Week 10

To have an entire family group’s history laid out like the many dishes at a Turkish banquet occurs, but not often. For the Reynolds family, the stories were all there in Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook. I just provided the labels.

The family I am referring to is the Edwin and Margaret Reynolds family. I will focus on their children who included Bessie Reynolds and her siblings.

About a quarter of Frances Perritt’s holds newspaper clippings and photos of her mother’s siblings. Frances’s mother, Bessie Reynolds had six sisters and two brothers who lived to adulthood.

I have in my possession an 8” by 6” studio photo taken by Davies photo studio located on Third and Morrison Street in Portland, Oregon. It was likely taken in 1917 when Louis Reynolds was visiting relatives in Portland before he took a job in New York.

The Photograph

The photo is labeled on the back thus.

               1^st row L to R: Aunt Mamie, Uncle Louis, Great Grandmother Reynolds, Uncle George

               2^nd row L to R: Aunt Bertie, Aunt Fannie, Bessie (Grandmother Goughler), Aunt Addie

               3^rd row: Aunt Tootie, Aunt Millie

I am confident one of Frances’s daughters labeled this photograph. I know this because of the relationships mentioned. Rose and Betty’s great grandmother, Margaret Ferguson Reynolds, in the front row is easily recognizable from her other photos. The aunts and uncles would have been great aunts and uncles to Rose and Betty.

In 1969, Millie and Mamie were still alive at the ages of 83 and 78. I remember meeting them outside Calaruga Terrace in Portland, Oregon when I was dating my future husband.

Because of Grandma Perritt’s scrapbook, I feel I knew these people. It has been an invaluable resource in my search for stories about the Reynolds, Cabells and Fergusons.