Must have been AN INTERESTING NEIGHBORHOOD

Another house from long ago Minnesota. Was this style of house painting done by lots of people in Minnesota or just a particular neighborhood. I find it fascinating.


Click on image to see it larger.

I also finding it fascinating that none of these houses (I'm including the one from a previous post) have railings on their front steps. Now, I know it gets icy in Minnesota and those are cement steps. Wouldn't a railing make sense? What do I know, I live in California.


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Did someone say TURKEYS?

The most turkeys I've ever seen grouped together in the front yard was around eight-five. That only happens at certain times of the year, specifically the springtime. I think you can guess why. It's like a bad night at a sleazy bar when they all get together. You feel sorry for the young males because they're not even allowed to fan their tails and parade.

I have one turkey I call Norman who was most likely born last year. He's too young to fan dance so he comes and sits quietly on my front lawn in the shade by himself. A year ago I had two males I called Frank and Beans. Frank knew his name and would come running when I called him, Beans was younger and hadn't fully grasped that the old woman with the container of seed was his friend. I try to not get emotionally attached to my turkeys because there are things that go bump in the night. If you've never heard a flock of turkeys screaming in the middle of the night be glad.

As to the male turkeys in this slide…if they all started talking at once…a cacophony of birds…with the help of a little auto tuning and a repetitive beat…sure fire hit on iTunes.


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LITTLE PINK and blue HOUSE FOR YOU AND ME

This sweet little house was, or possibly still is, somewhere in Minnesota don't cha know. I have to give the owner a standing ovation for going to this extreme in painting their house. Not satisfied with the cookie color houses nearby, they took it upon themselves to make a sweet statement. I dare say it's "precious" and that's not a word I even use for babies. Make sure to look at it larger so you see the little pink and blue picket fence. Is it precious? You betcha!


Click on image to see it larger.

Remembering MINNIE PEARL'S HAT

The prompt for this weeks Sepia Saturday is hats. The ladies in Alan's image are very stylish wearing delicate hats on their tenderly upswept hair. Would I have an image to compliment Alan's? Of course I do.

I give you two unknown ladies in what can only be described as Minnie Pearl style hats. You be the judge.


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Don't know Minnie Pearl? Well, I'm sorry you missed her. She was a firecracker!

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (from 1940 to 1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.

Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Nashville. She was the youngest of the five daughters of a prosperous lumberman in Centerville. She graduated from Ward-Belmont College (now Belmont University), at the time Nashville's most prestigious school for young ladies, where her major was theater studies and dance was a particular interest. After graduation she taught dance for several years

Her first professional theatrical job was with the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a touring theater company based in Atlanta, for which she produced and directed plays and musicals for local organizations in small towns throughout the southeastern United States.

As part of her work with the Sewell company, she made brief appearances at civic organizations to promote the group's shows. She developed her Minnie Pearl routine during this period. While producing an amateur musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama, she met a mountain woman whose style and talk became the basis for "Cousin Minnie Pearl". Her first stage performance as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina. The following year, executives from Nashville radio station WSM-AM saw her perform at a bankers' convention in Centerville and gave her an opportunity to appear on the Grand Ole Opry on November 30, 1940. The success of her debut on the show began an association with the Grand Ole Opry that continued for more than 50 years.

Pearl's comedy was gentle satire of rural Southern culture, often called "hillbilly" culture. Pearl always dressed in styleless "down home" dresses and wore a hat with a price tag hanging from it, displaying the price of $1.98. Her catch phrase was "How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E! I'm jes' so proud to be here!" delivered in a loud holler. After she became an established star, her audiences usually shouted "How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E!" back. Pearl's humor was often self-deprecating, and involved her unsuccessful attempts at attracting the attention of "a feller" and, particularly in later years, her age. She also told monologues involving her comical 'ne'er-do-well' relatives, notably "Uncle Nabob" and "Brother", who was simultaneously both slow-witted and wise. She usually closed her monologues with the exit line, "I love you so much it hurts!" She also sang comic novelty songs.

Pearl's comic material derived heavily from her hometown of Centerville, which in her act she called Grinder's Switch. Grinder's Switch is a community just outside of Centerville that consisted of little more than a railroad switch. Those who knew her recognized that the characters were largely based on real residents of Centerville. So much traffic resulted from fans and tourists looking for Grinder's Switch that the Hickman County Highway Department eventually changed the designation on the "Grinder's Switch" road sign to "Hickman Springs Road." (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

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Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

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GENEALOGY and Vintage Photographs

One thing I've discovered since I began this blog is how many genealogists are naturally drawn to vintage photographs. Obvious path for them to take since it's all about research and ultimately many are interested in not just tracing a linear family tree, but they also want to put faces and personal histories attached to that tree.

I am not a genealogist though I took some interest many years ago and have a brief line on my maternal side going back to the late 1800s in Pennsylvania. I purchased some genealogy software over a decade ago, but found it cumbersome and confusing. Plus, I just wasn't interested in creating linear trees as my goal. I'm interested in the individuals and their stories and the software was just too complicated for what I wanted to do.

Now I've started organizing my old files using Sort Your Story, a new, inexpensive, easy and fun to use, small program that fits my needs created by a friend of mine. It does exactly what I need and if I ever choose to use one of the larger programs again I'll have all of my files organized in a way that makes sense to me.

I wanted to introduce you to the program with this Sepia Saturday post because you might find it useful. I know, this seems like a shameless plug, and in a way it is, but I get no monetary gain by recommending this program. I'm doing this because I believe in the program and think that it would be perfect for families and individuals wanting to get started doing their own genealogy, sorting the images and documents they've collected. It's also an excellent program for grandparents and their grandchildren. If you have a grandchild who shows no interest in genealogy this might just be the program to spark their interest.

Visit the Sort Your Story website and the Sort Your Story Facebook page to see a tutorial video.

As for this weeks sepia image, it's another fine vintage photo from the collection Bert gave me.

Click on image to see it larger.

This family portrait was taken in St. Paul, Minnesota by Youngberg at the Camera Art Studios. When I researched Youngberg in Minnesota several different studios were listed all bearing the Youngberg name. I don't know if these were all relatives competing against each other or just a coincidence.

The Youngberg that took this photo, or at least the name listed as the studio proprietor, was David C. Youngberg. The studio had two locations in St. Paul: Saint Peter Street and 412 Cedar Street. The listing shows that the "dates of operation" was 1918 and the "decades worked in Minnesota" was 1910s. You can click here to see this listing and the two other Youngberg listings. If you click here you'll see a bit more information including the fact that David C. Youngberg had two other partners, C. E. Richter and W. G. Greene. There is also a reference to the fact that the studio was the "Official Photographers for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival."

To see two more photos taken by David C. Youngberg click here and here.

I have no information about the subjects of the portrait. The husband does look older than the wife. Perhaps she was a mail order bride from the old country. Who knows. We can create any story we want.

I do find the backdrop a bit unusual. It seems to have a slight Spanish or New Orleans influence with the palm and the wrought iron balcony. Seems a very strange backdrop for St. Paul and their large Scandinavian community. A bit more exotic than I'd have expected.

Perhaps somewhere someone knows these people and their stories. It would be fun to have the pieces of the puzzle solved.