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.

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.

 

Left: Arthur Maiden offers the prayer.
James Franklin Jollett and Emma Coleman

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

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. 

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

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

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.

A to Z April Challenge: Y is for Youngins

This is day 25 of the A to Z April Challenge.

is for Youngins.  Little folks make delightful subjects for photos.  Here is a random sampling of photos that have been passed down in my family.



I love everything about this photo of my maternal grandfather's sisters Violetta and Velma taken probably about 1911.  Violetta's stance and the position of her arm remained the same as an elderly woman. 

This is a picture of my mother Mary Eleanor Davis (Slade) and her brother Orvin Davis Jr. taken probably late 1929.

                                                                                                                                

How cute is this?  This is Virginia Maiden, daughter of Minnie Coleman and Arthur Maiden.  She was born in 1911, so this picture must have been taken about 1915 or 1916, wouldn't you think?  Virginia's mother was one of my maternal grandfather's cousins.

Here is one dollbaby.  If you click on the image to enlarge it, you might see she's wearing two rings and a ribbon bracelet.  This is Alda Clift, daughter of Sallie Jollett and George Clift.  Sallie and George lost two children in a fire, so I bet this cutie patooty was doted on.  Alda was born in 1905, so I date this picture about 1906.

This is one of Alda's brothers Raymond.  I wonder what he was thinking about.  He was born in 1900, so probably this portrait was made at the same time as Alda's.

Maxine and Pauline Strole were children of Granddaddy's cousin Pearl Sullivan and her husband Clyde Strole.  Maxine was quite the fashionista with that fur collar and muff.

Could there be a better Christmas for my cousins Bobbie and Glenn Davis?  I can remember being totally jealous that Bobbie got a cowgirl outfit (with a gun, no less!).  Cowgirl outfit, doll, doll house, and ironing board.  Looks like a great Christmas to me!

And who is that long-legged cute girl taking care of her baby sister in 1959?  Velveteen pedal-pushers and a pink top.  Sister in cloth diapers.  Priceless!

 

Yippee!  There will be no Yawning over the Yarns Yielded by Yuppies, Youngsters, Yokels, and Yodelers over Yonder at the A to Z April Challenge.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: C

is for Coleman.  My great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis’s sister Emma Jollett married Andrew Jackson “Jack” Coleman in 1880.  They had 5 children, including one set of twins:

Mattie Coleman (12 Mar 1882 Greene Co, VA – 10 Feb 1978 Page Co, VA)

John Franklin Coleman (9 Jul 1883 Page Co, VA  - )

Minnie Coleman (May 1888 Page Co, VA – Jan 1981 Arlington, VA)

Russell Coleman (29 Jul 1896 Page Co, VA - )

Reba Hildred Coleman (29 Jul 1896 – 12 Jan 1994 Chesapeake, VA)

Standing: Mattie, Minnie, John
Seated: Jack holding Russell, Emma holding Reba

Jack Coleman was known for his often long-winded prayers before the meal at the annual family reunions.  Invariably someone would have to interrupt to remind him the food was getting cold.

Mary Frances Jollett Davis
Jack and Emma Coleman

What else do I know about the Colemans?  Very little.  I don’t remember ever knowing the boys, but I have vague memories of Mattie and Minnie, and stronger memories of Reba.  Mattie became a teacher, a stern one at that, and was always called “Miss Mattie.”  My cousin insists Mattie and Reba were terrible gossips.  Minnie, on the other hand, was very sweet.  Her husband was a minister and president of Shenandoah College (now University).

Left:  Reba Coleman (Morris)

Center: Russell Coleman and John Coleman (seated)

Top right:  Minnie Coleman (Maiden)

Bottom right:  Mattie Coleman (Escue)

To “C” what others have thought of, Carry yourself over to the A to Z Challenge.

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.