MISSOURI LEAD MINERS; and a Funny Picture

                       (click on the photos to enlarge them)

My husband's  (Craig's) family came from Corry, Missouri: now a tiny spot in the road, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s a booming mining town for small surface lead and silicate mines.  A man could start a mine operation with a pick axe, shovel, windlass, wheelbarrow and rope.  Whole families, kids included, worked with the mines.

    Large lead mining has been and continues to be a major industry in Missouri; generally the mining is in tunnels and large refineries are closely associated. In Corry, the mining was surface or shallow mining, but  smelters were built nearby built to process the lead and silicate. Lead permeates the land--and water there. Craig's grandmother told him the water tasted wonderfully sweet, due to the lead. Of course, the long term effects of the lead and silicate in the water and dust affected everyone. Even now, Missouri's children have the highest blood lead levels in the U.S.   Craig's family in Missouri  had a long, very heavy  history of strokes.  I did some reading on lead exposure; those with long term high levels of lead have a 350% higher rate of strokes than anyone else. Symptoms resembling  alzheimer's was another problem, and his grandmother was diagnosed with severe alzheimer's syndrome.

  I find it hard to imagine the incredibly hard work done by these people. They didn't have tractors,  only mules. They didn't use any protective equipment, not even the hard hats used by the coal miners. Certainly not masks or gloves. The pictures, especially this next one, bring home to me the reality of the life these miners faced. (Besides, some of them were my husband's relatives!):

 Now on to happier (I think!) subject, but not apparently for the mom and kid.  This following picture just tickles my funny bone.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Chris

The (In)dignity of Age--and a fun photo

When I was a kid, I saw my grandparents as OLD! After all, they had wrinkles and gray hair. As I got older, I began to appreciate my elders'
experience and wisdom--a little! Now that I'm in my 60's, I'm astonished looking back at pictures of them and realizing that I'm now older than they were at the time. Kind of scary.

The  assumptions about the elderly, actually the very definitions,  have changed a lot in the last 50 years. When I was growing up, people were labeled elderly in their 50's, and women were expected to "act their age," i.e. to wear dark frowzy clothes, stay at home more, and gradually lose their  mental facilities (this in spite of the fact that my grandmother was an active tax consultant until into her 90's!) The women were expected to act "grandmotherly"--that is, they should babysit as much as possible, cook for everyone whenever asked, always be cheerful and motherly, always have gifts for the kids, and of course be self sufficient!  Our grandfathers were to be objects of admiration for "how great that they can still hold a job if they want to," (not considering they had to live somehow--there wasn't any social security  then.)

  Nowadays we aren't too surprised to see a  90 year old woman climbing Mount Everest, or 100 year old people still living on their own.  We are sometimes  surprised  that a person in her/his 50's has retired; we ask "don't you get bored?" and often find that person retired from one job just to take on another just to meet expenses; no time or energy for boredom.

In looking at all of the old letters and photos we have from the late 1800s and the early 1900,  I have come to  realize that no one (except for the very well off) stopped  working until he or she literally dropped from exhaustion. The alternative was the almshouse, or poorhouse, established in the 1700s in the States to take care of (or keep from delicate eyes) those sick, aged, mentally ill, physically challenged, or just plain undesirable people for whom there was nowhere else to go. By the early 1900s, the almshouse sheltered mostly the elderly and severely physically, as insane asylums and orphanages were established.

Almshouses, renamed the more socially acceptable "county homes" in the 1900s, existed until social security got fully underway in the 1950's and 1960's.(Social Security was established to get rid of almshouses: by giving the elderly a stipend they would be able to live on their own. Obviously, someone didn't do their math homework!)

  I worked in a county hospital in the early 60's that had some residents in the long-term section who had been there for 30 to 40 years. Some had polio, or rheumatoid arthritis.Some had just gotten older and unable to fully care for themselves. None had family who cared for them and none had any income. There were also quite a few elderly who had been stuck in the long term psych facility, labeled as demented, just for somewhere to put them.

Perhaps this blog is mislabeled: even now, the biggest fight for the elderly and disabled is to keep their dignity and their independence. I for one am terrified of a time when I might have to go to a "nursing home" where, at the best I will no longer have my privacy and independence, and at the worst, will be in the modern but equally undesirable almshouse

 However, I'm including some interesting old pictures of elderly from our antecedents:

 Finally, I have to throw in one fun photo--no dignity involved, although the kid obviously doesn't care:

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Chris

Happy Kids; You paid WHAT?; Auto Elegance

The photos today are a varied lot. First, A couple of really smiling kids. The photographer must have been very entertaining. It usually took a circus and a clown to get my kid to smile for a photograph!

