Old pictures from my mom's side of the family

Click on pictures to enlarge. They are much easier to see. (1871) Front row- sitting on the far right is my great grandfather (Edward Jacques) with his brothers and sister. The man in the middle front is my great great grandfather. (Adelme Jacques) I love going through old pictures of my family. The picture of the car has my grandmother (she is the one holding on to the car door) and some of my mother's sisters in the 1930's. I'm going to post pictures from my dads side later on.

My mom has told me stories about her growing up poor. In the summer time none of them had shoes to wear. They didn't get new shoes until the school year started and by the time summer came they had outgrown them so they went barefoot. My mom being the youngest had to wear all the hand me downs from her six sisters. She told me about how they took baths and used the same bath water. Sometimes one or two of the sisters would move back home with their husbands and children when there was no work and they needed a place to stay. My grandfather was a carpenter and when he came home from work he was very dirty and smelly. So bathtime went like this. First to bathe was her father, second her mother, the babies and young children, the older sisters and their husbands, and guess who was last, my poor mother because she was the youngest. She said that after the babies had pottied in the tub and after all the men and sisters it was her turn. I told my mom that I would just skip the bath if I had to be even the third one to bathe. I can't imagine what that was like. She would have been cleaner if she hadn't taken a bath at all. Just thinking about putting my head under that water to rinse my hair. Yep, I would just stink. That means she was the 12th one to bathe in the same water. We all have it so good.

My grandmother (on the far left) with her 7 girls. My mom (she is the youngest of 7 girls) is on the far right. Those cat eye glasses my mom is wearing?!?!

My mom's school picture when she was 7 or 8 years old. My mom only has two pictures of herself as a young girl and they were taken around the same time. I wish she had some baby pictures of herself. I don't think I look anything like my mom or dad. Usually there is some resemblence. Well, I guess I do look a little like my dad in his younger pictures. I have his ears!

The picture of the little girl (4 years old taken in 1901) with the black dress on and the white ribbon in her hair is my grandmother Lelia Jacque. Lelia is also the little girl standing on the chair with a white dress on. I love her little black boots.

The lady with the very large hat on (her picture is at the bottom) is my great grandmother Lea Mary Pare. This picture was taken in (1870's). I had her picture on my wall with many others until my mother told me about her. I felt guilty leaving her picture up when she was so cruel. The story is, my mother and her second youngest sister would go over to her house when they were little. Because my mother didn't take after the French side of the family (the way she looked) she was not allowed to go in the house. Jackie, her second youngest sister looked very French so she was spoiled by my great grandmother. They would sit at her kitchen table and drink tea and eat biscuits while my mother was outside in the yard alone. She treated my mother like that until the day she died. Unbelievable! The girls and I decided that she looked a bit like the witch from The Wizard of Oz. So, this picture is no longer on my wall, even though my mother said to leave it up. Her own grandmother treating her like she wasn't one of her own. I was so sad when she told me about her.