Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A Little Family History

Long ago the Harwood family held a reunion in the hills of Allegheny county in southern NY state. My grandma was a little girl during this one in 1913, just eight years old. According to those who worked hard to identify them, she is the little girl in front, dressed in white, and holding the hat of her great grandpa George Harwood (but I actually think she is the next little girl in white and the one holding the hat is her sister Nellie). Margaret Bixby and George Harwood (see here) appear to be the patriarchal couple. Margaret is the one in front wearing the necklace and George is beside her (with Grandma, or Aunt Nellie... on his lap). In the center of the photo is a man with three children on his lap. That is my great grandpa, Joseph Shafer and three of his children, Albert, Helen, and Harriet (I'm guessing). Great Grandma, Tillie, is seated toward the front, in a dark colored dress, with baby Margaret on her lap. (Please click on the photograph to see a larger version.)

Everyone in these over 100 year old pictures has passed on now and identifying the family members is becoming more difficult with every passing year. Thankfully, the second old photo (below) gave me some clues.
This is Shafer's Nine (says so on the back of the photo), which I have in my possesion, and my parents helped me identify who was who, which wasn't too difficult once we realized the photo said "Shafer's Nine." (Baby- Joseph, born in 1915, held by Maude, Florence (my grandma), Nellie, and Leo. In the front- Albert, Helen, Harriet, and Margaret, who was the baby in the previous photograph.)

Thank you to Fay Hoyt, Jeff Salisbury, and Wayne Scott, all very distant cousins, who have helped bring some of the loose and straggling members of this vast family back together in old family photos and genealogies.

8 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE finding old family photos! These are priceless! So happy you were able to ID your family in them. I have several of mine that I'm still digging for names... what a challenge! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. These two are treasures for sure, Don!
      It'a so rare to find and recognize family members is such old photos.
      :0)

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  2. Hi Martha...this is very cool!
    My Grandmas name was Florence too!
    Enjoy your evening...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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    1. The names were used and used again and again (Margaret, Maude, Joseph, George, Rufus...) but there was only one Florence.
      :0)

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  3. I absolutely love stuff like this! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Did you actually chat with my uncle Wayne about this or are you referencing the pics and info I got from him and added to the family FB research group? Just curious. My uncle is about the coolest person I know and he is the youngest and only on left on our branch from his generation. So, he's a great resource.
    It's been a please to read though all this. I had the actual data (names and facts), but it's need to read your take on it and see it through your eyes.
    Fun read.

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    1. I probably got his information from what you put on Facebook. Occasionally someone searching a name will stumble upon one of these posts and that can be fun too.
      :0)

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