Week 2: Favourite Photo

 Week 2: Favourite Photo


This is a photo my great-grandparents: William Daisley Allen (1847-1935) and Mary Jane Woodland (1849-1938).  It was taken on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary in August 1932 when extended family members and friends gathered together to celebrate the milestone.  William died 3 years later and Mary Jane 6 years later.

One of the reasons that this photo is one of my favourites is that the handmade sign was kept and altered to be used for the 50th wedding anniversary celebrations of other family members.  In October 1970 for my grandparents (Henry "Harry" Woodland Allen & Gertrude Georgina Cooper).  And then it was used twice in 1997 for the 50th wedding anniversaries of two of their children: Albert James Allen (& Helen Maloney) and Dora Mae Allen (& Frederick Gordon McWhinnie).  The celebrations were attended by extended family and friends.

For me, the existence, as well as the retention, is one of many examples of the humour, love and joy family members have for themselves and others.  Members of the extended family have always been there for one another in times of sorrow as well as joy.  

My great-grandparents had passed away long before I was born, but my father had known them well.  Although his father Harry had been the youngest of 12, Harry had taken over the family farm for his growing family.  William and Mary Jane moved into a small house on the property not far from the large farmhouse.  When they died, that house was occupied by a granddaughter and her family.  This granddaughter, Mary Ann "Minnie" McKenzie, had been taken in by her grandparents as an infant after the death of her mother and was raised like a daughter.  She was only two years younger than her Uncle Harry (my grandfather) and my father and his siblings grew up calling her "Aunt Minnie", although she was actually their first cousin.

Even though we lived a 4 hour drive away from my grandparents, during my childhood, we visited my grandparents every holiday weekend.  And my father's 9 siblings and their families would also show up on the Saturday and/or Sundays as well.  It wasn't until adulthood that I realized how rare and special this was - to me it was normal.  I grew up knowing my 30+ cousins, aunts and uncles as well as many of my father's cousins and aunts and uncles.  And even if I rarely, if ever, saw some of these individuals (excluding funerals), I knew them by name.  This has been beneficial for my genealogy journey.

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