The GHOSTLY PIANO PLAYER in the Little Family Album

The final image in the little album which once belonged to Gertrude Helen Rich Bowen.

A near ghostly figure playing the piano while the photo of the patriarch of the family looks down from above. I don't know if this is Gertrude or Frances, but this is the end of this visual story. There are no more.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Beau or Brother?

There's no information about this fellow. His photos is on a page with the various photos of women in hats. Gertrude married a man with the last name of Bowen, so perhaps this is him.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Gertrude with Friend?

Is the woman on the left Gertrude? Seems plausible, but we'll never know for sure. As to the woman on the right...well she just looks so much like my friend that I'll have to talk to her about possible time traveling that she never mentioned.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Gertrude with Mother

If you look at the very first post of this series you'll see an elderly woman seated in the foreground. I'm guessing that was mother Rich. I believe Gertrude stands behind the woman with the tie on. If this is indeed the case, we then have Gertrude with her mother in this photograph.


Click on image to see it larger.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Frances Rich Cheney and Friend

Frances (Rich) Cheney is the woman on the right. I don't know if she was a sister or an aunt to Gertrude.


Click on image to see it larger.

A couple of fine hats. Imagine the boxes they kept them in. I mean, you'd need something to store it in because you certainly don't want to have to dust these things or try to get spiders out of the folds in the bows. I know, spiders on the heads...could have gone all day without saying that.

Click in the labels section for "Frances" see photos of her on her homestead.

Only four images left to see from this little family album.

WOMEN and TRANSPORTATION

To think there are places in this world where women aren't allowed to drive makes my head spin. I won't go into it other than to say the men in those countries have some serious problems. Anything that impedes on a woman's right to make self-determined choices in her life, all aspects of her own life, are simply wrong.

Using this weeks Sepia Saturday image as my jumping off point I give you Women and Transportation, all sorts of transportation.

Most of these images come from the Ten Buck Box. A couple come from the estate sale of Mr. Roberts.

Click on any image to see it larger.

On the door it says "Just an old Ford" and "Merry Widows".

I believe this may be Gertrude (Rich) Bowen.

This one is from the Robert's estate and I'm guessing this was taken at Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California.

I'm guessing this one was taken in Nebraska.

I'm hoping this is homesteader Frances (Rich) Cheney in Colorado.

If anyone knows what model these cars are drop me a line so I can add the information to the post. Why? Well, just because. Oh heck, if you know what the farm equipment is called give me that too. I'm seriously doubting anyone will have any info about the horses...then again....

Now get out there and drive, drive, drive wherever your heart takes you...and a full tank of gas.

It's FLAT, DUSTY, and out in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

We are so far removed from what we see here. There were barely any middlemen between Frances Cheney and her land. She just had to choose a piece of land and then build something on it to claim it. There are no trees to be seen so in order to build that shack the Cheney's needed to bring everything with them in that wagon.

Click on image to see it larger.

What was it about this desolate and dusty spot that appealed to them? Flat as far as the eye can see. Eastern Colorado? Could they see the Rockies off to the West? Behind them the flat vista of Kansas? How close were neighbors? A town? Water?

Oh how easy it is for us to get up each morning from our comfortable bed and get breakfast before leaving our home to go work. We have a fridge with food and a stove that simply needs to be turned on. But then we also have the daily drama of people we don't know and wouldn't want to know intruding into our lives with their bad behavior; I'm talking about television and the net. In the evening it's likely these folks stood outside watching the nightly celestial show, not what stupid thing Murdoch and his minions did that day.

Would these folks exchange their lives for ours? Or would we exchange ours for theirs? Or would we both just want a happy balance between the two? That's what I'm looking for. A foot in both places leaving the consumerism of today outside my world, bringing nature and the stars at night closer.

Just another image from the Ten Buck Box.

Frances Cheney's CLAIM SHACK IN COLORADO

I have no idea what year this photo was taken. It is from the Ten Buck Box. I believe through a family marriage Gertrude Bowen is related to the person in this shot.

Click on image to see it larger.

Gertrude (from yesterday's post) had a sister, Frances Grace Rich, who was born June 21, 1888 in Nebraska. On November 11, 1914 she married Walter Cheney. So whoever is in this photo would be directly related to Walter. Thus they would be related to Frances and through Frances the relationship to Gertrude. Now you know why geneaology is often called tracing your roots. They just go out in all directions.

As to what the "claim" might be, your guess is as good as mine. Was it for land or precious metals? Perhaps someone who knows Colorado history would have an idea. Somewhere in the hundreds of photos is, as I recall, another one of this shack, but nothing is written on the back.

I'll see where the Ten Buck Box leads me next.