Round Em Up

An entry to Sepia Saturday "using old images as prompts for new reflections"

As soon as I saw those cows on the Sepia Saturday prompt I knew which picture I would use:

All the young cattle are on the move surrounding the still centre of my Grandmother, Winifred Swindlehurst.  One of them looks to have a white band so I'm hoping its a Belted Galloway just because I think they are such pretty cows with their broad white stripe.  But whatever they are they are rushing forward with lots of curiosity.   I don't know what age she would be here but she was born in 1891 so possibly could be about 20?  The cow on the right looks to be gazing into her eyes meanwhile she is laughing at the unknown photographer at the curious position she is in.  Moving from the enclosed fields of Lancashire to the prairies of Canada    

a tinted postcard of the early 20th Century "Young Cow Punchers, Calgary".  My Grandmother's two sisters emigrated to Canada, she was supposed to go with them but changed her mind at the last minute but they and their families sent postcards from Canada, always enclosed with letters, so unfortunately no handy date stamps.  

The reverse of the divided back card indicates a date from 1903-1914 so at the time she was in the field with cows, say 1911, they write "This is the way they catch the cattle on the Prairie when they want to brand them".  (The cards often explained life in Canada). Whichever side of the Atlantic the families were on they could both have gone to the cinema in 1916 to watch the film directed and starring Tom Mix called "The Cowpunchers Peril". there always seemed to be lots of peril in silent films whether dramatic or comedic but they certainly produced them at a rate. I couldn't resist a filmography of Tom Mix especially with cowboy songs from a luscious voiced, but uncredited, singer.

Wedding Time

  

 

This time of year is a popular time for weddings, I've already been to one this year but for Sepia Saturday's theme of groups of course I'll go way back in time to this little gathering which I would guess is around 1914. The soldier is Jack Hewitt who's sister Isabel gets the chair because she's the bride. My grandmother Winifred Swindlehurst stands next to Jack and her brother William, the groom, is next, he was her only brother. His eleven sisters never called him William because he gained a nickname as a young boy of 'blurt' because he always we going off somewhere and shooting his gun. I guess that is either a dialect word or the blurt refers to the dictionary definition of "sudden or unadvisedly".  I do not know who the couple on the right are but from looks perhaps the bridesmaid is Isabel's sister and the man is showing off his gloves to perfection.

 Go forward a couple of years and this faded and battered photo which to judge from its cardboard backing at one time must have had another piece and have been on display.  My Grandmother Winifred gets centre seat as the bride. Isabel, (seated left) who was always known as Aunt Bell now has a child. My grandmothers first husband Jack Taylor stands behind her and sadly was to die in the First World War.  Photographs of this period always have poignancy from what we the viewers know from history that the happy group does not.  I love group photographs for their variety of personalities, such as the little girl at the front with a hat just plopped on her head or the man at the back chewing on his pipe, even though I have no idea who the majority are. One thing I do know is where the photograph was taken for I have seen the doorway on many occasion, always featuring in the Swindlehurst family photographs - Hazelslack Tower Farm near Arnside, Lancashire. Depending on the time of year sometimes there is sometimes a glimpse of roses in flower on the porch. But look at the upper left window and two faces peer out to watch the excitement of the photograph, and is that a twitch of the curtain I see on the bottom right.

An entry to Sepia Saturday