Check out that dark wavy hair with the Elvis styling at the front and those turned-up-hem trousers.
This is a photo of my late Dad probably in his mid-twenties... so 1950s, I guess. Waaaay before my time (my Dad was in his forties when I appeared) but it's one of my favourite photos of him. I can see why my Mom, after years of his pestering, finally went out with him.
He'd be 82 today.
I miss you, Pa and Happy Birthday. Sending you a big hug, an eye brow tug and a huge slice of banana cream pie (like your Mom made). x.
The photo above is from a team photo of some sort - my Dad played football (North American football) in the CFL and other leagues. I'm not sure which particular team or league photo this is. But I bet the dudes in the back row were a bit unimpressed with this particular photo. ;-)
A couple of weeks ago, I got back into researching my family tree. I initially became interested in genealogy many years ago when I had to dig up various 'long' birth certificates for a 'UK Ancestry' visa. That required my mom digging through a few boxes of stuff; old documents, letters, postcards, etc that belonged to her parents who had migrated from Scotland to Canada in the early 1900s.
What captured my imagination was a small notebook that belonged to my granddad. In it was addresses of people to contact for work and housing once they arrived in Canada, various 'to do' lists and, most interesting to me, a list of the possessions they had brought with them.
The list was so detailed and so short: various cooking pots, some dishes, 4 pairs of wool socks, some shirts, some coats and a baby cot. Essentially, not very much at all.
It made me wonder. Why would two people put themselves, three of their children (my mom was born in Canada) and a few bundles of possessions on a boat, in cattle class, to a different part of the world? Was it a push from or a pull to? Both? I've since learned a lot more about their likely motivations but my curiosity about my ancestry has not dwindled.
On my dad's side, when I first started my research, all anyone knew about his mom, my grandma, was that she was a Newfoundlander, born in St John's, Newfoundland and the names of her father and mother. Nothing else! She had died by the time I got interested in genealogy and because of Newfoundland's very unusual history, according to inquiries I made with their Vital Stats office, she didn't even exist!
Just a tree; visual appeal. ;-)
I had long since accepted that that branch of my family tree would be one big question mark. Where did my grandma's ancestors come from? Ireland? Scotland? England? Portugal? The Basque Country? Were they First Nations? All possible based on Newfoundland's history and my dad's 'look' (he could pass as First Nations). But then, a few days ago, I had a major breakthrough! I plunked my grandma's name into the Ancestry.ca site, like I do every now and then, and voila! I found her name on someone else's family tree and kinda creepily her progeny; of them, my dad and his children, especially lovely is the youngest daughter, ;-) though anonymously (living female).
I haven't verified the information from this other person's family tree yet (I'm a stickler for proper research), but if it does turn out to be accurate, my great, great, great, great grandfather arrived in Newfoundland, from a village in Dorset, England, in about 1750! You can't really get more Newfoundlander than that! Incredible!
Doing a brief search about the area they settled in, I found out that it is also the area of Newfoundland where The Shipping News and a Canadian mini-series called 'Random Passage' (which, to me, sounds more like a title of a cottaging flic, lol) were filmed. And even cooler, there is a site - a re-creation of what life was like in the early 1800's. It was used as the set for the mini-series and it's now a park or site or something. The website's not too clear: Random Passage Site.
And neither was the weather in this youtube video I found of it! But it has its charm.
I feel compelled to go for a screeching. Someday soon...
I look at this photo a lot and I wonder who she was. I never met her, she died before I was born.
I never met either of my Grandfathers; one died before I was born, the other left his wife and kids (my Dad's mom and his three brothers) never to be heard from again.
I met my Dad's mom and her much younger second husband (an original cougar she was) a few times. I've nice but few memories of them, they died when I was ten. And I lied, it wasn't her second husband. They never bothered with getting married; she preferred living in sin. ;-)
I have never met many of my uncles or aunts. I'm not even sure if they're still alive.
I do know one uncle; my Dad's little brother but I haven't seen him in 15 years.
I don't know any of my cousins, except one.
I have four nephews; I haven't seen my oldest nephew, who is the same age as me, since we were 14. We were like siblings and very close. The two middle ones I saw at my father's funeral (Nov 07); the youngest I haven't seen in seven years.
I haven't seen my niece in seven years either.
I have two great-nephews that I've never met.
My oldest brother died about ten years ago. I hadn't seen him since I was 15. And prior to that visit, since I was seven.
I haven't seen my other brother or my sisters since last xmas.
I saw my Mom last week. I try to keep in regular contact with her, especially since my Dad died. I do love her but...
I have no children and I think I'm ready to close the door on that one. I like kids, well some kids ;-) but I've never really desired having children of my own and looking at the above, it's no wonder really.
The photo of my Grandma is my notion of family; unknown, faded and two-dimensional.
Thank god for friends.
EDIT - Re-reading the above. I think the above might sound worse to people who have a stronger sense of family than I do. To me, the above is normal; it's what I'm use to. I certainly feel a void of sorts and sometimes that knocks me flat but it's also a 'I don't miss what I never had' sort of thing at the same time.
Is this dude dreamy or what?
