My reason for laughing was that earlier this week, I added two posts with group pictures to my family history blog Greetings from the Past - and one of them includes... well, not a goat, but a horse...
When I first found this photo, I was not able to identify it; but when looking at it again the other day, it hit me that it must be from the farm where my grandmother Sally grew up; taken after the death of her father, who died in 1907. Not in connection with the funeral, because he died in winter, and this is obviously summer. Might even be a year later. Judging by their clothes etc, it does look like some kind of special celebration - but perhaps just having their photo taken at all was occasion enough to dress up and wear flowers... and to include the horse??
There are two major reasons why I did not recognize the context when I first saw the photo. One is that on the (later) photos of the farm that I remembered, the house was white. The other is that in the beginning (when going through the old photos) I got two of my grandmother's older half-brothers mixed up with each other.
I now think that the people in this photo are, from left to right:
My great-grandmother, her daughter from her first marriage, my grandmother (born 1900) and her younger brother, and (with the horse) their older half-brother from their father's first marriage, who took over the farm. (The age difference between him and his step-mother was only 9 years.)
More details at Greetings from the Past: The Family at the Farm
If you'd like to see my other recently posted "group of people in front of a house" photo (starring another of my grandmother's half-brothers), you'll find it here: Greetings from the Past: Gustaf in Galeton, Pennsylvania (~1910)
Linking to Sepia Saturday 471
fits the prompt perfectly and I would love to see goats in the photos as well as horses. LOL... I love both photos of your serious relatives and my mother would want that table cloth. I have never figured out if old photos they were told not to smile or if life was so tough they never smiled. they look wealthy and a nice house and clothes, so I am thinking the Photographers said don't smile instead of saying CHEESE
ReplyDeleteSandra, I don't think they had any goats on this farm ;) I know they had one or two cows, though.
DeleteGinny suggests in her comment that people not smiling in the old portrait photos had to do with long exposure time. I do know that some later family photos, taken under more relaxed circumstances, show more smiles!
Not only the horse, but the lace covered table outside make the photo a bit unusual. I like the flowers/plants seen throughout. The potted plant on the table (with a ceramic bird), the girl holding flowers (I think), the boy and man with horse wearing flowers, and the flower peeking through the window.
ReplyDeleteKathy, yes, it all has me a bit puzzled. But I suppose it may have been "staged" by whoever took the photo. I'm pretty sure no one in the family had a camera of their own yet. Actually I'm not sure I've seen any other photos of my grandmother until she is well into her teens at least.
DeleteA splendid photo, with so many of your family. Just having one's picture taken back then was a big deal. Do you know why most of those people never smiled? It took so long to snap the shot that people could not hold their facial muscles that long for a smile.
ReplyDeleteGinny, I never thought of that - exposure time as the reason for the serious faces in old portraits. Sounds plausible enough, I suppose!
DeleteI wonder if any of my ancestors ever owned a horse. I'd have to go way back.
ReplyDeleteTerrific photos.
I think I've "always" known they had a horse on that farm - my grandmother used to tell me stories from her childhood when I was little. So I knew she grew up on a farm with horse and cows, and had many older sisters and brothers. What I did not grasp while I was still a child myself was that she continued to live on the farm until she was 30 years old (and got married), how vast the age difference was between her older half-siblings and herself, and that her father was 65 years old when she was born (and died when she was 7).
DeleteIt's a beautiful photo because of its unusual elements. I think the flowers are a clue to a special day. Easter maybe? Or perhaps a birthday greeting for someone car away from home? The horse is included I think because it was a member of the family too. Lots of photos of the same era from the American West show families similarly posed outside their sod houses with special furniture, flowers, etc.
ReplyDeleteMike, thanks for that suggestion about a birthday greeting for someone far away from home! Checking the dates, I find that my great-uncle Gustaf, who emigrated to the US in 1902/03, turned 30 in July 1908. He was then living in Galeton, Pennsylvania. The photo could actually have been taken to send to him for his birthday - in which case the most probable date is June, 1908. (Which seems reasonable. My grandmother would then be 8½ years old on this photo.) Perhaps it even made Gustaf homesick? Because a few years later he did return to live and work on that farm in Sweden, together with the people on this photo. (And the horse!) (Note to self: check out if the horse is the same on later photos...)
DeleteMy guess is that the picture was taken to show all the assets of the family: the house, everyone in their best clothes, the lacy tablecloth suggesting a certain wealth, and the horse is another asset, like people today would show off a new car or gadget. And, of course, the horse wa probably really something of a famiky member and definitely something to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteMeike, I'm sure you're right... (See also my reply above to Mike. The photo may also have been taken with special purpose to send it to one or both of the siblings who had emigrated to the US.)
DeleteA most interesting photo. I like photos showing people's homes as well as the people themselves. I like to see where they lived. As Mike says, the photo is interesting in its unusualness - A (beautiful) lace tablecloth and flowers - outside. And the horse. Actually, the horse with the brother standing with it a bit off to the side adds balance to the picture, so perhaps it was the photographer's suggestion to include it? My Swedish great grandmother, Magdalena, made a lovely heavy lace tablecloth which I have. I keep it in my cedar chest, getting it out once in a while for special occasions.
ReplyDeleteLa N, I suppose there is something in what you say about photographic balance. Something else to consider is that Carl's position in the photo also kind of marks his position in the family. Selma is a widow, and the three children are hers. Carl is her step-son and unmarried, but also the Farmer, who took over the management of the farm already a few years before the death of the father.
DeleteLove reading all these comments, as well as what a wonderful photo that triggered them! I also am aware the lace tablecloth might have been made by those women, thus worth showing their handiwork, and your grandmother is so sweet looking. Glad to know others have family trees that had merged members from first spouses...though it does take some effort to keep track of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for contributing to the comments, Barbara! Yes, it's a bit of a headache and a puzzle to grasp the history of this family; but at the same time, I always had the impression that in spite of the age span and other circumstances, the connections between my grandmother and her brothers and sisters remained quite strong. The sister and little brother in the photo I remember from my own childhood. The older ones, both dead and alive, were often mentioned.
DeleteI think that it's a splendid family phot and the horse makes it special as well as giving the handler something to do.
ReplyDeleteYes, I guess holding the horse does also add to underline his position as "master" :)
DeleteAny time you want to include a goat, that's fine by me. Great photos here.
ReplyDeleteSusan, if I happen to come across a goat in the family albums, I promise to post about it! :)
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