More than the cloche hats and drop-waist dresses clued me in to the fact that the little photo album covered the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The inside cover bore the name Stanley Steeves, my grandfather, who appeared in many of the pictures with my grandmother, Edith (Roberts) Steeves, a fashionable young woman who had marcelled hair and a bold pincurl in the middle of her forehead.
My mother and I recently bent our heads close as we peered at the black-and-white images of her parents and another young couple often showed with them — Stanley’s younger sister by nearly two years, Amalia (Steeves) Clukey and her husband, Guy.
As the only girl among the six Steeves children who had come to Maine from New Brunswick in spring 1911 with parents Harry and Thressa, Amalia was easy to pick out.
My mother remembered many of the faces from her childhood and later, while I recalled data from a family group sheet showing that three of the Steeves children had married in 1928: Amalia and Guy in February, Stanley and Edith in June, and brother Randal Steeves and Norma Cole of Dover-Foxcroft in April.
I didn’t bring up the Depression that would take hold in 1929, as we had moved on to the happy occasions marked by photos taken in 1930 — the births of Amalia and Guy’s first daughter, Marion, and of Stanley and Edith’s only child, my mother Joyce.
I would point out that neither child was enumerated by Sangerville’s census enumerator that year, librarian Addie Hamilton. They weren’t born until well after the 1930 Census was recorded in April, a time when so many of the Steeves family lived on Mill Street, running off Main Street.
Stanley Steeves, a weaver at the woolen mill, and Edith were in household No. 166, while Amalia and Guy Clukey, a dresser at the woolen mill, resided in household 167 with her parents, Harry, a fireman at the woolen mill; and Thressa; as well as Thressa’s 12-year-old nephew, Ralph Baker.
In Dover-Foxcroft in 1930, Randal Steeves, a finisher at the woolen mill, and wife Norma lived with Norma’s parents, Charles and Minnie Cole.
Other photos that could be dated in the album include pictures of Joyce’s maternal grandmother, Etta Roberts, who died in 1933, and great-grandmother, Agnes Eldridge, who had died in 1929.
One picture showed a car rolling down the road, passengers not identifiable, but an indicator of the times. “Look, there’s a rumble seat,” I said to my mother.
The remark prompted a memory I’d never heard her share about her father, Stanley. “I remember him saying that after they moved down here, they went to Canada with a car that had a rumble seat,” she said.
I have no memories of Stanley and Edith going to New Brunswick in my lifetime, but I remember well the yearly visits to Sangerville by Nana, Thressa (Given) Steeves, my great-grandmother who traveled by bus to visit her various children as well as cousins back in Saint John, especially the Wilsons.
We don’t have many photos of Harry and Thressa with all their children, but one taken about 1930 or so shows them all posing in front of birch trees by some water, with young Ralph in a wet bathing suit. But Grandad Harry and Uncle Roy were wearing suits, Uncle Arthur had on a suit jacket, while Uncle Harry, Uncle Randal and my grandfather Stanley wore dress shirts with collars. Nana and Amalia wore nice dresses.
Two things about Nana. I remember her as a very devout great-grandmother who read her Bible daily, yet while visiting Uncle Roy and Aune Irene in Lincolnville back in the 1950s, she joined the hundreds of extras for a couple of scenes of the controversial movie “Peyton Place,” which was shot in the Camden-Belfast area. In one shot of an outdoor church service, she was seated behind Hope Lange.
Years after Nana died, I made contact with one of the Saint John cousins on the GenForum “Given” site, a woman who shared memories of Nana arriving and leaving by bus — and not telling her hosts exactly how long she expected to stay.
My mother was just 40 when her mother, Edith, died at 65, so my sister and brother and I count ourselves fortunate, indeed, to have our mother, Joyce (Steeves) Moore, still with us and our families at 85. It’s always a treat to “visit” bygone days with her — no rumble seat required.
Genealogy conference
Genealogist Michael Strauss will kick off the annual meeting of the Maine Genealogical Society at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer, with a talk on “All in a Day’s Work: Occupational Genealogical Research.”
Choices for the 10:45 a.m. breakout session are “Genealogical Research in the Customs House Records” with Michael Strauss or “Treasures in the Town Vault” with Kathy Montejo.
Noon is set aside for luncheon, vendors and topic tables, with the annual meeting at 1 p.m. The 2 p.m. session offers “Work Skills of Old: Justice of the Peace Records” with Michael Strauss and “DNA Results: What Next: Preparing For and Working With Your Autosomal Results” with Nancy Mason.
The 3:15 p.m. slot has “Secret Societies: Finding Your Ancestors in Fraternal Organizations” with Michael Strauss and “Maine Vital Records Access” with Terri Roberts.
Reservations were due the first of the month, but it’s probably not too late to sign up. The cost to the public, luncheon included, is $65 for the day, whereas MGS members pay just $55, sent to MGS, c/o Deborah Nowers, 72 Achorn Road, Belfast, ME 04915. Or sign up at maineroots.org.
For i nformation on researching family history in Maine, see Genealogy Resources under Family Ties at bangordailynews.com/browse/family-ties. Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402, or email familyti@bangordailynews.com.