In May I participated in my first Family Connections Experiment. It was a joy-filled time of learning and sharing. And so, when a new 21 Day Experiment for Family History Month in October was developed, I knew I was on board. This time I'm working on posting and tagging pictures to Family Search. And sometimes I'll write a post about the picture as part of my #52Stories project for 2020.
#52Stories is my attempt to write 52 stories from my life during the year 2020. At least one story a week, in no particular order, to remember and document some of the memories and moments of my life.
This photo of my father and his siblings was taken in June 1945 after the funeral of his mother, Martha Ada Young Scifres. If you look closely, you can see that the pictures of my Aunt Cordie on the left and my Aunt Estelle on the right were added to this family group after the original picture was taken. I think they were photo shopping before their time! Actually, the purpose of inserting those two pictures was to have a group photo of the adult children of my grandfather, Andrew T. Scifres, his first wife, Sarah Smith, and Martha Ada Young, my grandmother. The thing that always seemed a little eerie was that my Aunt Cordie (on the far left) died in 1942, three years before my grandmother's death when this picture was taken. Aunt Estelle, on the far right, was hospitalized at the time of her mother's funeral.
And now it's time to identify my paternal aunts and uncles in this picture.
Beginning on the front row, far left - Cordie Mae Scifres Poulter with her son Druman (1908-1942) (her picture was added posthumusly), Minnie Ada Scifres Crownover (1904-1999), Melisia Arebell Scifres Ryan (1895-1985), Mary Caroline Scifres Howard (1887-1973), Ellis Scifres (my dad, 1912-1980), Henry Elmer Scifres (1880-1955), and Estelle Scifres Duke (1917-1995) (Estelle was hospitalized at the time this photo was taken).
Back row, left to right - Perry Andrew Scifres (1893-1970), Hezakiah Alexander Scifres (1883-1972), William Lee Scifres (1900-1960), Elbert Scifres (1914-1994), James David Scifres (1902-1955), and Alfred Isaac Scifres (1905-2003).
Things I've noticed and remembered while identifying my relatives in this picture:
- I come from a line of sturdy women.
- Uncle Henry, the oldest sibling, was the only one who never married.
- My dad, Ellis, and his brothers, William Lee and Elbert were just recently returned from World War II. My dad was a prisoner of war in Germany (captured at the Battle of the Bulge) and arrived in Oklahoma in May after being liberated in April 1945. These three brothers survived service in the war, only to return home to the funerals of both parents in June 1945.
- With twelve aunts and uncles, I was familiar with attending funerals from a young age.
For more information about my grandfather, Andrew Thomas Scifres, see this post:
While this is not your slice (or it could be), I was fascinated by your family story. My sister and I are planning to collect all of our photos to build a family history. It is sad that my uncle who just turned 92 is confused lately more so than other so we have to piecemeal information together. (For instance, I thought my grandmother and mother as an infant came over on a boat from Italy to meet my grandfather who was already in America at Ellis Island. I added their name to the wall at Ellis Island only to find out that they probably came over to Philadelphia)
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