4 Generations of Lancasters: Favorite Photo

Two photos in my grandmother’s photo collection were taken on the same day and they are some of my favorite photos.

The first one has a bit of humor in it. My mother, Lela, is the child in the middle and my grandmother is the woman on the right. To the left is Maggie Self, my grandmother’s aunt, and her father’s younger sister. It’s humorous that they are lying on the floor and perhaps Lela couldn’t hold her laughter and that is why she is a bit blurry in the photo.

The second photo taken the same day and in front of the same door has four generations. You can see that Maggie, Pansy, and Lela are wearing the same outfits. In the rear are Maggie Lancaster Self and her brother, Warren Lancaster. Seated are Carl and Doll Lancaster, Maggie and Warren’s parents with their great-granddaughter, Lela, between them. On the floor is Pansy Johnston, Warren’s daughter. Four generations of Lancasters: Lela > Pansy > Warren > Carl & Doll.

I just noticed the treadle sewing machine in the background of the first image. That machine found it’s way to Pansy’s home and I remember my grandmother using it before getting an electric machine. The coat and hat on top likely belonged to Carl, as men wore hats in those days. I have noted the photo was taken in 1938. I wonder what the occasion was. Everyone is dressed up, the men in ties, and the ladies in nice dresses and stockings. Perhaps it was a birthday. Both Carl and Doll would turn 65 in 1938. Warren would turn 45. Unfortunately, the photo does not say.

Where were they in 1940? Living in Stephenville, Texas. Carl and Doll on West Frey,[1] and Warren, Pansy, and Lela on West McNeil. Warren’s household included in wife, Lela Ann, sons Rayburn and Wayne, Pansy Johnston and her husband, Tom and daughter, Lela Nell, and Lela Ann’s sister, Ida Hester.[2] It must have been a very crowded house!

#52Ancestors-Week 3: Favorite Photo

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in 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.

[1] 1940 U.S. census, Erath Co, Texas, pop. sched., Stephenville, ED 72-3a, sht 9b, family 228, William C. Lancaster.

[2] 1940 U.S. census, Erath Co, Texas, pop. sched., Stephenville, ED 72-2, sht 4a, family 75, Warren G Lancaster.

Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

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