The Slovak Yankee

Susan (Dolinsky) Hollick 1909-1994

Today would have been my grandmother's 100th birthday.  In my mind's eye I still see her like this:

There are more pictures of her as she got older, but she's stuck in my memory like that.  One more younger photo that I like too:

Finlay Sinclair 1785-1859

This is a picture (supposedly) of my great-great-great-great-great grandfather Finlay Sinclair and his wife Martha Lawrence.  I'm dubious that based on the clothing if this is my Finlay or Finlay's nephew of the same name.  Certainly in 1855, he would be about 70 years old--is the clothing appropriate to then or does it seem later to you (say about 1870s)?

Abiah Russell (Learned) (Hurd) Sargent 1830-1926

My great-great-great-grandmother Abiah, the mother of Olive Ann (Hurd) Pinkham. The picture is circa 1865-1870.

The Smith Family

My great-great-grandmother (bottom, left) Agnes Jane (Smith) Quigley 1864-1930 seated with her parents and siblings.  Next to her are my great-great-great-grandparents James Smith (Jr.) 1835-1904 and Ama Ann Cleveland 1840-1911.  Standing dead center in the rear is David D.A.C.G. Smith whose daughter was Edna Mildred Smith.

Susana (Balaz) Kristofik 1862-1931

Centered in the back is my great-great-grandmother, Susana (Balaz) Kristofik.  Thankfully someone wrote that (sadly on the photo itself) or I wouldn't have known that.  Susana had four children.  Three of them emigrated to the U.S. permanently.  One stayed in Europe.  She went back and forth as money and time would allow.  She died there in 1931 so I have one death certificate from Czechoslovakia, a country which no longer exists.  In the back to the left is my great-great-uncle Andrew Barbieri.  According to family legend, he ran liquor with Lucky Luciano during Prohibition.  

Great Great Aunt Carrie

If you think that knowing someone born in 1869 is a boon to doing genealogy, it wasn't.  You have to realized that 102 year olds don't discuss family history with 9 year olds.  And if they do, they aren't going to tell you the straight story.  Oh, the questions I have now.

Olive Ann (Hurd) Pinkham 1851-1934

My great-great-grandmother surrounded by two of her daughters, Eva Maud (Pinkham) Shackley 1875-1947 and Carrie May (Pinkham) Corson 1869-1974.  Yes, those dates are correct.  She lived to be 104!  Olive's husband and father both fought in the Civil War.  Her maternal ancestry is covered in this article.  Her paternal ancestry is this article: Heard-Hayes Family Bible: An Annotated Guide, New Hampshire Genealogical Record 23 (2006):15-26.

Burt Hale Pinkham 1881-1950

The husband of Kate Kinmond.  This is the 8th of my great-grandparents pictures.  I have a photo of each, which I consider an accomplishment.  Sadly, I have only 3 pictures of my 16 great-great-grandparents, all women.

Kate (Kinmond) Pinkham 1885-1918

Oddly, the Pinkhams are the only great-grandparents for which I don't have a picture of them as a couple.  Partly this is because Kate died in the influenza pandemic of 1918.  This is the only picture that survives of her.  

Archibald Thompson Pratt 1888-1964

Wedding photo from June 28, 1911.  My great-grandmother Lila Mae Quigley 1888-1959, was the first cousin of Edna Mildred Smith.