Monday, December 11, 2006

Another Great Gran

Great Grandma Baker at Barking

Continuing a theme: here another partially, but only partially, restored photo of my mother's father's mother, Mary Ann Quinlan (nee Baker). It was taken in Barking, England. As far as I can tell, Barking is part Greater London. I actually found the street and looked at the satellite view on Google Maps. If I'm looking in the right place, the land use has changed, and housing such as this doesn't exist in that area any more. I assume that my great grand father, John Quinlan had passed away by this time.

That's her son, Edward, standing beside her in the photo. According to photo album notes, sons Edward and Earnest remained in Barking, and another, Charlie, was killed in World War I. John emigrated to New Zealand, and my mother continued to write to him until he passed away. I remember getting calendars and tourist books form New Zealand. I always wanted to visit and never will, and I'm okay with that. There were three girls, Clara, Polly and one unknown.

My own grand father, Arthur, emigrated to Canada (obviously), but the story is that it took him a long while to actually settle here. Apparently he went back to England three times before staying. It is also said that he went as far west as Winnipeg before returning to and settling in Montreal.

14 comments:

Paul said...

It' intriguing to see the people, the clothing styles and the architecture. Visiting museums with photos of years and places gone by is one of my favorites.

-epm said...

I've been following your work on flickr... Good stuff. And the literal snapshots into the past are amazing. I always like to pick out details in the background, such as the lace curtains and binds in the windows here or the fabrics and floor covering in the other great gran photo.

Sometimes the surroundings are as intriguing as the subjects in these historic photos.

Anonymous said...

Where in the world are you getting the photos? Fascinating stuff! :)

Peace,

~Chani

Julia said...

great pictures - yes wapping is in London, there is a lot of industry there now. Made famous by a massive strike by newsprinters in the 1980s.

Anonymous said...

beautiful! i too love looking at old black & white photos.

Anonymous said...

Love this series on your family history, especially because of the great photos!

Anonymous said...

Love this series on your family history, especially because of the great photos!

Anonymous said...

Love this series on your family history, especially the great photos!

mreddie said...

We have some family history but our photos don't go back that far. As best as I recall both my Mom's and Dad's folks were from either England or Ireland. ec

Kila said...

Love the building. What a shame if it's no longer there. At least you have it frozen in time!

Ginnie said...

I love it when you share these photos with us. Isn't it a crime that they raze those lovely buildings? Progress...HA !

Anonymous said...

The house looks to be a good one for a mystery story. I'm enjoying your pictures.

Norma said...

So your family are really quite recent immigrants. Did he ever take your mom back to England for a visit?

I see you haven't converted to beta. I'm having trouble leaving comments at sites that have migrated, not to Canada, but to beta. Tells me I'm not registered. Have you had any problems? I hestitate to make the change-over until they de-bug it.

Gina said...

I too, love the house!