Family History

Monday, March 9, 2009

This weekend I've been putting together a photo pedigree chart from little photos of dozens of direct ancestors that my mom has accumulated over the years after much effort. Once I'm done, I'll post it on this blog. There is actually one photograph of my great-great-great-great-great-grandma Permelia Darrow who was born in 1805. It's incredible to me that mom was able to find so many of these photographs. Out of 5 generations, only 9 photos are missing! I just want to share a couple neat pictures we have buried in a filing cabinet that I'd never seen before and that my sisters probably have never seen either. This first photo is of the Burr Maxwell family. The seated man is our great-great-great grandpa Burr Maxwell. His wife is our ggg-grandma Jeanette Campbell, and the rest of the women are their daughters. The first woman standing on the left is our great-great-grandma Kate Jane Maxwell Symes (This is Grandma Pat's grandma!). I think she looks terribly interesting. (By the way, you can click on these first 3 pics to see larger versions)

This is her with her husband Charles Symes. We have the original photograph of this, it's backed on cardboard the way all photographs were at the time when captured by a photographer's studio. Isn't her dress beautiful?

I think that we all get our big eyes and a lot of features from this line of the family.

This photo is of Kate Jane and Charles' daughter and our great-grandma Marie Symes (1894-1976). She died a few months before KJ was born and KJ gets her middle name from her. This is Grandma Pat's mom... I can't get my head around how quickly we all pass through this life.

Anyway, the next couple of pics are the front and back of a cardboard-framed photograph given to Marie when she was in school in 1901-1902. You can see it's a one-room schoolhouse. Marie is the one with an X on her dress. On the back is the note from her teacher and the year.


We're really lucky to have these photos in the family and to be so certain of where we come from.

Nikki

6 comments:

Tiffany said...

SWEEET! I have only seen two of those pictures....POST MORE! Nah, you don't have to, but one thing I definitely want to do when I go visit Mom this summer is go through the genealogy!!

I love the one of Marie--I had never seen that one before!

Thanks so much for posting these Nikki!

Tiffany said...

Oh, and did Mom tell you that she actually spoke to Kate on the phone when she was very little?! I think that is so cool; I mean, Kate was born around the time of the Civil War!!

Char said...

This is SO COOL!! When I first saw Kate Jane I was like... Kjerstie! Seriously, their eyes are so similar. We all have those eyes. I am obsessed with old photographs, they are so haunting -- how amazing to see our own flesh and blood in them.

Nolan said...

Even non-family member me sees the resemblance! In the first one of KJM Symes I think she looks like you and in the second I think she looks like your sister Char.

Julie said...

wow! this is so amazing!! thanks so much for posting these!! it's crazy how fast we go through our lives. And the resemblance is so strikingly similar. @_@ crazy!!

Char said...

Oh my gosh, Nolan, you're right. I seriously feel almost like I'm looking in a mirror when I see that picture of Kate with her husband. And her dress is so awesome. Maybe I get a love of fashion from her.

The picture of Marie Symes looks almost EXACTLY like a young Grandma Pat. Wow, like mother like daughter. I love these!

 
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