Blanche Vincent M ---

My grandmother on my mother's side of the family.

Young Blanche and Anna Catherine

Blanche and Beverly

Blanche and Dixie

Blanche with baby Fred

Blanche's maid is in the background, wearing one of the many dresses Blanche provided her. She never wore a maid's uniform working, only finery.

Gerhardt S.

Dorothy's uncle Gerry, her father's brother.

Anna Catherine

Anna Catherine Gille, who raised Blanche. Anna's daughter, Laura, was too busy on the social circuit to raise Blanche herself.

Fred, John, and Dorothy

History of Champaign County

Ancestors Gille and Dorshimer

Baby Blanche Vincent M.

Albert M. and John Beaton M.

The gentlman on the left is my great uncle Albert. The man on the right is his brother, and my great grandfather, John Beaton M. Note the hand in the jacket. This was the customary pose for gentility at the time.

Photo postcard

My great-great grandmother Anna Catherine Bowersock nee Gille, whose photo someone in the family mailed as a postcard. Photos were thick then. Whoever received the photo doodled on the stamp.

My Grandmother Blanche M.

Blanche with her favorite horse, Dixie.

Union Captain John Bowersock

My Great-great grandfather John Bowersock, who was killed leading a northern campaign into Mt. Kenesaw, Ga. during the Civil War. He never got to see his baby daughter and only child, Laura.

Dorothy

My mother when she was in her mid twenties. The negative space in the background is eerie.