9/17/10

PARADING in 1906 Santa Cruz, California


For this weeks Sepia Saturday I am sharing a photo I purchased the other day. A mother and her two daughters, the Rooney family, taking a stroll in Santa Cruz, California in 1906. With all of the American flags flying we can only guess the occasion. Now, if dear Margaret had been writing the copy on the back we'd know exactly what day and time this was shot. Oh Margaret, I miss your efficiency because the dates written on the back of this have mother, born in 1864, giving birth in 1865 and 1867. I know things grow really well in the islands, but not this well.


Click on images to see them larger.
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UPDATE:
A comment has been kindly left by Norkio which fills in the pieces about these lovely ladies:

Caroline McShane Rooney was born in the Sandwich Islands November 1862. She married Peter Rooney in 1884. Their three daughters were: Erminnie (1883), Adelade (1885) and Alice (1887). In 1900 they lived in Lincoln, CA which is close to Rocklin, Roseville and Folsom CA, all three of which are slightly northwest of Sacramento.



Caroline had a sister named Rachel who never married, born in 1866 who died in 1949 in San Francisco. The census taker in 1910 noted that Rachel McShane lived with the Rooneys in San Franciso, but gave her age as 20 years.



Daughter Alice lived to be 95, passing away in 1982 in San Francisco. She did marry Lafayette Mann when she was 19 which would have been 1906 or 1907. They had two daughters, Marjorie and Helen. Lafayette was 19 years older than Alice and had been a surveyor for the American Fruit Co, while Alice was a fruit grader - early QC specialist. :-) They were married at least until the 1930s, which is when the census information stops. When she passed away, her married name was Stiles.



T.H. stands for Territory of Hawaii.
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From Robert McDonald:
Also, an update to Norkio's comments...Lafayette Mann died in 1935, after which Alice married William Stiles. Caroline McShane actually married Peter M. Rooney on her 20th birthday in 1882 in Makawao, Maui. Caroline died about 10 years after this photograph was taken, in 1917. One last tidbit, Caroline's mother was born in England, moved with her family to Australia at age 15, married at 16 and had 2 children, then moved to Hawaii at age 20 before having another 7 children! 

21 comments:

  1. Oh, if they could only see Santa Cruz now. Mr. Rooney was quite an imposing figure. Maybe the numbers were transposed and she was born in 1846.

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  2. It's such a lovely photo but isn't it frustrating that so many of the photos weren't labelled correctly and some not at all. None of this takes away from this mother with her two daughters on what obviously is a national celebration day.

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  3. What a great photo! Missing Margaret but whoever wrote this gave lots of genealogical information - names, locations of birth, spouse's name, etc.... To me the wonder of these old photographs with dates is that now we know exactly what the clothing styles were in 1906 (or whatever the date of any photograph). Adelaide's hat is something else!

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  4. I would love to dress up like that and go strolling through town!

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  5. It's a fine photograph of a very imposing group. You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that lady!

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  6. great photo. love those hats!

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  7. An excellent find!

    Hm. In the space between the two women on the right there seems to be another in a much shorter skirt a little further away on the boardwalk. Is that possible?

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  8. One Man's Treasure9/18/2010

    Beautiful photo!

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  9. How interesting! What a find!

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  10. Absolutely love the outfits. They were surely stylish ladies. Great post.
    QMM

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  11. Indeed there are several other people in the photo, including the one that can be seen between the mother and daughter on the right. Between the mother and daughter on the left, way off in the distance, there are at least 3 people going in the other direction.

    The actual amusement park boardwalk was not opened in Santa Cruz until 1907. And it still exists, though certainly these fine ladies would not recognize any of Santa Cruz should they choose to walk into the future.

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  12. with such fine dressing, i'd suggest a cocktail, but i can smell the prohibition coming....
    :/~
    HUGZ

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  13. Fine outfits! Mama looks a bit stern and frightful to me...Wonder what "all of "T.H." means?

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  14. What a wonderful old classic of a photo. I really enjoy seeing them that look like that era.

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  15. Wonderful photograph. Love her parasol.
    Maureen

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  16. Hello folks.

    Glad you're enjoying the photo.

    I should be back up and running in less than two weeks with my usual nonsense.

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  17. I had to look it up, just couldn't leave it alone! :-)

    Caroline McShane Rooney was born in the Sandwich Islands November 1862. She married Peter Rooney in 1884. Their three daughters were: Erminnie (1883), Adelade (1885) and Alice (1887). In 1900 they lived in Lincoln, CA which is close to Rocklin, Roseville and Folsom CA, all three of which are slightly northwest of Sacramento.

    Caroline had a sister named Rachel who never married, born in 1866 who died in 1949 in San Francisco. The census taker in 1910 noted that Rachel McShane lived with the Rooneys in San Franciso, but gave her age as 20 years.

    Daughter Alice lived to be 95, passing away in 1982 in San Francisco. She did marry Lafayette Mann when she was 19 which would have been 1906 or 1907. They had two daughters, Marjorie and Helen. Lafayette was 19 years older than Alice and had been a surveyor for the American Fruit Co, while Alice was a fruit grader - early QC specialist. :-) They were married at least until the 1930s, which is when the census information stops. When she passed away, her married name was Stiles.

    T.H. stands for Territory of Hawaii.

    I enjoyed this little hunt!

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  18. And I enjoyed reading it!

    Thank you Norkio for the details for this photo. I had a feeling there was a genealogist out there that would just have to research this. Thank you for taking the time!

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  19. Anonymous6/13/2013

    Thanks for posting the picture. Caroline is my 3rd great grand aunt!

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  20. Thanks for posting this picture. Caroline is my 3rd great grand aunt. May I use this picture in my family tree?

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    1. Yes, indeed. Provide me with an email address and I can provide you with a better scan of the photo. I don't know which envelope the photo is in so I can't easily rescan the back, but I still have a better scan of the front you might like.

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