Getting Waylaid by Family Tree
I enjoy working on the old family photos and connecting it to the family tree. But it becomes very easy for me to become focused on small details while the bigger picture and goal gets waylaid. I have a tendency to be very detailed oriented, I think it is my math background. But it can make a simple project with a reasonable goal become a lifetime adventure. I would like to present a short brief of what I mean.
I had two pictures of family members that I just scanned. I like to do four things with each photo. One, make the digital picture as good as I can from the original hard copy. Two, identify the people in the photo. If relatives, I have the family tree to help me. Three, identify the time of the photo, when was it taken. And four, place the picture at a location, where was it taken. None of these are easy and can be time-consuming. Here are the two photos:
The first picture is of a little girl standing on a bridge. It looks like there is a cemetery up the road behind her. The second picture is two different girls sitting on a bridge. There is a stream in the near background and a mountain in the far background. Luckily, both my parents and grandmother Provoncha were good at putting names on the back of photos. Sometimes they included dates and occasionally a place. I had names only for these two photos, and only for two of the three people.
The first photo was labeled as "Wilma Provoncha" with a question mark. Wilma Mary was born in Monkton Vermont on February 2, 1916. She was the daughter of my Grand Uncle Wilfred with his wife Pearl Dow. So I was guessing a date of 1917 in the summer, maybe August. That would make her about 18 months old. Does she look that age?
The second photo was labeled as "Aunt Amanda Provoncha Huestis. Albia's sister in checkered dress." Amanda was born in February of 1901. That would make her 17 1/2 years old which looks about right. It is the same bridge in both pictures so I am assuming they were taken on the same outing. The other girl looks anywhere from 12 to 14 years old. Melina Mary Charbonneau was born in June of 1903, making her just over 14 in August of 1917. She was the daughter of Virginia (Ginny) Provoncha and Fred Charbonneau.
So I have names and a rough time guess. BTW, if I am right on the year, these photos were taken 100 years ago... That is cool. But where were they taken? This is where I sometimes get waylaid. I am going to guess Monkton Vermont because I know John Provoncha moved there. I do not know which year but Wilma being born in Vermont confirms that they were there in 1917.
I know that both my great-grandfather John Provoncha and great-grandfather James Hervey Orvis owned farms in Monkton. I found the Orvis farm on Mountain Road by comparing barns to photos I have. Not sure if the Provoncha farm was also on Mountain Road. I also knew there was a cemetery near that area because I took photos of some relatives buried there. So using Google Maps, I captured some overviews of the area where there might be a bridge next to a cemetery.
There is a small stream that passes under Church Road. This road connects Bristol Road to Mountain Road.
A closer view shows there is cemetery near Mountain Road on the right and a small brook called Pond Brook on the left that is crossed by Church Road. Thank God for street view. There is not a wooden bridge anymore but just metal guardrails, but looking East from the middle of the bridge looks like this with the cemetery off in the distance.
Compare the mountain ridge and cemetery in the old photo. Pretty close to being the same.
Moving the view to the North from the same spot, it looks like this.
While scanning, I had this photo of the five Provoncha sisters. Amanda has the same dress on and a similar hairdo. I am thinking this picture and the next might have been taken in the same time frame as the previous two. Melina has a different dress on so it might not be the same day, but at least the same month and year. The back row is Flora, Ginny and Delia and the front row is Amanda and Melinda. Ginny is the mother of the little girl Wilma in the first photo.
There is also a family photo with everyone in the John Provoncha clan. I have not identified everyone yet but the five sisters were easy because they were wearing the same dresses. But is this also in Monkton Vermont? Maybe!
Well, back to scanning and identifying. I hope you have been waylaid by my story!
I had two pictures of family members that I just scanned. I like to do four things with each photo. One, make the digital picture as good as I can from the original hard copy. Two, identify the people in the photo. If relatives, I have the family tree to help me. Three, identify the time of the photo, when was it taken. And four, place the picture at a location, where was it taken. None of these are easy and can be time-consuming. Here are the two photos:
The first picture is of a little girl standing on a bridge. It looks like there is a cemetery up the road behind her. The second picture is two different girls sitting on a bridge. There is a stream in the near background and a mountain in the far background. Luckily, both my parents and grandmother Provoncha were good at putting names on the back of photos. Sometimes they included dates and occasionally a place. I had names only for these two photos, and only for two of the three people.
The first photo was labeled as "Wilma Provoncha" with a question mark. Wilma Mary was born in Monkton Vermont on February 2, 1916. She was the daughter of my Grand Uncle Wilfred with his wife Pearl Dow. So I was guessing a date of 1917 in the summer, maybe August. That would make her about 18 months old. Does she look that age?
The second photo was labeled as "Aunt Amanda Provoncha Huestis. Albia's sister in checkered dress." Amanda was born in February of 1901. That would make her 17 1/2 years old which looks about right. It is the same bridge in both pictures so I am assuming they were taken on the same outing. The other girl looks anywhere from 12 to 14 years old. Melina Mary Charbonneau was born in June of 1903, making her just over 14 in August of 1917. She was the daughter of Virginia (Ginny) Provoncha and Fred Charbonneau.
So I have names and a rough time guess. BTW, if I am right on the year, these photos were taken 100 years ago... That is cool. But where were they taken? This is where I sometimes get waylaid. I am going to guess Monkton Vermont because I know John Provoncha moved there. I do not know which year but Wilma being born in Vermont confirms that they were there in 1917.
I know that both my great-grandfather John Provoncha and great-grandfather James Hervey Orvis owned farms in Monkton. I found the Orvis farm on Mountain Road by comparing barns to photos I have. Not sure if the Provoncha farm was also on Mountain Road. I also knew there was a cemetery near that area because I took photos of some relatives buried there. So using Google Maps, I captured some overviews of the area where there might be a bridge next to a cemetery.
There is a small stream that passes under Church Road. This road connects Bristol Road to Mountain Road.
Compare the mountain ridge and cemetery in the old photo. Pretty close to being the same.
Again, the mountain ridge looks the same and the water brook width is about the same. There are farms in similar locations. I think it might be the spot, or I could be totally wrong and they are in Ticonderoga New York, an area I do not know as well.
While scanning, I had this photo of the five Provoncha sisters. Amanda has the same dress on and a similar hairdo. I am thinking this picture and the next might have been taken in the same time frame as the previous two. Melina has a different dress on so it might not be the same day, but at least the same month and year. The back row is Flora, Ginny and Delia and the front row is Amanda and Melinda. Ginny is the mother of the little girl Wilma in the first photo.
There is also a family photo with everyone in the John Provoncha clan. I have not identified everyone yet but the five sisters were easy because they were wearing the same dresses. But is this also in Monkton Vermont? Maybe!
Well, back to scanning and identifying. I hope you have been waylaid by my story!
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