My Ancestors Weren't As Suave and Debonair As I Am

[joeychitwood]

Watching "1883" and being confined to the house last winter inspired me to pull out an old satchel full of original photos of my ancestors. They left Norway and Sweden in the mid-1800s and settled in Minnesota because it reminded them of home. I used some Topaz AI software to clean and sharpen the photos. All were taken between about 1880 and 1900. Some are charming, but most show a pretty rough crowd. Does anyone else have old family photos?

[Blansky]

In a lot of old pictures like these, people were told not to smile because the shutter speeds were too long and their mouth and head could be blurred. So the people were told to sit very still, and have what today is called "resting bitch face".

They look grouchy and unhappy when in fact they may have been a happy perhaps intoxicated crowd.

Fun pictures Joey.

The photographic community talks a lot about the fact that these kind of heirlooms may become a thing of the past (pardon the pun) because people left behind pictures and negatives in garages and attics for their descendants to mull over and often with negatives as well. But today everything is digital and old pictures may be lost on broken or obsolete hard drives and gone forever.

Even though there are more pictures taken, saving them for years and handed down may not happen.

[rootbeer7]

Incredible images.

[joeychitwood]

This photo intrigues me. The date 1896 is written on the back, and it's in poor condition, even after cleaning it up. Hiring a professional photographer to take this portrait would have been expensive. And the poses, carrousing and implied activities would have been quite provocative back then. Cheers to my blood kin!

[joeychitwood]

I love this photo of my great great grandmother at the spinning wheel. The house appears to have electricity which appeared in the area in the 1890s.

[Wahlberg]

Pictures aren't showing up for me?

[TheVTCGuy]

Very cool Joey!

[Dan Pierce]

My 7th Great Grandfather came over from England in 1684. One of my Great Grandfathers was a German Hession soilder who was captured by George Washington on Christmas Day 1776, at the crossing of The Delaware. Two of my female ancestors were both married to Brigham Young, two of his 55 wives. I'm gonna have to dig up the really old pics.

1st pic: my dad's parents [the English side of the fam]
2nd pic: my dad's parents, but she's wearing the suit, he's wearing the dress
3rd pic: my mom and grandfather [the Italian side of the fam]
4th pic: my grandfather
5th pic: my dad's father and my mom
dP

[joeychitwood]

Great photos, Dan. The second pic of your grandparents is very unique for the era in which it was taken. Love it.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by Wahlberg

Pictures aren't showing up for me?

I am not sure why. I don’t have any special security on them.

[Patton250]

I absolutely love stuff like this. Awesome pictures. Thank you so much for sharing them.

[Bluside]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting.

[Chewbacca]

great post and images.

[DonRickles]

Just think, if only they left you a BNIB Daytona!

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by DonRickles

Just think, if only they left you a BNIB Daytona!

Great grandparents John and Maria weren't exactly Rolex people.

[77T]

The differences I see makes me think Dan’s forebears enjoyed having their picture taken - Joey’s weren’t as amused…

All of them are very cool.


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[subtona]

Great pics folks. Thanks for sharing.

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

Great grandparents John and Maria weren't exactly Rolex people.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9MZHHBb3rP4


Classic Norm MacDonald joke on pics like these.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by 77T

The differences I see makes me think Dan’s forebears enjoyed having their picture taken - Joey’s weren’t as amused…

I think they’re all wondering whose idea it was to settle in a sod or wood frame house in a place where winter temps regularly hit -35 degrees.

The family cemetery at the country church where I was married is filled with graves of children and young adults who died of trauma and garden variety infections we think nothing of now.

I had one great aunt who died at age 12 during an appendectomy being performed on the farmhouse kitchen table by the local doctor.

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

Great photos, Dan. The second pic of your grandparents is very unique for the era in which it was taken. Love it.

Thanks! Love your pics as well. It fun to scour the photos to grab as much info as possible.

Sadly, we don't know the story behind the "cross dressing" photo. My grandfather was quite a character who would take bets on how long he could walk on his hands. How he kept a straight face in the pic is beyond us because he always wore a smile. He dropped dead of a heart attack in front of the entire family at an annual Christmas Eve party when I was 11.
dP

[mountainjogger]

Great pics Joey.

[BNA/LION]

Nice pics and cool thread!

[BLACKHORSE 6]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

I think they’re all wondering whose idea it was to settle in a sod or wood frame house in a place where winter temps regularly hit -35 degrees.

The family cemetery at the country church where I was married is filled with graves of children and young adults who died of trauma and garden variety infections we think nothing of now.

I had one great aunt who died at age 12 during an appendectomy being performed on the farmhouse kitchen table by the local doctor.

This is something that people don’t understand or appreciate now. Less than 100 years ago in 1924, Calvin Coolidge Jr. played a game of tennis on the White House lawn and got a blister on his foot from his shoe. The blister became infected and he died within a week from complications. He was a 16 year old boy in perfect health, and as the son of the sitting US President would have had access to the best medical care available. While tragic, this type of scenario was commonplace all though human history until very recently.

Anyway, random history rant over!

[brandrea]

These are fantastic photos and stories, thanks for sharing Joey and Dan

[airchitect]

Originally Posted by BLACKHORSE 6

This is something that people don’t understand or appreciate now. Less than 100 years ago in 1924, Calvin Coolidge Jr. played a game of tennis on the White House lawn and got a blister on his foot from his shoe. The blister became infected and he died within a week from complications. He was a 16 year old boy in perfect health, and as the son of the sitting US President would have had access to the best medical care available. While tragic, this type of scenario was commonplace all though human history until very recently.

Anyway, random history rant over!

True story. We always think about ancestors as though they were nothing like us but truth is they were still the same goofballs just with different norms and different “stuff”.

And considering the US is very young, it’s even more of a mind f$&@ if you go to Europe or China, where people readily live in houses that are 1000+ years old no problem. Anything here over 50 gets a plaque put on it and historical designation so it can be preserved forever… even if it sucks!!!


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[joeychitwood]

The oldest photo I have. My great great grandmother sitting on the front porch of her first permanent wood house in Minnesota in 1870, 152 years ago. After moving all over the US over 25 times in my life, I now live 17 miles from this site.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by BLACKHORSE 6

This is something that people don’t understand or appreciate now. Less than 100 years ago in 1924, Calvin Coolidge Jr. played a game of tennis on the White House lawn and got a blister on his foot from his shoe. The blister became infected and he died within a week from complications. He was a 16 year old boy in perfect health, and as the son of the sitting US President would have had access to the best medical care available. While tragic, this type of scenario was commonplace all though human history until very recently.

In the Scandinavian immigrant culture, it was common to give subsequent children in a family the same name as a sibling who had died in childhood. My daughter Emily is the seventh “Emily” in the lineage and only the third to survive childhood.

[Blansky]

I remember in the 1970s my grandmother who was 87 at the time was asked to do a ribbon cutting at a new school. It was now on the land that she had homesteaded on.

Which means she and her husband were the first farmers on that land. She raised 12 children, 5 of her own and 7 from a neighbors whom both the mother and father had died.

[Mifune]

My ancestors were MORE suave than I am... I have a great grand father (Harry Brown) that worked in the silent film industry, including on 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

[joeychitwood]

Originally Posted by Mifune

My ancestors were MORE suave than I am... I have a great grand father (Harry Brown) that worked in the silent film industry, including on 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

That is awesome!