Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to
share family history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is a group of women in
hats enjoying a picnic. Dining in the
great outdoors was a long-standing tradition among the Jolletts when they all
gathered in Harriston, Virginia for the annual reunion.
I don’t know when the reunions began or exactly when they
stopped, but photos of the event are dated as early as 1919.
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| Standing: Decatur and Vic Breeden, Jack and Emma Coleman, Sallie Clift, Laura Sullivan, James Franklin Jollett, Mary Frances Davis, Leanna Knight, Walter Davis Seated: Will Sullivan, Ulysses and Sadie Jollett |
Besides catching up on the latest news, the Jollett
family seemed to have adopted 3 traditions:
EAT – look at that spread! Blue mason jars filled with peaches, applesauce,
pickles. Freshly baked cakes and pies
and rolls. I wonder what else.
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| Left: Arthur Maiden offers the prayer. James Franklin Jollett and Emma Coleman |
PRAY – Who was the heathen snapping photos during the
prayer?
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| The bearded man is James Franklin Jollett, my 2G-grandfather. Next to him is my great grandmother Mary Frances Davis and then my grandmother Lucille Rucker Davis |
LOVE – The reunion was a time to get that 4-generation
photo.
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| 4 Generations 1923: Emma Coleman, James Franklin Jollett, Virginia Maiden Standing: Minnie Coleman Maiden |
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| 4 Generations 1925: My grandfather Orvin Davis Mary Frances Davis holding Orvin Jr, James Franklin Jollett |
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| 4 Generations 1926: Mary Frances Davis, James Franklin Jollett, Orvin Davis and Orvin Jr. |
I remember seeing a picture of my mother as a baby sitting
on her great-grandfather’s lap at the reunion of 1929. Unfortunately that picture has gone missing,
and I really hate that.
Grab your hat and join the picnic at Sepia Saturday.
©
2014, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Quite an impressive array of food!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it?!
DeleteLovely food, it must have taken, presumably the women in those days, a long time to prepare the feast. I love the four generation pictures, they are so wonderful to have.
ReplyDeleteI like the 4-gen pictures too. I've seen plenty of 5 and 6-gen pictures but not in my family.
DeleteWhenever the occasion arises that there is 3 or 4 generations, I always take pictures, good keepsake. Why is Emma's last name is not the same of Jollett?
ReplyDeleteEmma's maiden name was Jollett and married name was Coleman.
DeleteI love 4 generation photos, and I've seen some people even have 5 generations. Your family knew how to eat!
ReplyDeleteI think they did! I love that back then people actually cooked, fried, baked because there was no Sam's Club or Costco to make it easy on them.
DeleteAmen. I hate going to a party and someone shows up with a Sam's Club cake. Yes, I'm a snob.
DeleteFamily reunions - you can't beat them, and you can bet someone's not happy with the photographer for some reason. How fortunate though that there was one amongst them with the foresight to record family prayers for posterity.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have proof they prayed alright!
DeleteWe have a big family reunion every summer & food is a huge part of it but I think that's probably true of most reunions. My sister used to try to organize the food people brought but I finally convinced her to just let it be. Who cared if everyone brought salads or meat dishes or whatever? We went to a potluck once where everyone brought dessert. Do you think anyone complained? Boy, was that a yummy meal!
ReplyDeleteI always fear that will happen -- never knew it actually could and did. Funny!
DeleteFamily reunions are harder these days, as families have scattered far and wide over the globe. Reunions get so expensive to attend - my own immediate family is spread over several continents. Here in New Zealand, people seem to move house particularly frequently, whether for work or whim.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's family is big on reunions, but the annual event is definitely dying as the younger generation has no interest, probably because they don't really know their distant cousins. I imagine each family unit will one day develop their own reunions among siblings and their families. I hope so.
DeleteFamily picnics may be the common denominator for peoples all around the globe. Everyone would appreciate a spread of food as generous as the Jollett's.
ReplyDeleteI doubt anyone left there hungry!
DeleteA great theme for your photos.
ReplyDeleteLove the four generation photos, I don't think we have any of them at all unfortunately.
I have a 4-generation with my older daughter but I can't recall having one with my younger daughter. Hmm -- now I'm worried because it's obviously way too late to correct it if not.
DeleteMy goodness, what great photographs they are. Dripping with the pioneering history of your country.
