaps forgotten that reveals itself  while I hunt for something else.

Today I'm sharing a few photos from Jerry's album that was kept by his paternal grandmother, Emma Morrison who lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  When Emma died in 1987 at age 91, one of the aunts thoughtfully sent the album to us in California.  When that brown manila envelope arrived in the mail it was a most welcome surprise for which we remain grateful today.   Remember these, black papers with the  corner holders for photos, tied with a cord...Jerry was born in 1937 so this album, handsome still today,  is at least that old and if Emma had it before that date we will not ever know.  It's   brown leather with gold embossing, an iconic Indian in canoe, so reflective of Wisconsin, this Midwest, historical hearkening  to the era of fur traders.  In genealogy research we have learned a lot more about Emma Walker Morrison than Jerry ever knew, she was born in 1896 in Iowa in what was "Indian Territory" to a mother, Eva Mae who would abandon her and her sisters sometime before their father, William Walker, died.  Eva Mae herself  was a fascinating colorful character for those times, a brazen woman, she married many times, chased men it seems and  traveled or roamed  a wide area, from Iowa,  Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, the entire midwest.  But that is another long tale to be told later.  


Inside of the album cover is a  careful record of Jerry and his lucky number "7" in white ink, Emma's writing, she began in August when her newest grandson was 3 months old.  Jerry was so amazed when  he received this,  things he never knew.  His mother and father separated and divorced  and his mother as I have written before would not win motherhood awards and was not really playing with a full deck.  When we told her about this gift, she was quite snippy, I suppose she wondered just what the in laws might have written about her, but the Morrison's were not into gossip.  Emma was quite the woman, volunteering over 8000  hours to the Veteran's Administration in Tomah Wisconsin, we learned in her obituary.  She was an animal lover and requested memorials be to the Humane Society when she passed on.  

Jerry was in touch with his Morrison grandparents, especially Emma.  Here is a photo page from the album, appently Emma had a cat named Tom, and she was amused to have a photo of Tom and Jerry.  The photo on  the right that shows Jerry as a baby with his parents.  Emma labeled  all photos carefully.  76 years later the album is a testament to her efforts.  

Album page

The last  two photos  are of Jerry with Emma, the first from the album, 1937 and the last in 1980 one of our trips to this area, he always went to see his grandmother Emma Morrison.  I am glad that I got to meet her. 

This is my Sepia Post.. Blogger is acting up so the photos are not labeled individually. To see what others are sharing go to the Sepia site at http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2014/01/sepia-saturday-210-11-january-2014.html

Unknown Bride for Sepia Sat Week 29 (Click Here to See Others Posts)

This beautiful bride is one of three identical  sepia photos  I found among my family--one at Mom's when she died, one at my aunt Virginia's house that we cleared out last year after she died and one at my Uncle Carl's among a folder labeled only "some cousins."  That all three (sisters and brother)  had this photo leads me to believe they knew her and that perhaps she married into the family and became a cousin. But then because they all had an identical photo of only the bride, perhaps she is the cousin.  It is odd that there is no photo of a complete wedding party, nor of bride and groom. Mom had penciled  1942 on her photo.   I believe I have seen  this same woman  in other snapshots somewhere in my family archives.  We are on the road in our RV and I have little time to post but have a few scanned  photos on my traveling thumb drive, so I offer this mystery bride from sometime in the  1940's. She is posed grandly by this arch and the sides appear to have palm fronds, unusual for PA.  I have never seen another similar photo of a wedding pose in the family collections... Also the month of June is nearly done, and known as the month of weddings, so this mystery bride seemed appropriate for my Sepia posts for June. 

PS... After Nancy's comment and others echoing same, I do believe she is not a bride at all but some sort of pageant winner!  Why  couldn't I think of that?  That explains lack of wedding party photos, no groom, etc.  Still the mystery of her is to be solved, perhaps revealed as I continue to dig through old photos....With this determination, I can point out the benefit of working with all the Sepia posters, world wide, together we can share and help each other solve some mysteries in our photos.!


To see other posts by our international Sepia bloggers click on the title above or here ignore error messages that seem to be appearing when I click the link and just click on the Sepia Saturday, I can't explain what's happening.....
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2010/06/sepia-saturday-week-29