Five Generations

I got to see my Uncle Bill and Aunt Bev today with my mom.  We went to their house to visit and took them out to lunch.  My uncle is recovering from surgery and seems to be doing quite well, which is awesome.

Before we left, Uncle Bill gave me a chair that used to belong to my Great Great Grandma Clara Atwood Cain Gillmore and then to my Great Grandma Bessie Gillmore Halliday.  He even had two photos of Bessiert sitting in the chair, right after it'd been reupholstered by her kids for her birthday.  She's sitting in front of her house on the main drag in Point Arena.  The house is still standing as you see on the left side of the photo (see?) and I point it out to Eddie when we drive by.

And he also gave us a baby blanket from their 1940s infancy.  As if that wasn't sweet enough, he also gave me a copy of a photo of him and my mom in 1943 sitting on the blanket.  Ahhhhhhhhhh! I told him I'll make sure to pose my future children on the same blanket someday.

It's a small rocker, perfect for me.

We think this is a hand colored 1943 photo.  The blanket coloring is a little off, but we know it's the same blanket.

Left: Bessie on the chair with Della, Joe, and Roy Higgins (no relation, the upholsterer). Right: Great Grandma Bessie on her chair.  Apparently, she usually refused to have her photo taken so these are rare pictures of her (notice that she wouldn't even face the camera).

So the main point of this post is to admit that I forgot about the Hallidays.  Oops.

My mom is Point Arena Halliday; her family goes way back in that area (1870s).  Dave's family is from Gualala back to his maternal great grandparents who emigrated from Italy in 1890.

And in my last post I stated that Eddie would be the third generation in his family to attend Arena Elementary.  WRONG.  My aunt and uncle kindly reminded me that I'd forgotten about all those Hallidays who attended for generations!  So Eddie is actually the fifth continuous generation in "his family" to attend there.

Relative to Eddie, in order:

1. Bessie (Gillmore) Halliday--maternal great great grandmother and
1. Joseph Henry Halliday--maternal great great grandfather
2. Rex Halliday--maternal great grandfather (plus all his siblings)
3. John Henry Bower--paternal grandfather
4. David Dominic Bower--father

Third or fifth generation, it's still a lot for one school!  I think it's pretty neat.

So all of this reminds me that while I may complain about moving to the boonies, at least they're OUR boonies.  This coastal land is steeped in our history--the Bowers, Hallidays, Gillmores, Gianolis.