Throwback Thursday - Julia Christina Merz Lamson

On April 21, 2016, Paul and I went to the wake of Doris Hubbard.  Doris was married to Bob Hubbard, and Bob's mother Lucy was my grandfather's sister.  While we were going through the line, two of Doris's sons, Barry and Bobby, mentioned something of interest to us.  

This is what I journaled about that: 

Both Barry and Bobby told Paul and I about a picture that was hanging in Doris's home. It was a picture of Julia Merz Lamson. They told us that she was buried in White Church Hill Cemetery in West Springfield. Neither of them really knew how she fit into the family. So of course Paul and I got right onto it. We went to White Church Hill Cemetery which is just across the street from Kristen and Toby's house. It's proper name is Meeting House Hill Cemetery. We weren't able to find the grave but came home and looked her up on ancestry.com. In just a little while we had figured out that Julia was Dora Merz Wait's sister. Dora was my grandfather Donald's, and their (Barry and Bobby Hubbard) grandmother Lucy's, mother; so Julia was Donald and Aunt Lucy's aunt. We also found out in looking through the censuses that the Waits and the Merzs were from Greenfield, but Julia married a man from Northampton and moved to West Springfield. Bob Hubbard's parents lived on the same street, Larone St., that Julia and her husband lived on. I'm wondering if when Lucy and her mother Dora went to visit aunt Julia, that Lucy met Bob who lived on that street with his parents, and that is how Lucy and Bob came to live in West Springfield and, ultimately, how my grandfather Donald came to live in West Springfield because my aunt Dot told me that my grandfather wanted to get transferred (Western Union) to West Springfield to be near his sister Lucy. I love doing genealogy!!

Hopefully, that wasn't too confusing!

It's amazing what just talking to Doris Hubbard's sons lead us to - another piece of the puzzle for our family tree.  By the way, we did eventually find her grave.

Throwback Thursday - Professional picture

I was talking to Mark this morning and he said that they had just made an appointment to have Mason's third year picture taken.

I think that besides school pictures and wedding pictures, I have only had one professional picture taken. I can remember a man coming to our house. He had a rubber ball that he let me play with (it is in some of the pictures) and he took about 3-4 professional pictures of me. The date on the picture is 1954 so I was around 4 years old.

Professional pictures of Mason batting

I wish I could take credit for taking these pictures, but I can't. On Wednesday night Mark and Mason were at Forest Park. They go there sometimes and either watch the baseball games or play on the field if there are no games.

On this particular night a game of teenage boys had just ended and Mark was pitching to Mason. A little crowd had gathered around watching, amazed that such a little kid could hit the ball so well. Mark knows just how to pitch to him so that he hits it. With me, on the other hand, he doesn't hit so well because I can't pitch to him, especially overhand.

So...a professional photographer who had just finished photographing the game walked by and started taking pictures of Mason. After he had finished, he gave Mark his card with his personal e-mail on the back, and told Mark to e-mail him and he would send him the pictures.

These are the pictures that he sent. I can't believe how wonderful they are. I wish I could take pictures like that. Mason said "He had a BIG camera." How lucky for us that this photographer just happened to walk by at that time, and how nice of him to send them to Mark!

Eleanor S. Higgins and children

This is a picture of my maternal grandmother, Eleanor S. Higgins, with her children, Jean (my mother), Lee, and Ross. I think my mother was about 4 (or so), so this would make the picture 1935 (or so).

About a month ago I got a comment on my blog post William Ross Harper. Come to find out, I have a second cousin, my grandmother's sister's granddaughter, Wendy.

Since that time, we have been e-mailing back and forth. She has filled in a lot of blanks about my mother's side of the family. I have been so excited about this (most of you know how much I love Genealogy!).

So.., we have decided to send each other pictures. I found this picture of my grandmother Eleanor, sister to her grandmother Marian. I am going to e-mail it to her along with a few others, and I thought this would make a good Throwback Thursday!

Mason's 2 year pictures

Isn't he just the cutest little boy ever?

259/365 - Bessette Sisters

This is a picture of my grandmother and her sisters. She is the baby, so this was probably taken in 1901 as my grandmother was born in January of 1901. My grandmother's name was Lucien and her sisters were Aldora, Sadie, and Marion. They were from a little town on the New York/Canadian border, Chateaugay. Coincidentally there is a town not far over the Canadian border, a suburb of Montreal Quebec, named Chateaugay. I'm sure that is where they immigrated from. I wish I had asked her more questions about her childhood when I had the opportunity!