Sepia Saturday 134–Sarah Webster Holding Her Sweet Little Baby

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.
 

Sarah Vasques Madeira Holding Her Daughter (My Mom)

Today’s Sepia Saturday theme suggests babies.  What a fun theme! 

Recently my mom let me borrow one of her old photo albums and in it was this amazing photograph of her as a baby with her mother, Sarah Vasques Madeira Webster.  This photo, along with others in this album, are new discoveries to me since I don’t remember ever seeing them before.  The above photograph of Sarah and my mom was taken in Brazil in 1939.

I’ve written about Sarah before in a previous Sepia Saturday post here and in a post here regarding the circumstances of her untimely death.  My mom was only four years old at the time of Sarah’s death.  Seeing the two of them together like this is very special indeed!

To read what other Sepia Saturday participants have written about this week, just click  here.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Follow Friday–Fab Finds for July 13, 2012

This week was a short week for me in terms of Genealogy Blogging.  I just got back from a camping trip with my family, so I didn’t read any genealogy blogs from Wednesday through Friday.  My fab finds for this week only include posts through Tuesday, July 10.  With that in mind….

My Fabulous Finds for this week are (in no particular order) -

1. Genealogist's Signature Bag by Crafty Family Tree
2. To Clean or Not to Clean... by The Adventures of Andrea and Alisha ~ Genealogy Blog
3. Norway’s Oldest Shoe – 1400 BC by ThorNews
4. Small but sweet celebrations and milestones... ripe plums and a blogiversary by Rosehaven Cottage
5. Involve Your Extended Family in Family History by FamilySearch
6. Sorting Saturday: Starting a Narrative Lineage and Tuesday’s Tip — Ask Ancestry Anne’s Top 20 Search Tips by Finding Forgotten Stories
7. How do you end a genealogy blog post or story by Blogging Genealogy
8. 6 Ways for Writers to Overcome Perfectionist Tendencies and It’s Time to Get Intentional About Blogging by Jeff Goins
9. About that Ancestry.com Move to Ireland . . . by GeneaBloggers
10. Tombstone Tuesday by sassygenealogist
11. Those Places Thursday: A Kaleidoscope Perspective by Wisteria
12. At What Cost, Gaining an Education in Genealogy by Gopher Genealogy
13. Tombstone Tuesday: Power of the Unexpected by A Patient Genealogist

New Blog Discoveries

• Gail Grunst Genealogy
• Tall Tales of a Family
• Nuts from the Family Tree
• A Hundred Years Ago
• On Granny's Trail
• A Patient Genealogist

Sepia Saturday 133–July 7, 2012: The Bird Park, Santa Catalina Island, California - Vintage Postcards

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.
 


Once again I perused my Grandfather Debs Webster’s collection of vintage postcards for today’s Sepia Saturday post.  The above photo suggests zoos or animal sanctuaries.

I understand it is not necessary to follow the proposed theme, but when I found these two beautiful postcards of The Bird Park at Santa Catalina Island, California, I knew they were a perfect fit for today's theme.

Santa Catalina Island, often referred to as Catalina Island, or simply Catalina, is about 22 miles off the coast of Southern California.  The Catalina Chamber of Commerce has an official website.  If you’d like to check it out, here’s the link.

According to another website, The Bird Park was established in 1929 and covered eight acres of land.  It had over 500 cages and housed over 8,000 rare and exotic birds.

The Bird Park was a very popular attraction on Catalina Island for over thirty-five years.  During World War 2, the Park was scaled back and never regained it’s prewar vitality.  It closed in 1966.

To view other Sepia Saturday participant's posts, click here.
 
Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Follow Friday–Fab Finds for July 6, 2012

My Fabulous Finds for this week are (in no particular order) -

1. FamilySearch Family Tree is not just for Members of the LDS Church by Genealogy’s Star
2. A carte de visite from Harry and Minnie Murray – Sepia Saturday 132 by Images Past
3. Tips for Doing Double-Duty Genealogy and How Do Y'all Manage to go to Conferences All the Time?! and Captivated by Technology by Marian’s Roots and Rambles
4. Monday Mailbox: Fantastic Webinar by The Ancestry Insider
5. Tuesday’s Tip: What To Do When You Start Researching A New Place by finding forgotten stories
6. Eliminating the Costs of Your Next Genealogy Conference by the Armchair Genealogist
7. Thankful Thursday — Good Books by Branch and Leaf…a family history blog
8. Book of Names: Remembering Our Irish Women by The Irish in America
9. Websites for Researching Revolutionary War Genealogy by Genealogy Insider
10. I is for Inspiration, Identity, Impasse, Imagination - and much more by Family History Fun
11. Thriller Thursday - My First Photo Reunion Success Story! by Forgotten Faces and Long Ago Places
12. Fish, Anyone? A Family Tapestry
13. FamilySearch Indexers Leave a Legacy in a Record Setting Event by FamilySearch Blog
14. A Baby Boy! by Family Stories
15. Treasure Chest Thursday - Treasures of Truth by Ancestors Live Here

New Blog Discoveries

• The Irish in America
• The Hunt for John Gannan

Treasure Chest Thursday–Goodbye Trinidad, Hello New York City - My Webster Family: Coming Full Circle - From The U.S.A. to Brazil and Back Again - Part 6

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to the immigration story of Debs Webster and his family.

Today’s post finds Debs Webster and his family leaving Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and sailing toward their final destination of The United States of America.  They still have 1,942 miles to go on the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

As the photo below shows, the crew of the S.S. Brazil did a fantastic job keeping the kids entertained.

For more photos of the kids at play, see my previous post Children's Games on Board the S.S. Brazil.




Welcome to America!

Imagine the excitement Debs and his family felt as they finally approached the shores of the United States.  I love that my Grandpa Debs took this photo of The Statue of Liberty while on board the S.S. Brazil.



The Statue of Liberty – July 1952
Click to Enlarge

Hello New York City!

Debs and his family arrived in New York City on July 22, 1952 and stayed there until the end of the month.

They had just left winter in Brazil and arrived during summer here in America.
Following their arrival in New York City, Debs and his family stayed at the Hotel Greystone.

My mom recalls that they stayed on one of the upper floors of the hotel and that there was no air conditioning.  She said it was so hot!

Originally built as a stately hotel in 1923, the Hotel Greystone is now an apartment building.  Here is their current website - Hotel Greystone.







This vintage postcard of the William Sloane House YMCA sits next to the Hotel Greystone postcard in my Grandfather Debs’ photo album.  I asked my mom if they stayed there too, but she said no.  She thinks my Grandfather bought the postcard because he and his dad, The Traveling Dentist, may have stayed there on one of their trips to the U.S.






 
Well, my Webster family has finally arrived in The United States of America, so that is the end of this series of posts.

But it’s not the end of their adventures.  They still have a trip across the United States to make to reach their final destination in Southern California.

So stay tuned for more stories, photos and vintage postcards from across the United States.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012