This week’s Sepia Saturday commemorates 300 weeks of sharing
old photos and stories by recalling the photo that got this group started. While
there is no shortage of photos of ugly people in my collection, I decided to
follow the prompt even more closely by recalling the photo I posted on my very
first blog back in August 2011. Partly because I’m lazy, partly because there
is nothing new to say, and partly because it was so darn good the first time, I
am simply repeating the story (with a few minor edits) from the post that got
my blog started:
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| Standing: My great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis, Sallie Jollett Clift, Victoria Jollett Breeden, Laura Jollett Knight Seated: Emma Jollett Coleman, Ulysses Jollett, Laura Jollett Sullivan |
For years, this Jollett family portrait hung above the
piano in my parents’ living room. My great-aunt Violetta Davis Ryan had several
copies made from a little photo, and everyone who shared her pride in the
Jolletts got one. As children, my sister and I heard stories of the Jolletts
during every visit with our relatives in Harrisonburg and Shenandoah, Virginia.
To children’s ears the Jollett family seemed like characters in a storybook, so
mysterious and out of reach. Naturally we willingly adopted Jollett Pride as
our own.
Then baby sister’s boyfriend came a’callin’ and snapped
us into reality. He entered the living room, took one look at that gold-framed
family treasure and said, “Who are all those ugly people?”
Until then, we probably never noticed the glum
expressions and the general absence of beauty among the sisters. As my sassy sister
noted, “They probably didn’t have Mary Kay.”
I used to think the Jollett girls and brother were old in
this picture. Now I realize they were YOUNG. They were in their 30s-40s, maybe.
If that’s a wedding ring on Vic’s hand, the photo was taken after 1902. The clothing appears to be 1910’s style. Mary
Frances’ brother Ulysses died in 1931 at age 44, so that helps date this photo
as well.
Now HERE they are in their late 50s and 60s.
This photo was
taken at a family reunion probably 1934 or earlier. My handsome
great-grandfather looks healthy, but he died in October 1934.
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Standing: James Mitchell Knight, Sallie J. Clift, Leanna
J. Knight,
Walter Davis, Mary Frances J. Davis, Decatur Breeden,
Victoria J.
Breeden, Laura J. Sullivan, Will Sullivan
Seated: Jack
Coleman, Emma J. Coleman
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Please visit Sepia Saturday to read more of the good, the
bad, and the ugly.
© 2015, Wendy Mathias.
All rights reserved.
If you want to see ugly, you should see one of the old portraits that my mom has hanging on the wall going up her steps. Scary ugly!!
ReplyDeleteI guess ugly is also in the eye of the beholder. The folks are handsome group in this 59 year old woman's opinion which I know is light years from a teenage boy's. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they looked ugly, just a serious (as was the custom) family group. What a rude boy who probably wasn't as good looking as he thought himself.
ReplyDeleteThey look stoic and certainly not ugly :) It is rare to see a picture that is "old" that the people are smiling in it. Almost like they are afraid to?
ReplyDeletebetty
I agree, not ugly, but the fashions and hairstyles didn’t do them any favours did they? One minor correction - the prompt photo was what got ME into starting my own blog. I didn’t join until SS70 (even though Alan says he thought I’d been there from the beginning, which is nice.)
ReplyDeleteThe Jollets wouldn't be described as good looking, but they certainly aren't ugly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kristin, and Little Nell. To describe the family as ugly was very discourteous - and also ignorant of the period the photograph was taken. It was usual for most people to look very solemn, and we don't know the occasion. Admittedly those severe hairstyles did not suit many women.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kristin, and Little Nell. To describe the family as ugly was very discourteous - and also ignorant of the period the photograph was taken. It was usual for most people to look very solemn, and we don't know the occasion. Admittedly those severe hairstyles did not suit many women.
ReplyDeleteThere's no such thing as ugly. They are a family with all the variations seen in any family. I hope that boyfriend didn't become a permanent fixture but kept on passing through. Otheriwse he would have ended up in group photos of the descendants of the lovely ones.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else, they are not ugly, just a bit severe.
ReplyDeleteAlways enjoy seeing before and after pictures of people, good post!
ReplyDeleteNot ugly. A bit severe in expression but they almost all have pleasant faces. Laura Jollett Knight probably fared best in candlelight but I'd still not call her ugly. The boyfriend probably didn't garner any points for that remark and I hope he didn't go to work for the state department.
ReplyDeleteVery clever recycling, Wendy.
ReplyDeleteI also add my two cents that there are never "ugly" ancestors in family photos. It's "character" and "personality". Some distant cousin/aunt/uncle always gives a descendant the same crooked nose, curly hair, or indented dimple. The bigger the family the more variety and fun in tracing the physical traits.
I hope your sister dumped that mean-spirited boyfriend who made such a crummy remark!
ReplyDeleteTouche for your sassy sister's smart remark! She dispatched that boyfriend without a second thought. And it's true: people probably held their breath, they were so concerned that the slightest movement would ruin the entire photograph. Forget about smiling.
ReplyDeleteI hope that boyfriend did not become your sister's husband! I'm not sure I would have had good feelings toward him because of his rude comment. He must not have been interested in family history or he might have realized that most people looked serious in their photographs in earlier generations. As for your ancestors, Wendy, I think they look serious, wholesome, and pleasant. In at least two of the faces I can see a smile just passed or just coming after the snap of the camera.
ReplyDeleteThey don't look like a particularly happy bunch do they? But who knows what took place prior to the sitting? A clash of personalities, bad news, or just a long wait for the photographer to get his/her act together?
ReplyDeleteOuch! I can't believe the boyfriend said that out loud even if he thought it. Surely he realized they had to be family and not local celebrities!
ReplyDeleteMy grandma had a picture of a man that always hung in her dining room which scared me to death. The man's eyes were sunken and dark. Later as I learned his story and all of the incredible hardships he had endured, I saw him in a completely different light. By then though I was an adult and wished I had been told his story when I was young. Just maybe he wouldn't have looked so scary to me (although I think he probably still would have.)
Yes a great grandmother in the photo did make it significant once you get past the historic way of shooting photos. My grandmother kept insisting to get her brood of 10 to the photographer. Sometimes it was obvious she though she might loose her two boys at war. One take had a uncle looking like a mess because he had just lost his son in a drowning. The things in the background of the photo do effect the resulting shot.
ReplyDeleteThey don't look much happier at the family reunion, do they? I'm guessing by them there were a lot of grudges to be dealt with. Originally the first photo they had to stand perfectly still. The later one was just "I'm tired and my feet hurt!"
ReplyDeleteI bet Ulysses was the centre of attention, with all those sisters.
ReplyDeleteThey merely represented a certain era.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that,
once you accept this concept.
I've published pictures of uglier people than that....
:D