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteGreat family photos. So nice to have those to keep. I treasure mine.
ReplyDeleteYes, I appreciate them more every day.
DeleteThe people and four generations are interesting, but the tables of food really give more of the flavor of the reunion events.
ReplyDeleteIs that a pun?
DeleteGreat title: Eat, Pray, Love. And the perfect photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Colleen -- it was a moment of near-genius at the point where I was ready to hit DELETE because I really had no story.
DeleteA friend and i were just saying that it is harder and harder to get multi-generational photos as women choose to have their babies much later.
ReplyDeleteSo true. When my daughters have babies, the best they can hope for is 3 generations.
DeleteThose tables laden with food reminded me that I too went to a reunion last month --- and there were table after table with chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, German dishes for which I dinna know the name, bean, lasagne, Asian noodles, vegan casseroles, pies, cakes, cookies, strudels, and beer and beer and beer. Haven't been to one of those in ages. what fun -- just like your photos.
ReplyDeleteIt's always exciting to see what the "new" recipes will be.
DeleteHow wonderful. Aren't you glad that some one took photos during the prayer?
ReplyDeleteThe cake in that first photo is very enticing.
I like the looks of that cake too -- four layers??
DeleteGee why am I suddenly so hungry! Thank goodness every time someone takes the camera and shoots! Lucky us.
ReplyDeleteI agree -- I'm glad my ancestors had a camera. I wish they had a pencil though.
DeleteWhat a fantastic collection of family photos. I don;t think we have any photos that span more than two generations. I am going to have to do a detailed search. I need a feast like the ones in you photos to sustain me when I do.
ReplyDeleteHA -- yes, you need to pack on the reserves when poring over family photos.
DeleteYou know, I don't think I have ever seen photos taken of the family table while someone is saying grace! What unique pictures (and did the photographer get in trouble for that??)
ReplyDeleteI love multi-generational photos. My husband has several like that from his family and those are real treasures. Thanks so much for sharing yours!
I would think the cameras of the early 1920s would have been rather noisy, so I'm sure everyone had to hear it.
DeleteJames Franklin Jollett is VERY impressive -- that beard is amazing. And what wonderful generational photographs!
ReplyDeleteI've studied JFJ's photos so often that in my mind, he was a kindly ol' gent. He always seems to have been a sweet old man.
DeleteWell, that table spread with all those homemade goodies delights me - and the four generation images are truly priceless.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I like how the pictures remind me how much my ancestors enjoyed being with each other.
DeleteI'm getting around to see other posts so late this week and now so late at night. That table of food has me very very hungry. I don't know what's on that table, but I know it's homemade and hopefully something each cook was known for. Let's hope they were thanked for all their hard work.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to know what each person's specialty was.
DeleteThe groaning board is amazing. Love the generation photographs - do you have more taken over later years? I haven't even thought about cake for at least a year. Now I'm dying for a big slice.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't have many taken over the years. James Franklin died in 1930, so there weren't many years left. I don't know what pictures might exist in other family lines.
DeleteThose were great sepia photos. And perfectly fit the theme! I love to see 4 generation photos. I have some of my family. At one point there were 5 generations but everyone wasn't near enough to take a picture.
ReplyDeleteBarbara
My sister-in-law got some 5-generation photos, but that group all managed to get an early start in marrying and having babies.
DeleteOh Wendy, these are wonderful photos! Look at all of that yummy food! And the multi-generation pictures!
ReplyDeleteAnd? I literally laughed out loud at your question, "Who was the heathen snapping photos during the prayer?" (Um, yes, that is a good question, actually.) =)
Jana, I'm hoping the "click" was right at "let us bow" and before any "Dear Heavenly Father...."
DeleteWendy,
DeleteI want you to know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/08/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-august-23.html
Have a wonderful weekend!
Great photos! Someone took a massive slice of that yummy cake!
ReplyDeleteDidn't they? I wonder about the flavor. Homemade icing, for sure.
DeleteSpeaking of spread,
ReplyDeletethat was quite the post!!
Great collection of joyous memories, surely!!
:)~
HUGZ
How do you like that boy's haircut?
DeleteSorry to hear that photo's gone AWOL. Hope you find it soon!
ReplyDeleteAnd just think: if the family had kept up the reunion tradition, it would have been nearly a hundred-year celebration by now!