Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Roberts Family Circa 1900

While going through my dad's papers, I found this great photograph of my maternal 2nd great grandfather William Roberts with some of his grandchildren (the children of his son John Taylor Roberts and Catherine Young) taken about 1900 in the front yard of the J. T. Roberts house on Wells Street in Valdosta, Georgia. (We call it the Big House. It's now owned by the Valdosta Heritage Foundation who is restoring it a second time after a devastating fire.)

My maternal 2nd great grandfather William Roberts with the children of his son John Taylor Roberts and Catherine Young in the front yard of the J. T. Roberts house in Valdosta, Georgia

Starting on the back row, from left to right: William Leland (Big Bubber), Maie Dell, the nurse holding Mary Remer (Dinah), Stella, and Kathleen (for whom I named my daughter). On the front row, left to right: John Young (Little Bubber), Margaret, William (my 2nd great grandfather), Edwina (Midge), and Leona (my grandmother). I love that Uncle John Young is all dressed up sans socks and shoes.

I shared a photograph of these children all grown up in my post Wordless Wednesday: Brothers and Sisters. They're also in the photograph behind my blog title, but you can go to my post The J. T. Roberts Family--A Group Photo ca. 1936 to see who's who.

Finding this photograph was a wonderful surprise!

Catherine

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Nearly Wordless Wednesday - The New House, 1958

I continue to find family treasures while going through my dad's papers. Here are a couple of photographs I found of my parents' house where I grew up and where my mom still lives.  These were taken in 1958, probably just before or just after the house was completed.  We moved from a two bedroom/one bath house to this three bedroom/two bath house because my mother was expecting her 3rd child, my brother John.  She's standing in the back yard in the second photograph.


This is the front of my childhood home in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1958.

My mother standing in the back yard of our home in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1958. 

In 1963, just before the birth of their 5th child (my sister Helen), my parents added a whole other wing to the house (two more bedrooms, another bath, and a studio for arts and crafts and writing) making the house into the shape of a "J."  While going through my dad's stuff, I found the drawing for the 1963 addition.  It seems strange to see the house as it was so long ago.

Catherine