Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Burgus Brood.......

A first cousin of mine, Joan,  told me that our Great Grandmother Turner referred to her daughter's ten kids as a brood.  Grandma Grace Burgus is sitting next to Grandpa Charles Burgus in a park. It is reunion time and that means a family picture is to be taken. It is a beautiful photo with everyone looking towards the photographer. The town where they lived their later years was Murray, Iowa which was founded as a town in 1868.  Grandpa Burgus had raised the family on different farms before the moved into town.   This photo is taken in the early 1940's.

I am exhibiting this photo to show a clan at a period in time where all the 10 children are alive, married, and the older children have their children lined up in front.  My parents are in the photo on the top left side of the photo.  This could have been the summer before they married, which was in December 1940.  This could have been the summer after my parents married which makes this 1941. I won't pretend to give out identities at this point but I will crop it eventually, enlarge sections and share their names.  I don't know this for sure but I am assuming a few of the children in front are still alive today. 

Thanks to my brother Ron who shared this photo with me, after receiving it as a gift from our first cousin Joan Callison who lives south of Murray. Thanks then to Joan also from me.

Please check out the other Sepia Saturday blogs that share this day with me posting family history by clicking here.

15 comments:

Martin said...

That's a great photograph, Larry. To have all ten children together, with grandchildren too, what an achievement! A precious thing to have.

Vicki Lane said...

A brood indeed! It will be interesting to see you sort them all out!

Bruno Laliberté said...

well, they certainly knew how to make babies back then. what a crowd!! nowadays, you see parents with no kids, or with one, maybe two, often relying on in vitro now... how things have changed!!
:/~
HUGZ

Nancy said...

Old reunion and group photos are so interesting. This is an especially good one because it's so clear and in focus. I love being able to enlarge the photos so easily and look at the faces. I'm sure you'll be able to tell who's who in this one -- most all the faces, except 1, are very clear. I'm taken by the lady in the center with the dark hair standing behind your grandmother. Is she a daughter or a wife of one of the sons?

Great photograph. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Unknown said...

Looks like my family reunions. I can't find any pictures of those reunions, though I definitely remember having them. In 1940 I was three years old. Older than dirt I feel sometimes. Great photo and post.
QMM

Christine H. said...

I think ten probably does qualify as a brood. That looks like a fun get-together.

Tattered and Lost said...

Oh I imagine this was at a wonderful picnic. All of the fun in this photo is in the details!

L. D. said...

The woman in dark hair is my Aunt Doris. She is one of the last to be born. She and her twin brother Donald. I am going to have to put the picture into a program where I can zoom in so I can see if everyone is there. Five boys and five girls with a few spouses.

Unknown said...

Brood is a great word, & of course it makes sense coming from a farm woman. It is a wonderful photo.

DougVernX said...

Those oak trees are beautiful. They are a great match to your family, both showing longevity. I hope you have fun at Bar Harbor. Acadia National Park practically encompasses the entire island so I'm sure you will see many parts of it. I've been there several times. Those island dwellers off the coast of Maine are a special breed. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

This is a wonderful photo, I like how in this time period photos were taken of the family when they gathered. It's so relaxed and shows that everyone is enjoying being together.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Isn't it wonderful when family members share, and then it trickles down because you share with your family and us! This is a wonderful photo..and yes it is some brood! :)

Alan Burnett said...

It is a great photo Larry. I am trying to work out whether I have similar pictures of family gatherings and I suspect they were not that common over here as in the States. Families tended not to be separated by distance and thus reunions were neither necessary nor celebrated by a photograph.

Unknown said...

Larry what a great photo to remind us of how things used to be. In some ways it was so much simpler, hangin' round the home base, marrying, raising the next "brood" but they had their issues too....all life. Large families were more the norm than not and how many did not survive birth or infancy! Wonder if the photo was by a professional because otherwise how did they all fit! Thanks for a photo and tale that made me long for simpler times....so different with just the 2 of us here in retirement....

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

This is certainly a very nice shot of the family.
One thing that has not changed drastically, as families still like to make family photos, despite the "cyber space" family has become much smaller.
Somebody in the family tends to be interested in the history and tries to keep the family history alive.