Generations of Bonnie Babies - Sepia Saturday

  Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs.

This week's prompt shows three Bonnie Babies.  I have gone for the obvious - with babies down the generations,  all sitting up beautifully for the camera, taken  from my own collection and that of my cousin Stuart. 

FROM STUART'S FAMILY:  THREE LITTLE GIRLS,  1861 to 1935

Ann Elizabeth Shaw (1860-1917) was the great grandmother of Stuart's wife, Jennifer. She looks so sweet in this photograph taken c.1861. Unusually in photograph of that time, we see a smile

.

She was born in Canning Town, Essex to  Henry Shaw and Mary Suzanna Wingfield.    At the age of 19, she married Edward Henry Coombs whose family ran a grocery business and a jam factory.  They had ten children between 1880 and 1899.  





Hilda Florence Coombs, granddaughter of Ann Elizabeth (above), in a photograph  dated on the back as 9.9.1908.   The photographer was J J Hilder of 257 Barking Road, Plaistow, Essex.   

    Hilda's father Edward Henry Coombs  was one of ten children with five brothers and four sisters.  He married Ellen Florence Hooker, with Hilda the eldest of  three daughters,  and one son who died in infancy. 

    Hilda married Arthur Leslie  Williams and had three children, with daughter Jennifer marrying Stuart Smith.   

 

Hilda Florence Coombs, granddaughter of Ann Elizabeth (above), in a photograph  dated on the back as 9.9.1908.   The photographer was J J Hilder of 257 Barking Road, Plaistow, Essex.   

    Hilda's father Edward Henry Coombs  was one of ten children with five brothers and four sisters.  He married Ellen Florence Hooker, with Hilda the eldest of  three daughters,  and one son who died in infancy. 

    Hilda married Arthur Leslie  Williams and had three children, with daughter Jennifer marrying Stuart Smith.    

.

Gloria Smith (1934-2004), Stuart's sister, c.1935, daughter of  Arthur Edward Stuart Smith and Elsie Oldham, whose story has appeared before on my blog.

The Oldham family had a carter and coal merchant  business, opposite the North Station in Blackpool, Lancashire.  Arthur worked initially in the business whilst Elsie  offered hair-dressing services in the family home under the   name  of  "Elise". 

Gloria's  fair curls were a family trait seen down the generations. 

The photographer is thought to  have been J. Buckle 

of North Promenade, Blackpool whom the family 

often used. 

***************** 

     FOUR GENERATIONS  OF MY FAMILY:  1908-2009

MY MOTHER 

One of the oldest photograph in my collection shows, on the left, my aunt Edith and on the right my mother Kathleen - taken late 1908. The sisters were born one year and one week apart,  daughters of William Danson and Alice English of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.   Aunt Edith played an active role  as my godmother   and the sisters remained close all their lives.  

MYSELF

Following the deaths of both  my parents, I found a number of letters they exchanged in 1944, whilst my father was serving in the RAF as a Code and Cipher Clerk in France. In one letter, Dad asked for a "Photograph of Baby" - and this studio portrait was the result!  

 

The Photographer was W. R. Buckley & Son, Regent Studio, Cocker Street, Blackpool.  

Below a more casual pose on the back door step, 1944. 

MY DAUGHTER

Making a speech?  Taken 1973

MY GRANDDAUGHTER  

Keeping up with the news! (Taken 2009)

Goodbye! (Taken 2009)

Click HERE to see more of this week's photographs
from Sepia Saturday bloggers.

************