You might remember our previous post about Sadie's parents, Clovis and Eliza. I love these photos taken with some of their children, grandchildren and children's spouses in the mid 1950s. The photos tell so much about who they were -- hardworking Christian people who were very devoted to their large family and each other. After Eliza passed away in 1959, the family remained close-knit. The photo below is Clovis and his daughters Kass, Lois, Olivene, Martha, Sadie and Linda. The bottom photo is Clovis with Sadie's first grandchild and my husband, Jonathan.
the hardin family in kodachrome
I love these Kodak Kodachrome photos of Gerald and Sadie with their only son Greg from the late 1950s. At this time, Gerald was in the army, so the young family lived in Georgia. I love that Sadie is wearing full makeup with her pajamas. Aren't they the perfect example of a 1950s couple? Their bedroom suite and curtains are so typical of the time. I especially love their floral garbage can. Jonathan and I have a similar one in our bathroom today.
Our Kodachrome obsession isn't a new one. You might remember these Kodachrome images of my great-grandmother Elsie and my mother Julie from the same period. Our Christmas card collection featured Kodachrome images from the 1940s, and we also shared these Kodachrome images of Ohio in the fall.
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family stories: jennie moore cannon
Jennie Moore Cannon was my grandfather's mother. Sadly, she died in 1920 as a consequence of his birth. When I was young, my grandfather told me he was born prematurely, and they put him in the oven to keep him warm. Recently, my aunt told me that the doctors wanted Jennie to have an abortion to save her life, but she bravely refused. She is buried in a field near Sweeny, Texas.
After she died, my great-grandfather left my grandfather to be raised by Jennie's mother, Martha, and her second husband, Jacob Van Bibber, in Corinth, Mississippi. He returned to Texas for work, but he was in and out of my grandfather's life.
The photograph below shows my great-great-grandmother Martha and her husband Jacob, their two children Jake and Mayme Van Bibber, and Jennie and Andy Moore, Martha's children from her first marriage. The Van Bibbers, my grandfather and his father are all buried in Henry Cemetery in Corinth, Mississippi.
from the meridian star, 1949
The Meridian Star, 1949
Following the war, my grandparents moved from Italy to Meridian, Mississippi.
Modern day Italy and Mississippi couldn't be more different, so I can only imagine what a transatlantic move from Naples to Meridian would have been like in the late 1940s. It sounds incredibly romantic, but I'm sure it was also really, really difficult.
If my grandmother struggled, she didn't let it show. She and my grandfather lived in Meridian until 1954, and then they spent the next 36 years in Naples. In 1990, they retired to Booneville, Mississippi, where they lived until my grandfather's death in 2002. After his passing, my grandmother returned to Naples, where she is spending her retirement surrounded by family, friends, books and her memories.
To this day, she only talks about her years in Mississippi with fondness.
If you're curious as to what life was like in Meridian during that time, then you'll enjoy these articles from the Meridian Star that were written when my great-grandmother visited from Naples in 1949. At that time, my grandparents were pregnant with my father, their first child and my great-grandmother's first grandchild.
The Meridian Star, 1949
Weren't they stylish? It's hard to believe these photos are more than 60 years old! My grandmother was (and still is) her mother's daughter. They look so happy to be together.
I wonder if my great-grandmother wrote about her trip....I must ask my aunt about that!