12 Months of Photos February 2024 Homes

Question

February 2024 12 Months of Photos sharing theme: Homes

To participate, simply:

1. Choose a family photo that fits this week's theme.
2. Add it to this month's free-space gallery.
3. Reply with an answer below to let us know which photo you're sharing. If you want to include the photo but don't know how, click here.

The photo you share might be featured on the WikiTree home page and in our social media channels.

It is requested that no "best answer" stars be given to any photo, as they are all great pictures without exception and none should be preferred over the other.

Answer 1

This is a photo of my grandparent's home in Muskogee, Oklahoma. My father grew up here, and this is a 1920 photo of him standing in front of his home. The other photo is of me standing in front, and I was able to purchase it in 2017-- 100 years after my grandparents bought it in 1917.

Comments

Wonderful, Alexis!   

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John, thank you for your comment. It is a long story, but I was able to pick the house up at an amazing price through a bank foreclosure. I worked on it for a few months, but I had to sell it in 2019—50 years after my grandmother sold it in 1969. I took a small loss on it; however, a building contractor owns it, and it is in wonderful condition now. I never felt there were ghosts of my family there, but I did have a feeling that my dear grandmother wanted me to buy it and sell it to someone that would make sure it was taken care of. 

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Gorgeous photo your grandparents live in thank you for sharing

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Susan, thank you for your lovely comment. My grandmother often told me about her many happy memories of when she lived here.

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It's a lovely house, Alexis, with its big, wide porch.  There are a few houses in my neighbourhood that are a similar style but not made of wood.  They used stone instead.  They tore one down that I was in as a child (birthday party of a classmate) and I thought it was such a shame.  They put up a modern "Black Box" style house (like a mausoleum) with gray accents, two-car garage, hardly any yard left the house is so oversized.  I was sad, remembering how sweet and charming the original house was.  So it's nice to know the home of your grandparents is in good hands.  I'm grateful they didn't tear down all the ones in this style where I live and they are being maintained.

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Pat and Alexis, the black and white photo gives me a feeling of a 'character home' and bring back memories from my childhood.

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Pat, thank you for your wonderful comment, but I am sorry abut your home. In the photos of my father, I see a beautiful brick home across the street and now it is a vacant lot. I can’t help but wonder about a fire. The  renter started a fire in the electrical wiring by illegally bypassing the electrical meter, and it was too much of a mess for me to deal with. The contractor is a church friend, and he took care of everything and greatly improved the house. The house I lived in with this same grandmother was torn, and my grandmother was upset about it all. I truly know that she would be happy to see this home now.

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That's such a nice story, Alexis, how you were able to buy the same house at a later date.

Answer 2

It's a little dark, but here is a picture of a log house, taken by Helen Bean probably in the late 1890's or very early 1900's. She had a Brownie camera and developed the film herself, according to her daughter Ruth (who lived to be 101 and was a great resource for identifying people in photos and telling stories about them). This log house was in central North Dakota, typically they would have sod houses or dugouts, but this ranch was along a creek valley and apparently there was a decent supply of timber there. I think she may have taken this picture in part to help them "prove up" on their homestead.

Comments

Rob, thank for sharing such a wonderful photo and story about it. Our homesteading ancestors were celebrating remarkable.

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Rob, I've been studying Kathy's 2nd ggf, on her mother's side, Disbrow-255 and his journeys across America.......the photo, showcasing the territory is most interesting.

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John, that's a well-written profile on Edmund! My ancestors were a little north of him during his Nebraska years, but the landscape and much of the weather would be the same. I have more pictures and stories here that my gr-grandfather wrote about pioneer life in the 1880's-1900, if interested.

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Thankyou for the additional stories, Rob.  Our niece, Kristina, has done a fabulous job documenting the ancestors.  In Edmund's case, I have been studying the relationship of the children's birth locations and dates to the progress of various railroads, especially in Nebraska.

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Another bit of coincidence - I was born one county over from Flathead County, MT. I guess I've traveled the other direction in my lifetime.

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There is a story on his son, Edmund Jr.'s profile, that confuses the fact that Edmund Sr. was the one who was a Buffalo Hunter and travelled from New Jersey with a horse and buggy, camping along the way.

Answer 3

Johann Georg Wagner-7561 Homestead, Perry, Oklahoma (c.1905).  This was the home of, my wife, Kathy's paternal great grandparent's family.......during the recent visit of Kathy's brother, from Australia, when I told him I was studying his ancestors, he immediately showed me the same photo on his phone.

Comments

 Another photo......Perry, Noble, Oklahoma.

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John, thank you so very much for sharing these photos of Kathy’s paternal great grandparents. They absolutely look like my maternal great grandparents in Oklahoma. They likely raised hogs and that is how they survived.

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Alexis, when you previously pointed out the Land Run, to me, it really put Oklahoma on my map.  

Answer 4

This photo was taken in 1981 when I visited Owen Sound, Ontario with my father.  The house, where Dad grew up, was built in 1908 by my grandfather, Charles Reuben Miller. He was a decorator, artist and musician and the lady who owned the house let me in to look around at the artistic plaster work (like cake decorations) on the walls and ceilings. Grandfather died in 1928 when Dad was 12 but he had a first memory in this house.  Look up to the attic window and imagine a 6-year old with his face pressed against the pane.  My father wrote:

I was playing by myself in the attic when I glimpsed a shiny, black Model-T pulling out of the driveway with father at the wheel. The car is leaving on a trip and I am not aboard.  A feeling of utter abandonment descends.  The universe is collapsing.

Comments

All these years I thought Dad's text written around 1970 was a humorous account of missing a ride in a Model-T when it suddenly dawned on me.  He was really writing about losing his father at age 12.  Thank you, WikiTree.  Just answering a post produced a revelation!

