My Family Tree: A Literal Interpretation

(Original Image and Text, Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette)  Okay, so there's Auntie Sophie at the top of the tree.  Grandma is in the middle, and Auntie Helen is standing on the ground at the bottom...

I posted this photo a while back for Wordless Wednesday.  Had I known our Carnival of Genealogy topic for October was going to be "Your Family History If A Tree" I would have saved it for COG, but I didn't so oh, well...c'est la vie.   I figured I'd pull it out again, because it seems to be such a perfect interpretation of this month's theme. Unfortunately, given that the photo appears to have been taken during the colder months and this is New England, I don't know exactly what kind of tree my "family tree" is.  

What kind of tree might it be, and what kind of tree would best represent my family?  I really don't know.  The tree in my photo isn't tall enough or grand enough to be an oak.  It's clearly not a willow.  It doesn't display a willow's cascade of branches.  I don't think it's a McIntosh or another type of New England apple.  Maybe it's best that I can't figure out what my tree really is.  The mystery behind the photo makes the photo all the more intriguing.

I love this photo.  It so perfectly offers insight into my grandmother's personality--her sense of fun, her close relationship with her sister Helen and her cousin Sophie, and of course her snappy sense of style.  My grandmother was never one to leave the house without her "beads and earrings" and in this case her hat.  Don't you just love the hats?  

If you suddenly came upon an old family portrait or photo, going as far back as your family tree goes, which of your ancestors would you like to see perched in a tree?  An immigrant?  A cowboy? A Puritan perhaps?  What would he or she be wearing?  Would it be a fun photo or a serious portrait?  I think by nature it would have to be lighthearted, but maybe not.  What type of tree would it be?  A willow?  An oak?  A nut?  Or would your tree be like mine, a mystery for the ages...

Submitted for the 110th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.


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