Father with Daughters - Sepia Saturday

By the time I knew my grandfather, William Carl Robert "Bob" Meinzen, I thought he was an old man who was disinterested in us grandchildren.  To my child's eyes he went to work, ate meals, smoked his pipe, sat in his chair to watch TV, and then went to bed.  Because I had trouble imagining him interacting with his own little girls I was excited to find this photograph in which he looks pleased to be with two of his little ones.

My grandparents had four daughters.  My mother, Audrey, the oldest, is standing beside Grampa.  Mom was born in 1915 and looks to be about four so I estimate the date of this photo to be about 1919.

At first I thought Grampa was holding his third daughter, born in 1921.  But when I considered ages and birth dates of both girls I realized the baby in his arms is his second daughter, Geraldine, born in 1918.

It's easy to imagine that Grampa, a barber, cut Mom's hair and that Gramma attempted to soften the cut with that huge bow.

Notice that Geraldine's dress has beautiful lace adorning the hem.  Gramma was an excellent crocheter and it's likely she made the lace.  My grandmother also sewed and it's possible she made both of the girls' dresses.

Grampa wears a bow tie and sports a (slightly grown-out) "butch."  I must research whether both popular in 1919.  He also seems to be wearing what I think of as old-style jodhpurs, as in another photograph.  Horsemen generally wore them but I have no oral history suggesting the Grampa rode horses.  Perhaps they were popular in 1919, too.

The photograph is old, faded, and in poor condition.  It needed a little darkening to be able to see the image.  Despite all, I'm grateful to see the pleasure evident in my grandfather's face as he was photographed with his daughters.  (You can click on the image to enlarge it and see details since I'm not using Lightbox.)

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This post is a contribution to Sepia Saturday 300.  I invite you to click through to see what posts others are contributing for this milestone event.

I first discovered Sepia Saturday in May, 2010, only a few months after it began.  I wrote a post to highlight the blog on May 1 and submitted my first Sepia Saturday post on May 8, 2010.  In those early days we participants posted a variety of sepia photographs and each week Alan Burnett, Sepia Saturday host, highlighted one of them as the introduction for the next week's call to participants.  There was such a wonderful variety of posts in those early days:  it was a delight to visit each participant's blog because one never knew what the subject of the photograph would be.  When, toward the end of the first year, the calls evolved to themes my interest diminished and so did my contributions.  I now participate occasionally but not as regularly as in the early days.  Still, I'd like to congratulate Alan, a dedicated host, and the rest of the participants for keeping Sepia Saturday alive for more than five years.  Thank you.

--Nancy.

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