31 October 2008

A time for families

It is Hallow's Eve today, I don't like celebrating Halloween; something to do with being British and Halloween being a predominantly American celebration. So instead I remember some of the family history.

Hunting through the family photo's the other evening I came across what I thought were old (some very old) family photo's which Zeltus hasn't yet seen.

The picture on the left is the youngest of the old one's and is of my Uncles and Aunt's along with my Dad. The four children of Jesse who was our Grandfather and Dorothy Lovesey; from left to right are Dave, Eric (Dad), Lil and Sheila.

Lil, was able to give me a bit more informaiton about the other two photo's here. Picture 1 is of Jesse's wedding to Dorothy Lovesey. The Gentleman on the far left is William (Jesse's Dad). The two bridesmaid's in front are Dorothy's sisters.

They got married on the 19th May 1928 and Grandad served in the second world war, along with his brother Charlie who was killed and to this day we still haven't found out where.

The story doesn't quite end there as I had another picture in the file which shows, William with his father-in-law Joseph Lovesey.

A real character, Joseph who was married to Frances lived in Great Gransden; Cambridgeshire. Their house was near by the village pub and church and it was known on more than one occasion for Joseph to sneak off to the pub when he told Frances that he was off to the Church. However Frances knew where he was and used to come into the pub and tell him off.

The young girl in the middle of the photo standing up is Lil, my Aunt and the one who provided me with this information.

6 comments:

The W.O.W. factor! said...

Huh...I just learned something new! I didn't realize Halloween was typically an American tradition. I'm not a huge fan of it either. I do like growing pumpkins to park on my porch for autumn but not carved ones.
I love old family photos, my family was not much on keeping them it seems, I wish they had been.
Again, have a wonderful weekend and hope you don't get snowed on!
Barb

Elaine said...

I think Halloween is actually far older than America and is All Hallows E'en, the day before All Saints Day.

And that would make you think it were Christian, but the Church hi-jacked it (as is its wont) from even older ceremonies to do with Wicca and so on.

The Scottish (or British, I am not sure) tradition was to make a turnip lantern from a hollowed out swede with eyes, nose and mouth cut out and a candle inside. I don't know how far back that goes.

The pumpkin is definitely American.

I seem to remember that in Scotland we had our bonfire on Halloween as 5th November was an English tradition.

Train Wreck said...

Hah! I a, with my dear friend WOW!I didn't know that either!! Love the "faceless" pumkins. I have to admit I don't have any photos of my heritage either, I remember my grandfather (my dads father) had many in his home. When he passed away, I think the kids took them. He was from England, I would love to have some history. Your photos are beautiful! I love the wedding, those black and white photos are the best! Thanks for sharing! Have a great "Happy family day"

Dark Side said...

I am not sure when the pumpkin started to appear this country, I seem to remember it was only a turnip in the days I used to make them.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family...xx

Janet said...

What treasures! Wonderful pictures.
Elaine's right. Halloween was born out of some old Celtic traditions regarding spirits walking abroad on All Hallow's Eve. The current modus operandi is of course strictly American commercialism. Buy candy! Buy costumes! Buy, buy, buy! We don't decorate since no one can see our house from the road. We do take the kids trick-or-treating. We doubled our houses this year. From 3 to 6. Hoo Boy.

Unknown said...

It's what connects us. I never thought of it that way, but that's a good perspective on the holiday. The ghosts that spook are our the memories of those times and places and people.