I LOVE this photo of my great-grandfather! One of the reasons I love it – aside from the off-the-charts cool factor – is that my brother looks just like Grandpa Duval in this photo. I think he should recreate it as a fun gift for my mom. 😉
I’ve shared this photo before, but this new version comes from a negative and once again, this is a definite upgrade from the previous version:
Francis Henry Duval by his airplane.
Don’t get me wrong, I was perfectly happy with the first version, but the new image has more detail and is larger, showing us more of the plane. Swoon.
My mom has an entire box of negatives… file box sized. I wonder how many more treasures are inside?
Happy Thursday, I hope you make a photo discovery today! xoxo
Francis Cyprien Duval & Alice Hyde, 1903, Oakland, California
Isn’t this photo of my 2nd great-grandparents beautiful?
❤️❤️❤️
It was in a small bundle of negatives my Mom left with me a few years ago. I recently scanned it and was so delighted by the clarity of the image. It’s not the original negative. I believe it is a negative created by my great-grandfather, the son of this couple, by taking a photo of the original photo. When I first worked with this image I was so happy to see a better version of a photo I already had. But when I tried to find the “other” version I realized it was actually a different shot from the same photo shoot. This is the photo I had before:
Francis Cyprien & Alice Hyde DUVAL
Both are lovely. But I am so happy with this new photo!
I spent a little time cleaning it up. Here is the original scan of the negative:
Happy Thursday, I hope you make a fantastic photo discovery this week! xoxo
ps – I was scheduled to have cataract surgery today but it was moved to next week. I’m nervous and excited. Here’s hoping it goes well! (I’m a big fat chicken, so it’s probably going to take A LOT of deep breaths for me to make it to the actual moment of surgery.)
Hope Estelle Maffit & Deane Alice Duval, about 1934
This lovely photo comes from a negative my Mom gave me. It’s a beautiful portrait of my Grandma and Great-Grandma taken in about 1934.
I think it was taken at the same time as this photo of my Grandma:
What do you think? Same dress? Same hair? Same day?
If so, then this photo was taken 3 May 1934 in Great Falls, Montana.
I found another scan of this photo in my Ancestry tree. I’m not sure when I scanned it, or what I scanned it from. What do you think of the two photos? Which do you prefer? Is it just me, or does the new scan feel like it’s a negative when compared to the old scan? Am I imagining it…?
Happy Thursday, I hope you make a fantastic photo discovery today! xoxo
Duval family, 28 March 1938, l-r: Alexander Valmore Duval, Alice Hyde Duval, Annie Marie Elvera “Vera” Duval Hunter, Francis Henry Duval, Dolores Lenore Duval, & Leon Howard Duval.
On Monday I shared the story of Leon Howard Duval’s triplets. I thought a few photos of some of the people mentioned would be nice.
The first photo, seen above, is of the Francis Cyprien & Alice Hyde Duval family. Francis Cyprien Duval died in 1919. Almost twenty years later, Alice is seen here with her only living children, the five who survived childhood. I believe this is also the last photo taken of this group before the big events of 1941 – Leon’s death, and the imprisonment of Valmore, Alice, Frank, Dolores, and Vera’s husband Bill. 1941 was a rough year for this family.
Leon Howard Duval & Annabel Freda Yock’s children, l-r: Ronald Keith Duval, Stanley John Duval (the surviving triplet), Leon Howard “Tiny” Duval, Alice Ann Duval, & Francis Adrian Duval.
Interestingly, just like the family he grew up in, Leon also had five children who survived infancy, as seen here. Because this photo was in the collection that belonged to my grandmother, I think it is most likely that one of my great-grandparents took the photo. Would that mean this is the front room of my great-grandparents home? I’m not sure.
Because little Alice was born in Great Falls in 1938, I would guess this photo was taken in about 1940. Where the photo was taken is uncertain. The possibilities are Great Falls or Washington State.
This is the photo back of the first image. I love it when someone takes the time to label a photo back! It makes my job so much easier.
Happy Thursday, I hope you find an ancestral photo or two this week! If not, I hope you choose to preserve and share one that you already have. ❤
ps – Have you picked up on the baggage in this part of my family this week? I have been artfully avoiding talking about it while my Grandma was still living. Deciding what to share and when gives me lots to think about.
