Do you see this picture? Of course you do. I was bringing my big Philedenron in and happened to wonder what I kept in the trunk it sets on, so I opened it up and riffled through the papers inside. There was a plastic bag which contains a "Slip and Slide" Plastic thing that fits on an iron to make ironing of clothes easier. It appeared to have my sister Josephine's handwritting on the outside. Inside was the thing for the iron along with this picture. This is 5 generations. Well, it was at the time.
Since Mary Jo was born in 1951, this picture had to have been taken in 1952. That is 60 years ago! The lady in the upper right corner is my great grandmother, Helen Hatfield. She is a history lesson in herself. She was born November 22, 1861 in Madison County, Illinois. I have diaries that show her younger years in Abbyville, Kansas. Her mother was Julie Calame and her father was James Gottlieb Gagnebin. He was born July 13, 1830 in Geneva, Switzerland. Apparently they migrated to the Abbyville, Kansas area, because he was a farmer and raised sorghum for molasses and geese and turkeys for meat. He hired the brothers out to farms in that area, but here is the best part: my great, great grandmother Julie was a nurse/doctor/midwife of sorts. When someone was sick they sent for her and she would leave the family and go to the home where she was needed. I can see a lot of her in my way of life. Great gandmother died in 1964.
The next lady is Josie Haas. She is the daughter of Helen Gagnebin. She was born Josephine Miller on January 8, 1881 in Nevada, Missouri. She married Christoph Haas and begat my mother along with 3 brothers and a sister. Grandmother died prior to 1964 because Great Grandmother took care of her until her death. Than she moved to Coldwater, Kansas and lived with Aunt Mabel until she passed in 1964. Mother is there on the left end of the top row. Can you imagine the history in the picture? I am going to elaborate on these women in the next couple weeks.
Then down on the bottom is my sister Josephine and her daughter Mary Jo. Mary is the only one left in that picture. I am so happy I found that! Also in the same trunk is a picture of my brother when he was in about the 6th grade. And that is not all, there is a picture of him as a grown man. I had been lamenting that I had no pictures of him as a grown man and up pops this picture. I did not even know it existed. So my work is cut out for me! I shall regale you with memories from now until Thanksgiving. I just love to relive the past, so stay tuned!
