Who Were They?

A merry Christmas to all! For my Christmas Sepia Saturday submission, I have a family Christmas photograph from December 1928. This is the family of P. Herman Marvel, his wife Mattie, and their seven children. My grandmother was the oldest, Henrietta, sitting to the right front. Just a few short years after this photo was taken, my father was born. He was just 4 years younger than Uncle Joe – the baby in this photo.

The family is identified left to right as follows:

Back row: Peter, Emalie, Hynson

Front row: Mary, P. Herman, Mattie, Joe on lap, Hennie, Robert

Henrietta was born in 1905 and Josiah was born in 1927. I just cannot imagine having children over the span of 22 years, but back in the day, it was done, and done often. (P. Herman’s brothers and sisters were born over 40 years!) Such a large family brought large family gatherings at holidays and lots of great memories for all. I hope that you find yourself in the embrace of family and friends this Christmas!