My Mom & her Mom, Deane Alice Duval, December 1959
Last week I was able to spend some time with my parents and other family members. My mom had a minor out-patient surgery and I went to help. While she was napping post-surgery, I set up the scanner we bought her for Christmas. She currently has her younger brother’s baby book/photo album and that was at the top of her list to scan so that it can be returned. His baby book is in excellent shape! So are the photos. As the steward of thousands of family photos, I was surprised to see so many I had never seen before. Including this precious shot.
What a happy discovery! Isn’t it a beautiful photograph? It definitely needs to be printed, framed, and displayed somewhere in my home.
Happy Thursday, I hope you make a wonderful photo discovery this week! If not, I hope you choose to digitize and share with your loved ones a photo that is special to you.
ps – If you are new around here and are shocked by the fact that I have thousands of old family photos – my great grandparents were photographers. 😉
Deane Alice Duval, wearing her mother’s anniversary pendant
When you are the daughter of photographers, you have your picture taken a lot.
Like, a lot, a lot.
So when you are the great-granddaughter of photographers, you have seen a lot of photos of your Grandma.
Like, a lot, a lot.
So sometimes, the photos kind of blur together in your memory. And sometimes, bits of stories and treasures in those photos go unnoticed.
And then, every now and again, a detail pops out of a photo and smacks you in the face for the first time. The detail was always there, but it went completely unnoticed until one day, it didn’t.
I scanned this photo. A long time ago. But I scanned it. That means I looked at it at least three times. Once before I put it on the glass, once on my computer screen, and then again when I pulled it off the glass. But who knows how many other times I looked at it? I don’t.
But just last night when I was flipping through images to choose a photo to share, a detail in this photo jumped right out at me for the first time.
The pendant my Grandma is wearing didn’t belong to her. I don’t know if it ever did.
There have been three owners that I know of.
First – my great-grandmother, Hope Estelle Maffit. According to my mother, it was an anniversary gift given on the first anniversary of her marriage to my great-grandfather in 1931.
Second – my mother. I remember her wearing it a lot when I was growing up. Only ever on Sundays, but still, she wore it a lot. I frequently wore my mother’s jewelry but I don’t remember ever wearing this. I loved it, but I never wore it. Maybe I wasn’t allowed. I don’t remember.
Third – me. A surprise. Last year when I went for a visit, my mom gave it to me. I didn’t know what to say. I don’t think I ever told her how much I loved it. But of all the pieces of jewelry she owned, it was the one item I would have chosen for myself after she is gone.
Treasure doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about it.
But finding it in this photograph last night – there just aren’t words to explain how this photograph struck me.
Four generation of women.
One pendant. A gift to symbolize love. A love that is one-eighth of my story.
My great-grandparents were adventurous at a time when being adventurous kept your family fed. They traveled around with their little family of four, working where they could find a job, and leaving when the job ended or they needed more – more opportunity, income, etc. Eventually, they settled in Spokane, Washington and started a photography studio in their home. But before settling down was what seemed best, one of their stops was in Pacific Beach, California.
According to their daughter, my Grandma, as they were traveling through California, they stopped and her dad decided it was a great place for a restaurant. So for a time, they owned and ran The Coffee Cup. This photo taken in front of The Coffee Cup has a simple inscription on the back:
Leaving California.
As I have studied the photos from this time period and gone over my notes I am a little bit puzzled. Was the Coffee Cup in Pacific Beach or in a different part of California? This photo doesn’t look very much like the San Diego I am familiar with. Also, there are photos of my Grandma in Pacific Beach that seem to be taken well after this photo. Did they make two California stops? I really wish that simple inscription contained one very important detail – the date! 😉
Oh well, I imagine as I continue going through photos, the timeline will become more clear. So for now, I am going to enjoy this awesome photograph of my Grandma and her younger brother sitting atop their trailer in front of their little restaurant as they leave it behind in search of the next adventure in their journey.
My great-grandparents were such excellent photographers! They gave me no end of photos to stare at, wonder about, and puzzle over.
I am so grateful.
Happy Thursday, I hope you make a fantastic genealogy discovery today! If not, maybe label a photo or two so your great-granddaughter won’t be left to wonder. 🙂
