52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - FAMILY PHOTO

I'm rather late with this post, but looking at the weekly prompts, this was one I could do fairly easily.

I have a lovely big portrait of my maternal grandmother and her two sisters hanging on the wall at my home. It came from my great aunt's house in the 1980's when my mother helped to clear Auntie Angie's house when she and her husband went into a nursing home.

Including the ornate frame, it is about 60 x 50 cm and was probably taken around 1905. The photo and surround have some foxing, but the frame is in good repair. The frame was probably made by an uncle who worked as a picture framer, and who was reputed to have worked restoring frames at the National Gallery here in Melbourne.

Smaller copies (carte de visite size) were made and sent to relatives overseas. My cousin in Washington State has one that was sent to her great grandmother - their mother's sister.

On the left is my great-aunt Angela Carmel Trowbridge, commonly called Angie, and a favourite in our family. She often came to visit when we were kids and always sent us girls a beautiful birthday card with a hankie tucked inside.

In the middle is Margarita Teresa Trowbridge, known as Rita, who I don't remember ever meeting. I knew there'd been a bit of a falling out between her and my nana, but my mother was quite close to Rita's daughters - so at least we didn't lose all contact. And in fact, I have another photo of the three "girls" with their father, taken in about 1950.

On the right is my nana, Eileen Marie Trowbridge who looks quite serious and has that stubborn looking chin. I remember her coming to visit when we were young children and often staying for a few days to help Mum. All the photos show her with that same serious expression, but I remember her smile and how her eyes lit up behind the glasses she wore later in life.

Strangely enough, I tend to have that same serious expression on my face quite often - although I don't have the chin!

And just for interest sake, here is the 1950 photo - from L to R: Rita, Eileen, George Trowbridge, Angie.

We seem to have lost the habit of taking formal family portraits, which is a shame, as we will only have snapshots to pass on to family genealogists in the future. Still, as long as they are labelled everything should be OK.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - I'D LIKE TO MEET

Who would I really like to meet? Well, lots of ancestors actually to find out if the family stories are true, or just to find out more about them.

I've run into a few brick walls along the way - unable to find parentage to go further back, or unable to find how people arrived in Australia or UK, so I'd love nothing better than to go back and question some of my ancestors.

I'd ask my three time great-grandfather on my mother's side, Thomas Trowbridge (abt 1798-1865), about his parents, or is he the Thomas Trowbridge born at the Foundling Hospital in London. Or talk to Michael Cahill (abt 1815-1886), my three time great-grandfather on my father's side, about the family story that he met his wife on the ship coming out here - or is he a convict as I suspect?

I'd like to talk to lots of them about their experiences sailing out here in the 1800s - no doubt, all with a very personal slant.  The convict, Alfred Dale (1827-1879), would have had a very different trip in 1845 compared to the Trowbridge family (John, Susan and seven children) who migrated to Australia in 1872, following in the footsteps of John's father and two sisters.

Did my Mum's maternal grandparents know each other in Monmouth, Wales when they were children? Who really was my paternal grandfather's father - are we Sawyers or did someone else get his Mum pregnant? And, how did Dilkoosha Loveland come by her unusual name?

In a way, I'd like to visit all of them from my parents backwards, just to sit and talk about their lives and what memories they have of the times that they lived in. How wonderful it would be to add some personal stories alongside the historical facts.