Friday, April 23, 2010

Vintage Cousins

Today's theme is COUSINS!
I was, and still am, quite lucky in this department. On my Mom's side I had 22 of them, and most are more like siblings to me.
My maternal Grandparents lived in a HOTEL! In about 1962 they bought this business, and in 1967 moved to town. A beautiful old mansion built in 1912. They rented rooms, and served a giant lunch everyday in that dining room. Mostly to area farmers in their small town. I'm sitting on the table.
Cousins on my Dad's side. I'm in front - my Dad is holding me. I never knew my Grandpa, he died shortly after this gathering. He had lung cancer due to black lung and asbestos from years in coal mines and plumbing jobs. I look a lot like my Grandma, in the back. The little old lady was my great-grandma Peggy. She immigrated to America from Sweden, alone, at age 16.


Above is one time we got almost all of us in one photo, probably about 1975.

A motely crew in Grandma's dining room.


Again at The Hotel. What an amazingly large and wonderful place for a huge family to gather. Here we are in the lobby at the snack bar.

Present day cousins. We still have a great time.

My kids love their cousin time too. They don't 22 of them, but with all the noise and mess they make it FEELS like 22. They have 6 on one side, and 3 on the other.

7 comments:

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Great photos.

SkylersDad said...

I love your pictures, it must have been so cool to have a big hotel to play in.

lisahgolden said...

I just reconnected via FB to my cousin who was my best friend when we were little. It's been something to catch up with her. Your pictures remind me of ours. My favorites of the 7 of us on my dad's side is one at Christmas. Only 1 in 7 is actually looking at and smiling for the camera.

Thanks for sharing your photos with us.

MommyLisa said...

:)

Churlita said...

I love your grandparent's wallpaper and I normally can't stand wallpaper.

My kids love their cousins too. Most of mine were so much older than me that I didn't have a lot in common with them.

Jeni said...

A few similarities in our background -both my grandfathers worked in the soft coal mines of central Pennsylvania. My paternal great-grandfathers, both born in Scotland, came here to work in the mines as their fathers had done before them back in Scotland. My maternal grandmother's parents immigrated here from Sweden, met and married in NY city and then moved to western NY and PA, to farm. My maternal grandfather came here at the age of 7 -with his mother, one sister and 3 brothers -from Sweden, to meet up again with my great-grandfather who had come here about a year earlier to get work in the coal mines! My Dad, all five of his brothers, plus all three of my Mom's brothers at some time or other early in their lives also worked in the coal mines though only one of them -my Dad's oldest brother -was a coal miner all his life as the rest managed to find other work elsewhere and escaped from the dark, wet, difficult and dangerous life of the coal miner. So I am part Swedish and most definitely also a coal miner's daughter, niece, granddaughter, great-granddaughter and even great-great-granddaughter! Loved reading about you and your cousins too -also a lot like my family's history in that respect.

Sheleta said...

girl these photos make me long for my cousins. i miss 'em so much! wasn't life a lot simplier when we all stayed close to one another? momma ain't got no money--she'd send you down to her sister's house and you could eat with your cousins. why schedule play dates? cousins right there! girl those photos are priceless!!!