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Pat, I think it is amazing that your grandfather built this lovely home that your father lived in. I remember Henry David Thoreau wrote about a man building his own home. One of his quotes  goes:

“There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest…

Yes, doing these questions does make many of us reflect about our families, and we often gain more insight than we ever have. 

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Thank you, Alexis, for your excellent comment.  I don't mean to suggest Dad was writing purposely about the death or that kids don't exaggerate extremely sometimes; it just hit me that his father "leaving", feeling abandoned, his world collapsing really fit death of a beloved father at such a tender age. On occasion we project feelings about a major event onto a minor event.

And Dad did pick up some of his father's building skills.  He built a garage.

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Pat, this house and your father taking you to visit his childhood home caught my attention, as in 1952 my father took me to visit his childhood home, that his father had built in 1908.  Carrying on with your father's story to 1930 when his Aunt Frances bought a 1928 Whippet, her "green apple", this video might explain the colour.

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Thank you, John, for that link.  I was surprised at the color but now understand her nickname for the car.  Yes, isn't it wonderful that our father's did that for us.  This was the Whippet in 1931.  Wish it was a colour picture.

Answer 5

This is a photo of my home sometime before 1900 when major changes were made. The roof was raised, plumbing and wiring were done, and the mudroom and back porch were added. It was built circa 1806. I love my house!

Comments

I’ve never added a photo before.  Big learning curve on that one, or what?!?!? Lol.

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If the photo is on a privacy protected profile, I transfer the  photo to a free space page before posting.

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Is the photo not displayed?

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The photo appears as a little thumbnail in the upper corner.

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I copied the URL to a new tab, and it gave the message: 

"This image is privacy protected. Only the thumbnail is open."

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Bummer. Thanks for letting me know.

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Okay so I tried adding it to the 12 Months of Photos 2024 Homes free space profile and now it’s doing the thumbnail there also. I apologize. This is humiliating. Will someone please help before I screw up something else? Thanks in advance.

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It looks ok on the space page to me, M. Here it is:

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Thank you Jim! Isn’t it beautiful? A member of our Historical Society told me that it was a “very fine” home at that time of earliest photography. It sold in 1835 for $800, imagine that?!

I love my house. Thanks again for your help.

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A fine home, indeed!  

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Thank you John!

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Approximately what area is this if you don't mind me asking? I would guess New England, but it's just a guess. Built in 1806 eliminates a good chunk of the U.S. assuming it's in the U.S.

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Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. It was built by John Atsatt. I’ll work on his tree when I’m done with mine. Lol. His brother Philip appears to have a profile.

Answer 6

This is the house where my great-grandfather Willy Borchers was born in Itzehoe, Germany. His family lived there until 1940. They were master bakers; the bakery was on the first floor, and the door to the left was the entrance to the second floor where the family lived.

Itzehoe is the district capital of Steinburg, has approx. 31000 inhabitants and is located in the southwest of the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Comments

Very nice! Did you take the photo?

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Excellent profile of your great grandfather, Vicki, and the house is impressive.

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Unfortunately no, a cousin was there and shared it with the family.

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Vicki, the photo, of the home, disappeared while I was getting to know Willy and his wife's ancestors through his profile.

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Thanks John, I fixed it!

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Thank you Pat, you're so kind. I'm glad you liked it! It's a work in progress :)

Answer 7

This is my grandmother, Mary Ann (Moore) Lowery, holding uncle Ronald Lowery. Her sister Mable Moore is standing by them. (He was born June 1937, so this photo was probably taken sometime in July or August 1937...)
This photo is in front of the Lowery family home, which I remember well. (My mom and I lived there one summer with her father, during a separation from my father...)

After Grandpa Lowery died, the house was abandonded, and became a bit of a 'hangout' for high schoolers, eventually burning down.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B033'38.0%22N+88%C2%B053'06.5%22W/@37.560541,-88.8857767,255m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d37.560541!4d-88.885133?entry=ttu

(if the Google Maps link comes thru, that is the remains of the house, at the end of Lowery Lane, Goreville IL)

Comments

The Google Map link worked perfectly......as I've always enjoyed geography, it was interesting to familiarize myself with the surrounding area......thankyou Vik-Thor.

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Lake of Egypt, just to the north of the location, is a resevoir that was completed in 1962. There are some stories / memoirs of using roads to the north that no longer exist due to it. I'm pretty sure what is now known as Lowery Lane (due to the family at the end of it) was one of them, as it definitely continued along past the Lowery home in an abandoned state all my life. It is the line of trees just to the left of the debris pile my locator pin is on. (You can actually follow it sorta once it goes more into the fully wooded section, for a little way at least.)

Me and cousins would walk along it, as there were some bluffs further along towards the lake that we would play on. I don't know how much further it went along. And I recall mention of a family cemetery somewhere along it, to the north-west of the Lowery family home... (Another family, not Lowery or Moore, as they are buried in either the Webb cemetery to the SE or Bethlehem cemetery to the NW..

And it just clicked that I need to look more into my Webb family line, since the road in that area is Webb Town Road. (and there is a Webb Town Church [which was originally Reformed LatterDay Saints, and may have been regular Latter Day Saints before that...], and Webb cemetery...)

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I did look into Goreville, Lake of Egypt and Marion.

Answer 8

This is the house in New Westminster where my Dad grew up, until he left to join the army at 18.  While he was in the army, his family moved.
 

Comments

A beautiful home, Brenda, on a nice sunny day in  'Old New West', an area full of character homes.......I have driven along this street many times over the years.

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Brenda, thank you for sharing the lovely photo of your Dad’s home.