I started wearing glasses when I was 18, and, since I turned 76 the other day and have had a new pair every year except last, this must be my 57th pair!!!! I have a big bag full of old ones to give to Lions or Rotary to hand on to 3rd world countries.
I chose this pair in two seconds flat and was a bit surprised when I got them from Specsavers just now at how big they are! I got sunglasses, too. I'll try them on next and take another pic for another day.
Must say the above pic is quite a surprise as from the inside I don't imagine I look one bit like this. The big nose comes from both maternal and paternal sides - Mum had a big nose, too, yet both her parents had lovely small ones; my dad had a big nose, which I suppose came from his Jewish father (no photo of him).
I'm back into Ancestry again after quite a break. For years I'd been trying to track down George Allen, my paternal great-grandfather, and eventually found he was born in London and brought to Australia as a 1-yr-old. He married Pamela Shilling in Muswellbrook in 1881. One of his sons, Joseph William George Allen, was my grandfather, who fathered a baby girl, Doris, out of wedlock in 1905 and took her home from the hospital and brought her up.
I had always wondered how he managed to do this as a single parent. I'd never been able to find George on any census lists, but two days ago I found the answer - two of his sons, Arthur 1894-1917 (killed in France) and Victor 1891-1942, both stonemasons in Muswellbrook, enlisted in WWI. I have copies of the actual enlistment forms with their signatures, and they both gave their address as George St, Muswellbrook. This shows that George and his 10 children all lived in the very house I myself lived in with my family and grandparents when I was 5. It was number 17.
So, baby Doris's grandparents, George and Pamela, would have been there to bring her up. Pamela herself had a son in 1904. Tht means Doris's uncle was one year older than herself! Pamela died in 1915 and George in 1925.
The story goes that my grandfather really loved Amy, the mother of the baby, so why they never married is a great mystery. My grandmother, Florence Dodds, was apparently employed to live in and take care of the baby when Grandma Pamela died. She married my grandfather in 1916 and my mother, Ida Allen, was born the following year. All her life, my mother insisted she was an only child. She never acknowledged Doris, her half-sister. I wonder if she even knew who Doris was!
I had never even wondered about ancestors until I joined Ancestry.com a few years back. How I wish I'd talked to my mother about them before she died, as she kept track of everybody.
I chose this pair in two seconds flat and was a bit surprised when I got them from Specsavers just now at how big they are! I got sunglasses, too. I'll try them on next and take another pic for another day.
Must say the above pic is quite a surprise as from the inside I don't imagine I look one bit like this. The big nose comes from both maternal and paternal sides - Mum had a big nose, too, yet both her parents had lovely small ones; my dad had a big nose, which I suppose came from his Jewish father (no photo of him).
I'm back into Ancestry again after quite a break. For years I'd been trying to track down George Allen, my paternal great-grandfather, and eventually found he was born in London and brought to Australia as a 1-yr-old. He married Pamela Shilling in Muswellbrook in 1881. One of his sons, Joseph William George Allen, was my grandfather, who fathered a baby girl, Doris, out of wedlock in 1905 and took her home from the hospital and brought her up.
I had always wondered how he managed to do this as a single parent. I'd never been able to find George on any census lists, but two days ago I found the answer - two of his sons, Arthur 1894-1917 (killed in France) and Victor 1891-1942, both stonemasons in Muswellbrook, enlisted in WWI. I have copies of the actual enlistment forms with their signatures, and they both gave their address as George St, Muswellbrook. This shows that George and his 10 children all lived in the very house I myself lived in with my family and grandparents when I was 5. It was number 17.
So, baby Doris's grandparents, George and Pamela, would have been there to bring her up. Pamela herself had a son in 1904. Tht means Doris's uncle was one year older than herself! Pamela died in 1915 and George in 1925.
The story goes that my grandfather really loved Amy, the mother of the baby, so why they never married is a great mystery. My grandmother, Florence Dodds, was apparently employed to live in and take care of the baby when Grandma Pamela died. She married my grandfather in 1916 and my mother, Ida Allen, was born the following year. All her life, my mother insisted she was an only child. She never acknowledged Doris, her half-sister. I wonder if she even knew who Doris was!
I had never even wondered about ancestors until I joined Ancestry.com a few years back. How I wish I'd talked to my mother about them before she died, as she kept track of everybody.
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