WHAT IS SEPIA SATURDAY?
“Launched by Alan Burnett and Kat Mortensen in 2009, Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind (they don’t have to be sepia) become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history, in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images.”
My grandmothers, great grandmothers and aunts, all wore hats. Some of them were born in the mid to late 1800’s and came of age at the turn of the 20th century. Hats were all the rage back then. This trend continued into the 1950's. The men also wore hats. In fact, I had so many pictures of my ancestors in hats, it was difficult to choose which ones to use.
My paternal grandmother, Marie Lindsay Gould had her photo taken with hats on more than one occasion. I didn’t know my grandma until she was in her 60’s. By then it wasn’t fashionable to wear hats. I wonder if she missed those times?
Marie Lindsay Gould, her sister Ellen Lindsay Pickard and their husbands.
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Now to my maternal grandmother and great grandmother. Florence Hunter Bowden Bell is my great grandmother. Born in 1869 in Kentucky and died in 1946 in Missouri. She had two daughters, the oldest, a name sake, Florence Lee Nora Bowden (my grandmother) and Edna Mabel Bowden.
Here’s my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne, about 1909, with her little girl Dorothy and her son Robert. Notice that all of them are wearing hats.
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| My maternal grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne with her first two children, my Aunt Dorothy (1907-1920) and my Uncle Robert (1909-1969) |
Here is my great grandmother, Susan Gillespie Milne Smith (1860-1947) and her daughter, Irene Milne (1893-1989) showing off their hats.
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In times past newspapers would take pictures of people walking in downtown areas and publish them. I don’t know how many of you have photos like these? If you do, please share.
Here’s my great grandmother, Florence Hunter Bowden Milne Bell, mentioned above and her daughter, my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne standing downtown together. And a separate one of my great grandmother, in foreground. I don’t know if these were taken in Detroit (that’s the most likely place), but they could have been elsewhere.
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I’ve covered groups and hats. Let’s post one of my favorite photos of my grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne sitting in a studio in a rocking chair. Her Aunt, Grace Hunter married Charles Henry Fenner. He and his brothers, Nicholas & William Fenner owned a couple of photo studios in Ohio. Many of the pictures I have from my family have the Fenner studio name on them. I feel very fortunate to have had a photography studio connected with my family.
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| My grandmother, Florence Bowden |
Let’s not leave the men out of this story. They wore hats too. Here are both my grandfathers and my Dad sporting their hats. And lastly, my great grandfather William Val Gould (1859-1924), always debonair.
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| My paternal great grandfather, William V. Gould circa 1920 |
I had to stop here or I could go on all day with this particular theme. Thanks for enjoying these memories with me.
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Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright © 2010-2018 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT
PERMISSION
And maybe even a lampshade for a hat!
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky to have such a wealth of interesting hats! Those Lindsey sisters look like they were fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy - I had quite a few more to choose from. I am blessed to have them. Those were the 2 quieter of the Lindsay sisters. Their sister, Bessie, was apparently a wild one. LOL!
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Snap - we both chose hat fir our response, and you have a great range amongst your family. I favourite has to be the two little children, Dorothy and Robert.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw this theme come up for July, I knew I would have to feature hats, with so many to choose from. It was fun, wasn't it?
DeleteYou are indeed fortunate to have had photographer in the family. This set of photos is spectacular! And so are the hats. I have not heard of the on-street photos before, but what a great way to sell newspapers...and lucky for you, to preserve some of your heritage at the same time. Candid shots seem more personal than those posed in a studio and these are just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Molly. This theme was such fun for me. It seems as though these Sepia Saturday themes take me to such a happy place.
DeleteThanks for your comment.
What a great collection...and any time you post more, I hope you'll share them here too! I think of how women's hair was so long, and had limited styles in the late 19th century, without chemical products to "hold it" or even curl it...and so much harder to wash (and set?)...hats were a great way to go out into the world and look beautiful. And I also thought how hats kept heads warm in any weather. Some of these are real beauties.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Barbara. We take for granted how easy things are for us now, as far as our beauty regime. I remember growing up, we didn't even have hair blowers. We had those little portable hair dryers with the plastic caps that the hose was attached to. Hats certainly helped the ladies out back then.
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
A great collection of hats - both female and male! The photos of your paternal grandmother, Marie, and her sister, Ellen, must have been taken at that same time what with those fun hat poses. I love Marie's pose especially. She looks so happy. Interesting they both have the same middle name. Makes me wonder if there were other females in the family if they all had that same middle name?
ReplyDeleteA terrific set! I especially like the first lively trio of photos that show off a bit of fun that's rare to see in vintage photos. And you should point out the tiny photo of a man in a hat that's on the table next to your grandmother Florence. It may have some special significance to have been placed there.
ReplyDeleteI agree about having lively photos from back then. Lots of fun. I do wonder if the man in the photo background is significant. Good question.
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