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| Photo 1 |
“Well, let’s talk about hard times some more,” Ina might say.
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| Photo 2 |
In October, 1935, Ina wrote to
her sister, Mabel: “I don’t know whether Pearl and Al
will pull up stakes or not. They are very discouraged. Their crops got frosted
and their wheat will only sell as feed, most of it in Alberta is like that.
Their garden got badly bitten the middle of August when we had a frost here.”
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| Photo 3 |
December, 1935: “I feel sorry for Pearl. She has trouble with her right arm and hand. They think it neuritis and she has so much to do all the time. She has been knitting mittens for the men folk. They use the knit ones as linings in the others. She loves to knit, though. She also makes gloves of deerskin and is making Myrtle and Shirley each a pair of gloves. They are made just like any glove and are very nice. She had a pair she’d made when she was here in ’33. She says she loves to make them.”
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| Photo 4 |
February, 1936: Reports from Saskatchewan are as low as 55 degrees below, Montana 40 degrees below. I dread to think of Pearl [living the farm life in Alberta]. They were on a little trip to Stettler in January and got onto ice and nearly had an upset and then couldn’t get the car out of ditch, so Al had to go for help half a mile. Pearl stayed in the car at 31 degrees below. They go for Christmas trees, etc., in such weather in a sleigh.”
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| Photo 5 |
In 1935, Uncle Al ran for a fourth term in the Alberta Legislative
Assembly and lost. It seems as though he was tired of it, but he did run. I’m
sure they felt the loss of whatever income came with the position. For whatever
reason, they decided to remain in Canada for the time being. I wonder if their
health would have improved had they moved sooner, but it was a different era –
and they were poor.
Photo identification:
1) From left: Nina and Charlie Portfors; Roy German standing behind Stanley Sanders; Muriel German; and Albert Sanders holding Dona Marie German. Nina, Muriel, and Al are siblings.
2) Stanley, Albert, and Al's mother, Alice Sanders at the farm in Alberta.
3) Nina, Albert, and Muriel (siblings)
4) Alice Sanders with her four children: Bessie, Albert, Nina, and Muriel
5) Alice Sanders surrounded by her children: Muriel, Nina, and Albert. The elderly man is one of Alice's brothers (Tom or Will Sanders).
I suspect Pearl was the photographer. I would not have these precious pictures of my great-grandmother, Alice Mary Stinson Sanders, or my maternal grandparents, Charlie and Nina Sanders Portfors, were it not that Aunt Pearl had a camera and took pictures. At that time, remember, these are pictures of Al's family.
[I worked hard to format this post, but Blogger will do as it likes.] KW
6 comments:
I'm slowly getting all the family relations figured out. So Aunt Bessie was your Grandma Portfor's sister? I don't remember knowing that, but as a kid, it probably went right over my head.
That's right -- Aunt Bessie was Grandma Nina Portfors' sister. When you and I were kids, she came for extended visits with my grandfather. She had dementia even then. And her life is another whole story.
Oh! And Chris, it's nice of you to even try to put it together. I just hope that someday these posts will help my children. But I know you remember Aunt Bessie and that she used to go to the swimming pool with us. You know, I see my mother as very strict, but I'm not sure I would let my little girl take Aunt Bessie to the swimming pool on her own. Hindsight, you know.
Well, most of these names are familiar to me, even if back in sands of time, so it's nice to put some concrete info with them. I didn't know Aunt Bessie had dementia, but as I think back, she did have some different "qualities", but if that's the only way you know someone, that's just the way they are.
I'm confused by the statement, "...these are pictures of Al's family, and I won't be related to them until 1947." Al's family is your Grandma Portfors' family, right? So you WERE already related to them (except that you weren't born yet).
It's probably a statement I shouldn't have made. Actually, I wasn't related to anyone until I was born. The point I wanted to make was that these pictures were taken because they were of Al's family, and they would not have been particularly interesting to the Dobsons at that time.
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