What to write this week in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge? I wish I knew stories about my ancestors who traveled from Scotland to Virginia to Georgia and Kentucky before making their home in Illinois. I expect they lived pretty close to the land! But everything I know comes from watching "Daniel Boone" and "Outlander." Ancestors in the military spent a lot of time outdoors, but that doesn't seem to capture the spirit of the theme; they often weren't outdoors by choice.
As we launch into July, however, whose thoughts don't turn toward vacation? "Time off," from work or other duties often seems to lead one outdoors. So I thought I'd pull together snapshots of vacation and recreation in The Great Outdoors.
I love these pictures of my great-grandma, Dora Thomas, and her two sisters, Minerva Herdman and Laura Clark, along with niece, Abby Herdman, and my grandfather, Wayne (Shug) Thomas. I don't know where they went camping, but they certainly did it up right, didn't they? A wooden rocking chair, white tablecloths, a coffee urn? My mother wrote that she loved it when her grandma Dora's sisters came to visit because the three of them had so much fun together; she never recalled a cross word between them. It certainly feels comfortable and relaxed in the photos.
Here's Dora (in the back) with two women I don't recognize -- almost certainly old school chums of hers, Dora was very close with her school classmates -- on what appears to be a roller coaster. She doesn't look thrilled with the idea. The car is similar to those used at Riverside Amusement Park in Des Moines but the rail attachment is different, so I'm not sure where this was. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a snap she had taken to send to Shug while he was in the Army Air Corps during WWI, to show him she was doing just fine back at home, trying new things and getting out and about. I expect he wasn't any more convinced than we are, but good for her for making the effort.
Although it's a bit risque, I don't think Grandma Inez would have allowed this photo to be printed, let alone kept, if it bothered her. I believe this was taken near Davenport during her honeymoon with JD Smith, her third husband. I feel certain the premature deaths of both of her previous husbands were devastating to her, but this picture makes it seem like she had decided to live life for herself for a while, rather than as someone's daughter, wife or mother. It has always made me feel very glad for her.
That's Mom on the right and my Aunt Jean next to her. I don't know where this was taken or when, but it certainly has "vacation" written all over it. I definitely recognize her "at attention" posture, the one you use when someone made you get into a photo you don't think you belong in, so I'm guessing she was a tag-along with Jean and her friends. I wonder whether this was after Shug's death and Inez's removal to work at the ammunition plant in Rock Island. The gal in the middle is very tall, also - I wonder if she was a basketball player like Mom?
Mom (right) with dear friend Ida Mae Parker (and there's the Thunderbird, again!). I hadn't thought of Ida Mae for years. I liked Ida Mae a lot. She and her husband, Carl, who worked at the Monroe Evening News with Mom, had a swimming pool in their back yard -- in Michigan! -- and she had an uncanny way with animals as well as the Ouija Board.
Dad and Grandma Helen. This picture is just crazy to me. First, that could easily be my brother, Patrick -- the resemblance at that age is uncanny. Second, the idea that Helen ever was relaxed enough to go camping or fishing...! It makes me realize I only really "knew" her after my father died, and perhaps she was a different person then. Lastly, it is amazing that in the vast majority of the pictures, her eyes are closed. Who do you suppose she really was? Do you suppose she cleaned and cooked those fish? I bet not, I bet my grandfather did it. What a mystery.
My father with his father in... quite the skating getup! Was this a hockey ensemble, with trench coat? When did my father play hockey? Was he any good? Did he enjoy it?
Going through Basic Training in the Army isn't a vacation, but Dad's initial posting was in Miami, Florida, and, from the snapshots, he made the most of it. His Army career was brief and unremarkable, but it obviously allowed him to see many parts of the country he otherwise might not have. Some of his pictures are aerial views of the National Mall, very cool (especially now that that's all a no-fly zone!) and he spent time in Roswell, New Mexico, before it was, you know, Roswell.
I've had some epic vacations. Going to Tijuana was never on that list for me (it was a very dirty and kind of a scary place, I thought, I am such a timid mouse!). However, this is a pretty great vacation snapshot. The poor donkey doesn't even look that miserable, although I'm sure he'd prefer not to be a zebra.
Lastly, while not strictly an Outdoor pursuit, if we're talking vacations, we need to consider this one.
This short brag was rom the August 3rd, 1892 San Francisco Call newspaper. Great-great grandmother Libby Barker, whose London-born mother found herself in the New York Almshouse at five years of age, joined her husband, the patent medicine mogul and civil activist, Carl Salfield, for a year-long visit with family and friends in the east and then on to Europe. What I wouldn't give for a diary of that trip!
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