A Day's Work

Although my brother has worked in box factories for most of his adult life, I don't have a single photo of him or anyone else at the factory nor of the factory itself. It is probably just as well because the photo would not have been sepia and I would not have felt right submitting it for this week's Sepia Saturday challenge.

I scoured my vintage photos and found not one of a box factory nor of boxes. I did find many women in dangerously long skirts, but none of them were working. I was left with women in short skirts working and men at work but not working.

The photo above has an inscription on the back: "Dad [Henderson Hessick] when he worked for Huffmans." Henderson is my grandfather-in-law. He is the second man from the left, or the man standing on the left. We don't know who the Huffmans were or what he did for them, but whatever it was it must have involved using a pickaxe.

The above photo is my other grandfather-in-law. It, too, has an inscription but it simply says "Claude P. [Parker]". There are no clues of what the short building behind him may be or why he is standing in front of it. But he looks very proud in this photo and we do know that he was very handy with wood, so perhaps he was rebuilding this place. Could it be his first home? We may never know, but will continue to question.

This photo is one of my favorites. The little girl is my mother when she was 4 years old and the woman behind her is her grandmother. This is her first train ride, it was going from Chicago to North Brook. Great-Grama wrote"...and did we have fun. You bet. She enjoyed getting drinking water on train and a great kick out of the toilet." While neither Mom nor Great-Grama are working, the conductor that is helping Mom down is. And he is doing a fine job of it, too.

The above photo is Great-Grama again nearly 30 years later. It looks like she is preparing to enter a motel room. No, she is not working...the lady in the background appears to be a maid and she is working.

This is me mowing my grandparents' lawn. I was not paid for this hard labor, probably because my grandparents did not wish to be arrested for violation of the child labor laws. I can only assume that they used some sort of Tom Sawyer-like logic on me to get me to happily perform this work.

If you want to see some boxes, or box factories, or women in dangerously long skirts working, follow the Sepia Saturday blog posts. Then join the fun with your own interpretation of the prompt.

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Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

We humans seem to have a fascination with our modes of transportation. At least my family did...they were always having their pictures taken with them. Here are a few of the photos from my coffers of my folks with their traditional, and some not so traditional, rides.

My 2nd-great-grandmother, Juliane Bye, my great-grandmother, Frances Bye, and my cousin Julian Tvedt, c1900

Aunt- and Uncle-in-law, c1910

My great-grandparents, Harry and Frances (Bye) Jackson, with their motorbike in the early 1920s.

I don't know who this is or what year, but he's probably a relative since this photo is in our family files.
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the date?

I don't know who these children are, either. I'm guessing this is late 1920s or early 1930s based on their clothing.
I wish we could see more of the airplane, though.

Grandpa-in-law Claude Parker in a row boat, probably fishing. He looks about 15 here, I'm guessing this was taken in 1917.

Grandpa-in-law Claude Parker. What do you think, early 1920s?

My mother-in-law and her cousin, c1925

A bunch of Parkers (I can't read the names on the back of the photo). I'm guessing early 1930s. What is your guess?

We're not certain who these people are...far left might be my great-grandmother Frances (Bye) Jackson. Probably 1930s.

My grandfather Vince Heinz, c1935

Mom 1936

Mom c1937

Mom's first train ride 1939 (with Frances (Bye) Jackson)

Great-grandma Frances and her son Lee Jackson c1940

Granduncle Lee Jackson on what looks like a toy tractor c1940

My great-grandfather Harry Jackson with his vacation trailer in Tampa, Florida c1941

My great-grandmother (again) c.1943

Front of a Christmas card Lee Jackson sent to his mother from his tour in WW II in 1944. He was in the 82nd Airborne Division and suffered injuries to his back and leg from a parachute jump in Africa.

Frances (Bye) Jackson racing the family dog on one of her grand-daughters' bikes, probably late 1940s or early 1950s.

Cousin Paule Loring, about 1950-1960

Sis and Me, 1957

Great-grandma Frances Jackson, c1959

Grandparents-in-law Claude and Mildred (Muth) Parker, 1972

Cousins at Cape Canaveral, 1985

Dumbo ride at Disneyland, 1987

Hubby playing with a tractor in the rain, 1988

Whew!!! There's more, but I think you get the drift.

Sepia Saturday is a weekly meme which encourages bloggers to publish and share old images and photographs. Visit their blog for other stories and vintage photos with the theme of the week.

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