Shadows: Great-Grandfather George Warren Lancaster

I have a photo of my mother’s grandfather, George Warren Lancaster when he visited their home in Walnut Creek in California. This would have been in the late 1940s, before my mother’s parents, Tom J and Pansy Johnston, moved to Pleasant Hill in late 1949.

How do I know? The background of the photo is the yard of their house in a rural part of Walnut Creek. I have other photos of my mother and my grandmother with the house in the background. This photo of Warren doesn’t show the house but it clearly shows a rural location. The Johnstons moved to a suburban tract home in 1949.

I don’t know the exact location of the house. Personal records in my archives always listed their address as Route 1, Box 49 in Walnut Creek. My grandmother told me they rented the house from Mr. Ford and had wanted to buy it, but he was not interested in selling it.

I did discover a 1947 directory covering Walnut Creek and Lafayette that listed Tom J. Johnston’s address as Route 1, Box 49, living on Castle Hill Road. 

Also having a Route 1, box 49 was Wharton Ford, who lived on Glenhaven Avenue.

To discover how close those two roads were, I check a Google map of Walnut Creek. Castle Hill Road intersects with Glenhaven Avenue. The two houses could have been adjacent to each other and around the corner from each other on any of the four corners. Today’s map has many more houses than were there in the 1940s.

A portion of Walnut Creek showing the intersection of Castle Hill Rd and Glenhaven Ave

Shadows
What makes this photo fit the theme this week is Warren’s right side of his face is in the shadow which disguises his full face. This is the last photo that I have of him. Too bad he hadn’t been photographed in full sun.


#52Ancestors-Week 44: Shadows

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week on one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

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