Sunday, July 22, 2007

Some of My Ancestors

I’m really feeling pleased with myself tonight. My mother is going to Britain on Tuesday with my brother Keith and she wanted me to make copies of this family picture to give to her cousins, one of whom is 96 and still living on her own.
I had serious doubts when I saw the original. Actually it wasn’t the original, but a copy someone had made of it. There was obviously water damage down the left-hand side, and all of the faces were badly exposed. But I never say no when it comes to Photoshop. After a couple of hours of hard but absorbing work, I managed to improve on the quality of the copy according to John—and I think so too.
My tiny perfect Nana (Joanna) is the figure on the right. When we were staying with her in Wales back in the 50s, she taught me how to knit, and I liked to watch her take her teeth out every night and put them in a glass!
Judging by the information on the back, this photograph was probably taken sometime in the 1890s. The family was originally from Cornwall (where my grandmother was born) and then they moved to the Lake District.
Nana trained as a nurse and had a career until she married in her mid thirties. She had my mother at the age of forty and being an “older” mother didn’t phase her one bit. Nana went on to live until the age of 91, and her mother (my great-grandmother) lived until 89. No wonder my own mother is still going strong.

1 comment:

Bridget Light said...

Hey Auntie Sue,
Was going over old records on ancestry.com and found out that Joanna Martin was actually born in the Lake District. Her parents William Martin and Joanna Johns were born in Cornwall. William Martin was a coal-miner, and I suspect that is why they moved there. I posted this picture on facebook today and made a link to your blog post.