Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Faces in Iowa......week 27

Anyone who read this blog earlier today, I have had to go in and change it, correct it, as a first cousin of mine had most of the answers as to who they all were.
Grandpa and Grandma Burgus on a visit to Pearl and Mabel Henderson's.
This bundled up bunch is a recent discovery in a box of old photos. I don't know everyone but I date this photo in the early 1930's.  My Aunt Amye is in the foreground center with the belt. She was born in 1915.  I don't even know why the photo was taken as if there had been a special event.

I can see my Aunt Ruby, my dad's sister, on the left side with glasses.  On the right side, the man with the double breasted coat, is her husband Frank Henderson. Frank and Ruby Henderson had two children, first cousins to me, John Henderson and Joan Henderson Callison. They are not in this photo as I don't think they were born yet.

Most of the people in the photo are not my relatives but it is a photo of my grandparents visiting their daughter's, my Aunt Ruby, in-laws.  The women to the left of my Aunt is her mother in-law,  Mabel Henderson. Pearl Henderson, my Aunt's father-in-law is the man in back third man from the right. My Aunt Pauline Burgus and Uncle Carl Burgus is in the photo and one other man who is not identified.  The man on the far right is a man named Harmon Blanchard holding his daughter Helen.  Not a relative of mine but my aunt's in-laws. The little girl in front is an unknown. She could be an aunt to me, but it is not certain.


To help in the identity of my grandparents I cropped out a close view of Grandpa Charles Thomas Burgus and Grandma Grace Elizabeth Turner Burgus.  They had moved from a farm south of Murray and bought this house in Murray.



Editors correction.....
In this location was a picture of a house that I thought was the same house as seen above. I removed it as it was wrong. My first cousin Joan, the daughter of the Aunt Ruby I mentioned above corrected my insights and guess on the picture.  It turns out that the majority of the photo is of my Aunt Ruby's in-laws with a few of her brothers and sister-in-laws on my Burgus side of the family.  The house was located south of Murray, in the country, a few miles and was owned by my Aunt Ruby's in-laws.   They lost the house to the depression and had to move to another farm that they owned. This was very common at that time when you owned more than the times could allow you to afford.



To continue with my faces of Iowa theme, I wanted you to see this Daily Vacation Bible School class. It was my mom's class and she proudly writes on the back that they all had perfect attendance. It was taken in 1948 in front of the church's parsonage with the church build on the right.  My brother Rex would have been six years old and I believe he is the blond guy in bib overalls, second from the left. All of these  people are about 68 years old now.



Another earlier shot of rural Iowa would have been taken maybe ten to twenty years earlier.  I at first thought this was my mom's class that she taught in country school but the age of the photo may make it actually the age of her or her brothers in school which would have been in the 1925s or later. You can see the coal shed or out house in the background.



One last photo of my brother Ron squeezed in onto the lap of our cousin Jerry Ramsey. From my research of the ages of cousins, Jerry was  four years older than Ron, so it would make them one and five years old. The photo is taken in the town of Murray about four houses west of the Burgus's home.

This is my other Grandma Brooks home, mom's side of the family, in which Jerry's family rented the upstairs.  Because Jerry's parents Leonard and Amye Burgus Ramsey lived upstairs, my mom was introduced to my dad Jesse Burgus, Amye's brother.

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post. I especially love that the house in the old photos is still standing and oh so lovely. I was surprised to see the surname of Ramsey. My dad's mother's maiden name was Ramsey, and my dad was named John Ramsey Williams and went by Ramsey - not many folks around here had ever heard the name Ramsey.

L. D. said...

Leonard Ramsey married into the family and I am not sure where the family originated. There are a lot of his generation in the Osceola, Iowa area. Most are not living. My Uncle Leonard was electrocuted in a farm accident back in the 60's. They had two children, my first cousins, who probably know the history of the Ramsey's.

Kat Mortensen said...

Hey, Larry! They're all great shots, but my favourite is the one with your proud Mom and her Bible School Class. I wonder if any of them might come across this post? You should tag it with the name of the school (in the box at the bottom of Blogger's editor).

Kat

Anonymous said...

Great pictures and stories. When i read SS I always get memories of my own family pictures I have seen but do not have. I have run out of folks to contact since I am at the top of the maternal hierarchy now.
QMM

Tess Kincaid said...

That sweet house is cute as a button! I loved vacation Bible school as a little girl.

Natasha and Jesse said...

Great photos. It's wonderful that the house is still standing. The last photo is adorable with them sitting the little bike!

Christine H. said...

The house is absolutely classic. the bible school photo is...well, adorable.

Unknown said...

Larry this is a great selection of many many faces.....That looks like a fairly big group for VBS in comparison to what I see today at the local churches.....I see that you are still working at the puzzle of "who might it be?" It surely consumes time as I have found too.

Unknown said...

What a great house; & both the Bible School & the older school pictures are classics.

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

Oh gosh, group photos are so precious. I can hear the talking and know there would be pushing by the children for a good place.
Grown-ups are different, they just squash in.
Then your brother Ronheld by your cousin, (I'm not sure how) who wasn't much bigger than him. Treasured memories.

neetzy said...

Isn't it cool to find these old photos and try to figure out the identities. I had to guess on many of mine, in particular my husband's relatives. I do love the old gingerbread details on the house.

Nancy said...

I noticed that so many others commented about the house. I usually look at details but missed the house because I was focused on the people. I like that you cropped your grandparents and gave them their own photos. Don't the children in the Vacation Bible School class look happy - almost pleased with themselves?!

Anonymous said...

So interesting to read and look at all those faces and dresses in the post. They tell about their time.
I wish I could have time enough to make proper posts like yours.

Vicki Lane said...

Wonderful pictures! And the names are so familiar - my grandmother was named Ruby and her sisters were Mabel and Pearl.