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Sepia Saturday 412

By Sheetar 31 March 2018 29 March 2018 1

Another Sepia Saturday! This week’s theme image shows a woman and a dog, and hey, I have LOTS of photos of a boy and his dog! The boy in question is my grandfather, Leon Kitko, and the dog here is actually named on the back of the photo as, “Tippy.” There’s even a year, 1946, so Leon was 13 here. The photo was taken at the family home in Blain City, Pennsylvania, and it’s a familiar background that shows up in lots of photos Leon had a number of pets over the years, and it’s sort of neat to see them all chronicled in SO many years of photos. I know I include my pets in lots of photos, and somehow it’s nice to see that this photo of a beloved pet has been around for almost 72 years!! Short and sweet this week, but it’s a good match to the theme, so I had to go for it.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 411

By Sheetar 24 March 2018 19 March 2018 3

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week featured a woman on her wedding day in 1928 in Canada. Well, fortunately, I have photos of a wedding in 1927 in Canada that line up pretty well! Above, we have Bessie Melita Creber on the left and her mother, Mary Jane (Battin) Creber on the right. Melita (or “Meta” for short, as it appears on the back of other photos) was born 1 August 1899 in Plymouth, Devon, England, daughter of Mary Jane Battin and John Samuel Creber. Her family, along with two siblings, left England for a new home in Canada in 1911. Meta is just a year younger than my great grandmother, and both their mothers were sisters who must’ve kept in touch over the years. On 18 Jun 1927, Meta married Alfred Norman Harris in Montreal, Canada at the Trinity Memorial Church. I’m not quite sure where these photos were taken, but it’s probably Alfred’s mother’s home in Montreal. The couple appears to later have lived in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada where both Meta and her husband passed away in 1985 and 1969 respectively.

This also lines up with a previous Sepia Saturday posting (#233) where I posted a larger group shot of the wedding party. It’s pretty great to find a match to the theme image so close in time and place, so I knew this had to be the one for this week!

Genealogy

Film Rescue International

By Sheetar 9 December 2014 4 December 2014 0

Earlier this year, I sent in a roll of film we found in an old Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic camera to Film Rescue International for their cycle starting April 1, 2014. The camera was in my grandfather’s office and was presumably my great grand uncle Herb’s at some point. Herb probably took it off to war with him and after he passed away, my grandfather kept the camera since he was quite the shutterbug. As far as turn-around time goes, I had a link to the scans in my inbox on May 16th. It ended up costing $34 for 5 images which is steep, but I’m not sure I would’ve trusted film that was over 30 years old to just anyone. Even though Kodak Verichrome Pan is more stable than other films, it could have been anywhere between 30-50 years old, and the possibility of some lackey at a lab not familiar with developing old film screwing up what may have been priceless photos was just too much of a risk to take. As it turns out, there was nothing really precious on the roll, but it’s great to know for sure, rather than sit around wondering what the heck is on there. I am VERY happy with the level of communication and the extra care they take to manage expectations. Expired and old film is a real crapshoot and sometimes you win big, sometimes you lose big. I opted to download the free scans (at 532×864, 300 dpi), but if I wanted quality copies, I could’ve purchased the full resolution download for $.99 each with a 20% discount if I placed an order in the first two weeks. The images are available on their website for a full year. They mailed me the developed negatives in plastic sleeves along with the original spool and backing paper.

The images are below, and that first image is the one I shot out of the front door of grandpa’s old house when I realized there was still live film inside. Clearly, I’ve got some practicing to do if I want to use the camera again, but it appears to be light leak free which is a plus! The next three shots are of grandpa’s junkyard in the snow which helps me date them to somewhere in the 1970s probably and the last one is the view from great grandma Olga’s house. It’s a view that shows up over and over again in photos, so it’s one I’m very familiar with, even if the house no longer exists.

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 246: Children, tents, fences, fields, poppies, smocks, sailor-suits

By Sheetar 20 September 2014 18 September 2014 3

Well, I couldn’t resist posting these two for this week’s Sepia Saturday. When I saw the prompt photo, these two immediately came to mind, mostly because they match the prompt photo so well! I’ve pasted what’s written on the back of the photo at the bottom of the image because it’s fun to see the handwriting, especially from other countries. I think the photos are probably from about 1930 +- 5 years and are from my husband’s Dutch family, likely taken somewhere in northern Holland.

Left Photo: We have, Left to Right, Ellechien Dijkemna, Geertje Bouwman, and Willemina Dijkema. “Elly” and “Mien” were sisters of my husband’s paternal grandmother, Hilje Dijkema. Geertje is probably a family friend of some sort – I haven’t been able to connect her to the tree yet. I have to imagine that Hilje took the photo since she’s in the next photo.

Right Photo: Left to Right are Ellechien Dijkema and Hilje Dijkema. Different dog in this photo!

The set looks like a nice afternoon out somewhere. I can’t tell if they’re actualy camping or just using the tent for shade. Either way, it makes for a charming set of photos for this week’s theme, showing that the three sisters spent lots of time together as young girls.