My Lane line has no tradespeople or scholars that I know of. They were farmers; some were sharecroppers. There are very few pictures of them. This picture of my father, Talmadge Lane, and his siblings, was taken in a cotton field. That seems appropriate since they all picked cotton, in the bootheel of Missouri, when they were children. Their father was a sharecropper turned carpenter. My dad is in the back row on the left. Next to him are his sister Bell and brother Vernon. His sister Pauline is in the front row on the left. Margaret and Helen are next to her. I’m not sure how old my Dad is, but he was probably a teenager because of his height.

I am fortunate to have a picture of Julius and Sarah Frances (Ridenhour) Schwegler. Julius and Sarah were my great-grandparents. Julius came to this country from Switzerland in 1863 when he was four and a half. His father, Joseph, was a watchmaker turned farmer. The Reitenaurs, Sarah’s German-speaking ancestors, emigrated from Alsace, France, to our country in 1749. The Reitenauer name eventually became Americanized to Ridenhour. This picture was possibly taken in the 1880s and could be their wedding picture. They were so young when this picture was taken. They spent forty-four years together until Sarah died in 1924.

The picture below appears to be a Parry Christmas taken about 1905. Evan Parry and Margaret (Morgan) Parry, Dave’s great-grandparents are seated around the Christmas tree. Also in the picture are Thomas Morgan Parry and his wife Sarah Elizabeth (Mitchell) Parry, Dave’s grandparents. Sarah is holding their first child Margaret Parry. Tom’s sister, Mary, is also pictured with her husband Ebeneezer Evans, and their daughter Isabel. I love the baby bed, which appears to be a toy in the foreground. And oh, how I wish we could see the pictures on their walls. Evan was born in Wales and immigrated with his mother and siblings in 1859 when he was fifteen. His father preceded the family three years earlier. Margaret was also born in Wales and immigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1860. It’s clear from this picture that the Parry’s lived a prosperous life.

The last picture I adore is of Tom Ferguson and Lola (Pope) Ferguson, who were so young when they married. Tom was twenty-one, and Lola was only eighteen. I didn’t know Dave’s grandfather because he died when Dave was ten. I had the pleasure of knowing his grandmother, who lived fourteen days shy of celebrating her one-hundredth birthday. Dave has a sharp memory and has some great stories about his grandfather and grandmother.

In this day and age, we have many pictures in our possession. We also have access to photos online on Facebook and Instagram. Digital cameras have made it easy to capture everyday details of our lives. How I wish our ancestors had these great tools at their disposal. But for now, we need to be happy with what we have. Perhaps some distant relative has pictures of my ancestors and those of Dave. If so, please contact me. I would love to share what I have with you.

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