Some of the members of the William Henry Reese Family
Taken in South Dakota around 1921-23
My maternal grandparents were Mary Ellen Evans (1884-1924) and William Henry Reese (1882-1938.) Most of my life I have known very little about them. Both died long before I was born and my mom's mother died when Mom was only five years old. My mother's only memory of her mother is seeing her wooden casket lowered into the ground. The image of that in my mind is just heartbreaking for a little five year old to remember. The nine children they had did not have a very happy childhood from all I can gather and from what the older siblings recounted there was much discord in their home. Thankfully my mother did not remember any of that.
Their children were Letha (1906), Mary Lena (1909), Harold (1910), Margaret (1912), William and Wilma (twins) (1915), Joseph and Josephine my mother (1919) (also twins) and then Ruby (1924). My grandmother died before age 40 from complication of Ruby's birth. The baby was just a few weeks old when their mother passed away. She was the only one of their children to be born in a hospital. This is the only photo I have of my mother when she was little. I only have two photographs of my grandmother and grandfather.
I don't know who wrote on this photo, and as much as I wish they hadn't, it is good that they did. I am sure someone might be able to restore it. I heard an archivist speak about photo restoration the other day and she was saying that the people who restore old photos are called conservationists. I don't even know how this photo fell into my hands but I am so thankful that it did.
There is one other photo that I have of my grandparents but it is very odd in that they are standing in front of a barn and they look, seriously, 70 years old! Knowing that my grandmother died around 40 always made me feel so badly for her. Her life had to be terrifically hard and aged her so. But seeing this profile photo, even though is it dark assures me that she was more youthful than I had imagined from that other photo and this photo is just a few years before she died.
The two children in the foreground on opposite sides of the page are my Aunt Wilma and on the right her brother, Uncle Bill. That set of twins is five years older than my mom and Uncle Joe so I'd imagine Wilma and Bill are about 7 or 8 here. My mom is the sweet little one sitting just to the right of her mother along side her twin, my Uncle Joe, on her left. My Uncle Joe was the last to leave us and he passed away just a few months ago. November 16, 2012 in Kennewick, Washington. On the far left side is my grandfather's spinster sisters, Maria, pronounced "Mariah" with a long I. She was pretty dreadful to the children as one of their many "caregivers" after my grandmother died. I am surprised at the tears running down my cheeks as I write this.
My grandfather was a rancher is South Dakota. They lived some miles south of Pierre. He was not the kindest of husbands or fathers is all I really know. He is the one marked Papa in the hat. I was blessed to know each and every one of their children in this life. My aunts and uncles were all very wonderful human beings. I am overcome with missing them right now. They deserved a wonderful life as children, but that was not to be. Some of the people in the photo must have been friends and the one with the scratched out face may have been another of the dreaded sisters of my grandfather but I cannot know for sure. My grandfather was the only male in his family so the "Uncle Bill" is not his brother. My Grandmother who went by Ella did have an older brother named William Daniel Evans. It might be him.
There is so much more to the story but this is all I can muster right now. Part 2 coming later.
This is my beautiful grandmother's headstone. They made a mistake on it. She was born in 1884 and died in 1924 not 1824. I can just picture those little kids standing nearby 89 years ago. Sometimes a vivid imagination is not so hot.
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Fort Pierre, Stanley, South Dakota, USA
It just looks like a prairie cemetery, doesn't it?
I hope we can visit here one day and leave some flowers.
