Wednesday, January 8, 2025

My Favorite Photo


I am one of the lucky family historians who has been fortunate enough to have inherited a treasure trove of family photos. When asked to select my favorite, however, it was a no-brainer. This is a photo I like to call The Band

It comes from the collection of my great-great-grandaunt, Mary Ralph (1861-1934) - that's her in the middle with the violin. The man on the end looks very much like her older brother, my great-great-grandfather, William A. Randall (1852-1934), although I can't say for sure. I think that instrument he's playing is called the board and bucket! The others in the photo might be Mary's children, or they could simply be friends or neighbors. Sadly, the photo is not labeled. The picture had to have been taken in the very early 1930s, as both Mary and William passed away in 1934. It appears to have been taken in front of the family home in the tiny village of Mesick in Wexford County, Michigan. According to Census Bureau statistics, Mesick then had a population of 303. It has since grown to a whopping 397 residents.  

Needless to say, this was not a wealthy family, so it's good to see them having fun in what was a very difficult period in my family and the nation's history. 

[David Randall < Bruce W. Randall < Lois K. Randall < Claude W. Randall < William A. Randall and his sister, Mary M. (Randall) Ralph]

 


No comments:

Post a Comment

The Frontier Journal of William Cross, Part I: January 1871

[Scroll Down for Commentary] Sunday Jan. 1, 1871 I went across the Platt to see Luther Hubbell. I went with Calvin and family. We crossed on...