The story told by these pictures begins here. Lillie's grave.
When I began to scan the glass negatives which hold these pictures, this was the second negative I scanned. Who was Lillie?, I wondered. Where was this picture taken? And as I scanned more negatives, there were more questions to ask and more answers to find. I began to search through family documents, sites on the Internet, through census records, and city directories. Fascinated by the glimpses of "real life" that these pictures provide, I've traced down some of their histories, locations, events. And I'm sure, as the days pass, I will find more answers and more questions. In all there are about 450 negatives and they appear to begin in 1893 with this grave and to end a little after the birth of my mother in 1917.So, Lillie: Lillie Paulson, (born January 17, 1888, died December 14, 1893). 5 years old, almost 6. Her sister, Esther would be born the following month in Olivia, Texas. And so -- I thought this might be Olivia (more about that later.) In an interview years later, Lillie's sister, Ruth, would tell the story of Lillie. Ruth was not born until 1899, but she'd heard from her family about that hard time in Olivia Texas. Their father had set off to town on foot. While he was gone, Lillie died, maybe, Ruth said, of diphtheria. And someone went to give him the word, and he came back carrying Lillie's coffin on his back.
One wonders if he came back carrying a camera and some dry glass plate negatives too, because this is the first of the pictures.
Negative # Paulson002
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Further information on this photo has been posted at "Lillie's Grave 1893 or 1902: new thoughts on old pictures" (November 11, 2014)
Dear Bet I. This is an excellent start of a blog for sharing a unique story about your ancestral families, the Paulsons and Swensons. Your ancestors were visionaries who desired to document their existence with a visual image that (I suspect they thought) would last forever. You have now contributing to completing the "forever" concept of their plan. I know that they would relish in the thought that you are carrying forward their dream. Keep up the outstanding work. We look forward to seeing more and more of your family's photos from such a long time ago. Regards, David Borg
ReplyDeleteYeah, Bet, this is a fantastic way to present these, and I'm so glad that you are uploading them so large that we can really see all the details. I can't wait for more.
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ReplyDeletehard to find much info on Olivia Texas. Check this quick description: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlo14
It mentions being started in 1892 and 2 Swenson names - Pete and Gust. thanks for including me in your contacts. can't wait to show my dad. - Doug
Doug, the site that you need for information on Olivia is the awesome Swedish America Heritage site at http://www.swedesintexas.com/. Especially valuable is the english translation of "Svenskarne i Texas" (aka Swedes in Texas in Words and Pictures 1838 to 1918.) http://www.swedesintexas.com/SIT%20Web.htm . It includes a whole section on Olivia and Olivia Colony. Our family was no longer in Olivia by the time that it was written but it has an excellent description of early Olivia. AND - one of our glass negatives is actually the original negative for one of the pictures in the book! More about that later.
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