11th Edition - Smile For The Camera: Brothers & Sisters

Check out the latest theme for Smile For The Camera

The word prompt for the 11th Edition of Smile For The Camera is brothers & sisters? Were they battling brothers, shy little sisters, or was it brother & sister against the world? Our ancestors often had only their siblings for company. Were they best friends or not? Show us that picture that you found with your family photographs or in your collection that shows your rendition of brothers & sisters. Bring them to the carnival and share.

This is a fairly informal photo of my dad, his sisters and brother with their dad. I'm not sure where this was taken, but if I had to guess, I'd say Ohiopyle which from family stories seemed to have been a favorite location for outings. My dad looks about 5 to me, so it had to have been taken around 1940 or a little earlier.

From left to right: Dad, Elizabeth, Louise, Charlotte, David and Grandpap.

I like the casual feeling to this photo, almost as if they weren't posing. Uncle Dave and Pappap died in 1987, but my dad and his sisters, despite the fact that they live in far-flung areas of the country, have stayed close and still tease each other the way I magine they must have done when they were children!

Smile for the Camera: Costume

From 10th Edition Smile For The Camera - A Carnival of Images:

The word prompt for the 10th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Costume? No, not as in Halloween. Costume as in dress in general; especially the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period.

I don't have a lot of photos of my family members that seem to represent a particular period in time, but I finally decided that these two shots fit that theme.


These photos show my grandma and her sister, Genieve (above), and Grandma alone to the left. According to the writing which you can see on one photo, they were taken in Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) in September of 1925. I think everyone will agree that we don't see people today dressed like Grandma and Aunt Genieve. I like the way they looked, and I'll never forget that when my mother-in-law (a lady who was born in 1923) saw these pictures, exclaimed that their clothes were "so stylish"!

Smile for the Camera: Who are you?

I recently discovered Smile for the Camera in time to participate in the 9th Edition:

The word prompt for the 9th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Who Are You - I Really Want To Know? Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased, but have no idea who they might be.

Someone took the time to be photograph, someone took the time to send it to a loved one, someone didn't take the time to identify the photograph. And you really want to know who they are. Bring it to the carnival. Share! Maybe one of our readers can help.

Admission is free with every photograph! Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

Well, I have two that I would like to share. This first one is a family. I have had this photo posted for years on my genealogy website, here. My cousin sent it to me, saying that he had been told these were our Fife relatives and that my ancestor, John Calvin Fife was in the photo. Since he died in 1879, and I've been told the photograph looks like it was taken in the 1890s, I have wondered if he might be the man in the photograph on the back wall. In that case, the older woman shown here might be my g-g-grandmother, Mary F. (McConnell) Fife, along with two of her daughters and her son, my g-grandfather, Charles E. Fife. However, I have seen other photos of great-grandpa, and that man doesn't really look like him to me. (For comparison, there is a distant photo of him here, and a group photo showing him fourth from the left, here.) Maybe someday someone will be able to definitively identify these people for me!

This second picture shows one person I know, and three that I do not. The back of this photo was written on. It reads:

"Esther Atkinson and the Hunter Kids"

Esther was my great-aunt, the sister of my grandfather, Charles Atkinson. But who were those Hunter kids? Relatives? Friends? Maybe Esther helped take care of them?

You can see more about the photo here.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone recognized these children?