Friday, August 16, 2013

Sepia Saturday: Eat - Pray - Love

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.

Jollett Reunion 1919 in Harriston, Virginia
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.


 Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia

Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia

























Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia
Left: Arthur Maiden offers the prayer.
James Franklin Jollett and Emma Coleman


PRAY – Who was the heathen snapping photos during the prayer?


Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia
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. 

Coleman 4 generations Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia 1923
4 Generations 1923:
Emma Coleman, James Franklin Jollett, Virginia Maiden
Standing:  Minnie Coleman Maiden


Davis 4 generations Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia 1925
4 Generations 1925:
My grandfather Orvin Davis
Mary Frances Davis holding Orvin Jr,
James Franklin Jollett








Davis 4 generations Jollett Reunion Harriston, Virginia 1926
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.

57 comments:

  1. Lovely 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.

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    1. I like the 4-gen pictures too. I've seen plenty of 5 and 6-gen pictures but not in my family.

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  2. Whenever 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?

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    1. Emma's maiden name was Jollett and married name was Coleman.

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  3. I love 4 generation photos, and I've seen some people even have 5 generations. Your family knew how to eat!

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    1. I 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.

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    2. Amen. I hate going to a party and someone shows up with a Sam's Club cake. Yes, I'm a snob.

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  4. Family 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.

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  5. We 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!

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    1. I always fear that will happen -- never knew it actually could and did. Funny!

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  6. Family 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.

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    1. My 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.

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  7. Family 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.

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  8. A great theme for your photos.
    Love the four generation photos, I don't think we have any of them at all unfortunately.

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    1. 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.

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  9. My goodness, what great photographs they are. Dripping with the pioneering history of your country.

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  10. Great family photos. So nice to have those to keep. I treasure mine.

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  11. The people and four generations are interesting, but the tables of food really give more of the flavor of the reunion events.

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  12. Great title: Eat, Pray, Love. And the perfect photos!

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    1. Thanks Colleen -- it was a moment of near-genius at the point where I was ready to hit DELETE because I really had no story.

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  13. A 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.

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    1. So true. When my daughters have babies, the best they can hope for is 3 generations.

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  14. Those 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.

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    1. It's always exciting to see what the "new" recipes will be.

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  15. How wonderful. Aren't you glad that some one took photos during the prayer?

    The cake in that first photo is very enticing.

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    1. I like the looks of that cake too -- four layers??

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  16. Gee why am I suddenly so hungry! Thank goodness every time someone takes the camera and shoots! Lucky us.

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    1. I agree -- I'm glad my ancestors had a camera. I wish they had a pencil though.

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  17. What 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.

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    1. HA -- yes, you need to pack on the reserves when poring over family photos.

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  18. You 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??)

    I love multi-generational photos. My husband has several like that from his family and those are real treasures. Thanks so much for sharing yours!

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    1. I would think the cameras of the early 1920s would have been rather noisy, so I'm sure everyone had to hear it.

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  19. James Franklin Jollett is VERY impressive -- that beard is amazing. And what wonderful generational photographs!

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    1. I'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.

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  20. Well, that table spread with all those homemade goodies delights me - and the four generation images are truly priceless.

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    1. Thanks. I like how the pictures remind me how much my ancestors enjoyed being with each other.

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  21. I'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.

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    1. It would be fun to know what each person's specialty was.

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  22. The 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.

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    1. No, 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.

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  23. Those 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.
    Barbara

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    1. My sister-in-law got some 5-generation photos, but that group all managed to get an early start in marrying and having babies.

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  24. Oh Wendy, these are wonderful photos! Look at all of that yummy food! And the multi-generation pictures!

    And? 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.) =)

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    1. Jana, I'm hoping the "click" was right at "let us bow" and before any "Dear Heavenly Father...."

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    2. Wendy,

      I 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!

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  25. Great photos! Someone took a massive slice of that yummy cake!

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    1. Didn't they? I wonder about the flavor. Homemade icing, for sure.

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  26. Speaking of spread,
    that was quite the post!!
    Great collection of joyous memories, surely!!
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  27. Sorry to hear that photo's gone AWOL. Hope you find it soon!

    And just think: if the family had kept up the reunion tradition, it would have been nearly a hundred-year celebration by now!

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