First up:
Eight women stand in a field. All except one are wearing hats. I wonder if this was taken outside of a church. On the back, my grandmother has written: “Mrs. CC Funk. Mrs. J. Heppner. Mrs. J. Penner. Mrs. J. Brown. Mrs. P. Unrau. Mrs. A. Unrau. Mrs. J. Rempel. Mrs. John Dyck.” Well, being able to tell who they are will be quite difficult. At least we have clues as to who these women are married to…!
Next:
Whoa. These folks look like they’ve just arrived in Canada… and they look exhausted. The back says “John Unger’s family”. This family is entirely unfamiliar to me. Must have been friends of my great-grandparents, and this was a sort of “greeting” sent?
Next:
Two men, two women. The women stand behind the men, their right hands on their hips, lending an element of sass to the photograph. On the back it says “Mother Marie Brown, Aunt Annie Penner, Uncle Pete Unrau, Uncle Abe Unrau”. My grandmother must have written this. A peek at Grandma’s Window confirms these are the four youngest siblings. My great-grandmother Marie?Maria was the youngest in this brood; their mother died just a few months after Marie/Maria was born. Their overwhelmed, newly widowed father was about to give baby Maria away, but all the children cried and protested greatly so he relented and the children were able to stay together. Eldest sister Aganetha cared for my great-grandmother and raised her; Aganetha was the only mother Maria ever knew… and apparently a very good one. I’ve read about this in the Brown book. Andrew figures this must’ve been taken in around 1910. I think the gentleman (great-great-uncle) seated on the left looks kinda like my cousin Ryan.
There are still a LOT of photos to go through… perhaps I will be a little less random moving forward!