The fresh faced kid with the Christmas glow in her eyes is me. It was Christmas morning 1967. Each year Santa gave me a doll. But, not just any doll. I only wanted dolls that did something. This doll is Tippy Toes. She could ride a bicycle, scoot on her horse, and she was learning…
Category: Smile for the Camera
Laundry Delivery, Ma’am
My Great Grandparents, Charles and Brigitte (Breilh) Mazeres were in the laundry business. They first ran French laundries in San Francisco, then Modesto, and finally ended up in Oakland, Alameda County, California, around 1910. This photograph was taken around 1915. The dapper gent is my Great Grandfather, Charles Mazeres dit Salanave. He is standing in…
Martin Kelly, My Family’s First Business Owner?
Much of what my Grandma Shellabarger told me about her family turned out to be myth or exaggeration. She got one thing right. One of her ancestors owned boarding houses in San Francisco. That ancestor was my Great Great Great Grandfather, Martin Kelly. Martin was born sometime around 1820 in County Roscommon, Ireland. I’m not…
Wedding Belles: Beyond the Ceremony
I have seen some beautiful wedding photographs from the turn of the century. This photograph of Wilma Larcher and Alfred Souza married in Oakland, California, in 1939 is a prime example. But, I’ve often wondered what the special day was like without the photographers and the poses. A couple of years ago, a cousin sent…