I just love this picture! My grandfather’s older sister and younger brother.
Happy hunting,
Jess
Photographs
Archived Posts from this Category
April 17, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Johnson |[2] Comments
April 10, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Blog Housekeeping, Photographs | Tags: Dance, Happy coincidences, Why I've been so quiet |1 Comment
I feel like I’ve loved to dance forever! This isn’t really proof, as I’m about seven in this picture, but it hits on a few recent topics of conversation.
First, I still dance and I’ll be performing in a show on Saturday which is why I’ve been very quiet here on the blog for the past month or so.
Second, I recently had a chance to look at my niece’s progress report from her Preschool teacher in which she stated that she “wants to be a ballerina”—I know it’s a common “girl wish” but it’s still thrilling to hear when she takes such joy in coming to see me dance. And it makes me wonder about how the “creative gene” gets passed on.
Third, this shot was taken in a studio in the upper floor of a converted church in Haslett, Michigan—which in itself was cool!—but, coincidentally, the mother of one of my current fellow dancers has recently occupied the same space with the fabulous and inspiring small but mighty arts. For all you ladies who have been borrowing space there to make costumes… the upstairs workspace was my first dance studio.
And, yes, I can (barely) still do the splits.
Happy hunting,
Jess
April 6, 2013
I’ll Be Postcard Hunting On Sunday!
Posted by JessLibrarian under Great Sources, Photographs | Tags: Bailey, Cannon Township, Michigan Antiquarian Book & Paper Show, Old Bostwick Lake Congregational Church, Postcards |Leave a Comment
It’s that time of year again… Sunday is the Michigan Antiquarian Book and Paper Show (9:30-5 pm) which not only satisfies my interest in collecting books but is also my primary source for postcards to illustrate and round out my genealogy. I tend to collect regular and real photo postcards of street scenes and buildings that were important to my family. So Rockford street scenes dominate my collection. But I also have representative works from Grand Rapids, Howell (the Sanatorium), Leelanau/Grand Traverse, and Ypsilanti as well. And, every once in a while, I even stumble across a postcard actually sent by a distant relative or a friend of the family.
This is a relatively common postcard of Old Bostwick Lake Congregational Church in Cannon Township, Kent County, Michigan which included among its charter members: my Grandpa Bailey’s Great Grandparents, Smith and Eunice Bailey, and two of their married daughters—Eunice Pitcher and Chloe Scott. Many of the Bailey’s and their allied families were buried in the attached cemetery known as Old Bostwick or Marshall Cemetery. The congregation was organized on 06 June 1846 and still exists today in its current incarnation on Belding Rd in Rockford.
Happy hunting.
Jess
April 3, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Bailey |[3] Comments
It’s been 22 years since my Step-Great-Grandmother Pauline Bailey died. I didn’t spend a lot of time with her but I associate her with the extended family Christmas’s and baby showers she hosted—particularly those held at the Community Room of the Towers in downtown Rockford, Michigan—though I know she was also very involved in the American Legion Auxiliary, Merrit Lamb Post #102 as well.
She was born Pauline Boukamp and had children from a previous marriage (or marriages?) before she married my Grandpa Bailey within a year of my biological Great Grandmother’s death. She was a very strong personality (like most of the women in the family). And, like Grandpa Bailey, she wasn’t related to me by blood but she was the Great-Grandmother I remember best.
For some reason I think of her whenever I see pastel mints.
Happy hunting.
Jess
March 27, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Bailey, Johnson, Rockford Michigan |Leave a Comment
Someone in this picture is celebrating a birthday this week!
This is my Great Uncle and my Mother taken outside of my Great Grandparent’s home on Maple Street in Rockford, Michigan.
Happy hunting,
Jess
March 20, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Outdoor Fun, Rockford |Leave a Comment
Loving the fashion in this one! Load the full picture and check out the details on the pants. That’s me down front, my next youngest cousin, Eric, is looking concerned in the middle, and his father/my uncle looking on. This was taken at my grandparents home on Main St in Rockford, Michigan sometime around 1980-81.
Now imagine Eric with the body of The Hulk… it’s a startling transformation to say the least. We’ve come a long way.
I’m still wishing for spring and some time to play outside
Happy hunting,
Jess
March 13, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Detroit Projects |1 Comment
This one is fun on so many levels!
This is my father in what he calls a P. I. hat and shoulder holster with toy gun—probably a Christmas present around 1962. I think it’s the actual outfit that keeps throwing me—in particular the pattern of his sweater? And I’m pretty sure that’s my oldest uncle grinning in the background.
I believe this photo is taken near their home in the Brewster-Douglas Housing Project in Detroit, MI.
Happy hunting,
Jess
March 6, 2013
So, I’m hoping we’ve hit the end of weather like this. Here are my Mom (the tallest) and her siblings outside my Great Grandfather’s house in Rockford, MI sometime in the mid to late 1950s.
Happy hunting,
Jess
February 27, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednesday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Victorian Hidden Mother |1 Comment
I am currently experiencing home hardware issues but I still couldn’t miss Wordless Wednesday.
This is my mother’s unintentional version of the Victorian Hidden Mother—which I learned about at the blog The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things.
That’s my brother and I (and Mom behind the tree) on the Michigan State University Campus.
Happy hunting,
Jess
February 20, 2013
Not Quite Wordless Wednessday
Posted by JessLibrarian under Photographs | Tags: Trotter |[2] Comments
Someone’s birthday is this week!
Happy hunting,
Jess
Genie Road Trip 