Jaci Dawn

Digging through old photos again. I am just amazed at how much history my family has managed to preserve, including a few old photos here and there.

Generations.  Sarah Lord Wilcox, mother of William Orson Wilcox, father of John T. Wilcox I, father of Fred Orson “Fritz” Wilcox (not pictured), father of John T. Wilcox II.

I have photos of my dad’s father but they’re buried in another box and I didn’t feel like digging it out just to make the generations flow there. Besides which, there was a continuity of generational looks that I wanted to keep intact. Gramps (Fritz) doesn’t quite fit in between the John T.’s. And I never cease to be amazed at how much the John T.’s look alike.

How about this one:

In this undated photo we have two small children and a very dead deer. The deer was dinner and in the early 1930’s, it meant several meals. So don’t email me about animal cruelty or I’ll tell you the story of the two children in the photo.

I’m going to tell you about them anyway. On the left, John T. Wilcox II. On the right, his older sister, Mary Elizabeth Wilcox. He’s holding a shotgun & she has a small caliber rifle in her hand. I have no idea what her other hand holds but it looks like a toy chicken. The photo is circa 1934-1936. I’m leaning toward 1934 because he looks about 6 years old.

They lost their mother in 1930 to something that sounds terribly like flesh-eating bacteria as recorded in my grandfather’s journal. The Great Depression wiped out the family finances. Their father had a series of live-in “house keepers” that were not exactly kind to the children. Jack, the boy, remembers picking strawberries with his sister. He hates strawberries. He also hates chicken. That deer was a welcome change in their diet.

Mary Elizabeth was named after an ancestor of the same exact name who died as an infant.

Mary Elizabeth died young. In her 20’s, she was driving drunk & rolled the jeep she was in, dying instantly.

The boy in the photo gave up hunting as an adult. He dedicated his life to conservation. He’s also my dad and I’m kind of fond of him.

This is a fun one. The man on the left is my father’s Uncle Ed Cusick. It’s his photo ID so he could be a bartender. The man on the right is my father’s grandfather (and Uncle Ed’s father): Oscar Cusick. He was sheriff of Fremont County, Idaho from 1919-1920. They sure look alike, don’t they?

Uncle Ed’s sister, Sylvia, was the mother who died young and left behind Mary & Jack.

How about something from the other side of my family? I found this cool photo of my great-grandmother Robinson:

This is my Great grandmother Robinson. She’s my mother’s grandmother. She had a slew of children, all of whom lived to be over 80. My Great-Aunt Cindy and my Great Aunt Doris really favored her. Well, Great Aunt Doris still favors her at age 101. My great-grandmother looks like such a lovely person.

When I put these two photos side-by-side I had an epiphany.

The woman on the right is my mother.

Look at the facial similarities with her grandmother. Can you just say “wow”? because I did.

I have always wondered what my mom would look like if she had not died at the young age of 63, when her hair was still dark. I think I now know.

She would have looked like her grandmother. Still beautiful.

I love old photos.