 Next; Lena married Charles in 1904 (see the first few posts in this blog), but first, in 1900,  he bought homestead of 100 acres,  in what is now Napa Valley for $16.00.  The  area must be worth millions now, but I'll bet he had to scrape do get that money together!

 Last but not least, one of Lena's best friends, in her new auto:

Cute Kids and the Latest Fashions

The French laundry list is fascinating. Note that there are several pieces of clothing listed  that we never use: Guimpes for little girls was one I'd never heard of. If you google it you get some fascinating descriptions!
And I'd swear the little boy in the last picture looks like a little man instead, but we know he is a cousin of Lena's son Colon. Hope you enjoy these pictures!  Chris

OLD! Antique Photos

OK, I just downloaded from my husband's tireless efforts at scanning in all the photos--about 200 new photos.  They all came from Lena, but they are so varied and neat that I've decided to make each blog have 2 or 3 really varied photos; for you antique baby fans; auto fans; Victorian hat fans, etc.  Hope you enjoy!  I welcome any suggestions.

Here are a couple of very very old photos; note I have not retouched any photos except for fade correction, if they are really dim.

New Antique Family Photos

These photos are from my mom's side of the family. The first photo is my Great Great Grandma Wells. This was a postcard. The back of the card is included. I am told that she was a kind, gentle woman but she looks tough as nails in this photo.

 The next photo is my Grandpa and Grandma Daugherty on their wedding day; My grandma lived into her 90s, and worked until she was 89 as a tax accountant, then decided she had "other things she wanted to do!

I love her hairdo and dress. She looks so elegant.  My very best memories of growing up were staying with these grandparents in Salem, Oregon in the 1940's and '50's.

These were my grandparents with their family--he brought the two kids on the right into the marriage.  The girl with her arm around my grandma was my mom.

One more photo; my grandpa always wore these overalls. He must have just come home from his Post Office work (on his bicycle) and put the overalls on. He was the gentlest, kindest man I knew!   They grew their own veggies and fruits on their farm, the food they served was wonderful.
The third story of their home was a boarding house for college students. They were always cooking and baking.


One funny story, lots of people used the electric clothes ringers then, loading the clothes directly from the washer into the ringer from which it dropped into a bin. My grandma said a friend of hers was doing this naked, and her tit got caught in a wringer!  She didn't go into detail about what happened afterward,  but I can imagine it wasn't fun!

Another Baby Picture of Colon and Lena

I came across another baby picture; he looks to be about 9 months to a year. Lena looks elegant as usual. I think this must be in California, possibly on the homesteading property Charles bought.

Baby Colon

Colon (John Colon Smith) was born May, 1904, about 6 months before his father Charles died.  We have found no recognizable communications between Lena and Charles either before or after their marriage, and no photos of Charles with Lena and Colon. They were married in Missouri, but by the time of Colon was born I believe they were living in Middletown, California.  Charles had purchased the homesteading acres there in 1900, and it may be that he built a home there for Lena.

Colon was about about 6 months to 3 years old in these pictures, the latter of  which were taken in Napa, where Lena was working .  He was so cute! In the picture with the stick, Lena wrote her dad, his grandpa (whom he called papa), that that was his "horsie." Lena's parents came out to live in Middletown for awhile around this time, then returned to Missouri.

But this leads into one of the biggest mysteries about Lena: what she did in Napa. Lots of interesting photos of Lena as a beautiful, elegant widow, and  lots of her working--but at what. Maybe one of you can help me figure it  out.( The work dresses of her and her coworkers are wonderful!) Coming in the next blog!

Another picture of the little Lena with her doll.

After looking closely, I think that which looks like a beard on the doll is the doll's long hair. Not sure, will have to get out the original photo.  Anyway, a cute photo!

The Saga of Lena Begins

Lena Ryder was born in 1879 in Lebanon, Missouri.
By the time this picture was taken she must have been about 3 or 4 years old.  (This is corrected version of the original tintype we inherited.) While this is the first picture we are sure is of Lena, it is by far the last.  Once she discovered the limelight of photography, she never looked back. We have well over 150 photos of her from a child to her death much later in life.

It's hard to see details of the doll she is holding, but it is obviously her special friend, which must have gone everywhere with her.