So Vintage It's Contemporary

As I'm scanning our family's negatives and slides, I am finding images I've never seen before - every single one is a treasure. This one stopped my in my tracks and had me staring at my computer screen in amazement.  

This image is from the early 1940s. These are sisters - my Mama is on the left and Aunt Nancy is on the right.

A Visual Story

My sister found all this  tucked away in a box on a high shelf in a cabinet in our mother's garage.  We had all been on the lookout for the slides - we knew they were somewhere in the house.  However, we had no idea there were also negatives in the box!  Rose entrusted the box of slides and negatives to me with my pinky-sworn promise to have them all scanned, digitized, and loaded onto a medium to be shared.

100 Years - An Insider's View

For anyone who watches HGTV's "Fixer Upper", your eye might dart past the caskets to the back right corner while you squeal, "Shiplap!!!"  For the rest who don't watch the show, you are definitely missing out. Ok, initial excitement and longing for that shiplap to use in my current house aside, this is the basement of the "old, old" funeral home.

My sisters were all too young to remember anything about the building, so I am putting all my interior photographs together so that we can "walk" into the building where our family's business began.

100 Years - Our Point of View

Yesterday, it was announced that 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the business of Dunn Funeral Home.  Believing that pictures are indeed worth a thousand words, the FB post inspired me to illustrate some of the highlights included in yesterday's announcement.

This first photograph is a slide, taken by Eugene Denney, our dad, and  recently discovered by my sister, Rose, and her daughter, Hannah.  This is, by far, the best image of the funeral home I have seen.  As a little girl, it seemed like a magnificent building.  It still does. 

Photographic Treasure

Love it when I find an unexpected treasure! This store was owned by Ephraim Miller and his brother, George. In the 1880 Census, George, our great-great-grandfather, is listed as being a store clerk, which give us some idea of the age of this photograph.

Look at the boy riding the calf on the lower left of the photograph.  He has a dog riding behind him. There's the treasure!

Civil War Bodyguard

Our great-great grandfather was William Hayden.  He was born in Virginia in 1844 and by 1850 was living with his family in Ohio.  He became a soldier in the 1st Ohio Infantry and fought at the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, TN, where he was wounded and hospitalized.  

The images in this post are from Stones River Battleground in Murfreesboro, from research at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and from Fold3.com.

House of Cannon

Notes from Pete Cannon identify this as the home of John Cannon, a home which has since burned. Although the porch is different, I am wondering whether it is the same house in the photo below, taken in approximately 1892, of the Hayden and Cannon families.

I recognize William Hayden, holding the baby (center of the photo).  This man is our great-great grandfather and I have been digging into his history recently.  He served on the Union side during the Civil War as a bodyguard. Found some wonderful information at the Tennessee State Archives about him - expect a separate post about his military service.

Our Family's Bible

I love this Bible.  It is an amzing piece in our family's history. Published in 1881, it belonged to Grandma's family, the Millers.

After Daddy died, this was one of the items in a box of his personal belongings that was given to us girls.  At the time, none of us knew who the Millers were, so the Bible came to live with me, the sister most interested in our family heritage.

I had a vague recollection of Daddy saying that Grandma's mother died when Grandma was really young and that she was raised by a step mother.  So after some research, I discovered that this Bible belonged to the Miller family: Grandma's maternal family.

Happened in Elkton

He had been working in Lyon County, part of a road construction crew. Now he found himself headed into the army during the Korean Conflict.

She wanted to move away from Lyon County. 

Together they planned a life after the army that would take them to different towns, going to wherever he would be able to find work.  She was excited at the prospect. Since he was always valued for his "hard work", I imagine he was proud to be able to provide for her. The first step in their plan is to get married.

They obtained their marriage license in Lyon County, and I don't know what their actual plans for a wedding were.  What I do know is that........

No Place Like (the Hayden) Home

Old Kuttawa Home

Several weeks ago, someone posted a picture of the Hayden family on Facebook (Randy Armstrong).  Our cousin, Clyde Shelley, messaged me about the picture and while I thought I had a better copy of the picture that had been posted, I hadn't found it until today.

It's About Time!

No posts since 2011!?  Had to ask myself what I've been doing since then. In a single statement: life as it was, is no more.  The changes haven't all been easy, but after (most) of the dust settled, I can say that all the changes are good.  

In the 4 years since my last post, I have become a member of the DAR with three documented ancestors approved and am actively working on two more.  It is the findings I am collecting during the search for "proofs" that has prompted me to reinstate this blog.

I need a place to share with all of you in such a way that you can pick and choose the information that is of most interest to you.  So, "DenneyGirls" is active once again - after all, it's about TIME! :)

(This is the Anniversary Clock Daddy brought to Mama from Germany after his service during the  Korean Conflict, 1951-1953)

Grandma's Deviled Eggs

In the interest of full disclosure, here's a recipe Aunt Vena sent this week.  It has a little less mustard that I typically use and has just a touch of vinegar.  Tried it today and I must say, I like it.....a lot.

Grandma's coleslaw was also different than Mama's.  Grandma grated a little carrot and her dressing was some kind of sugar/vinegar combination.

Mama was not a fan of the sweet-and-sour kind of taste.  Grandma was.  Wonder if the difference is due to where ancestors came from:  Coopers from Germany.  Haydens/Dunns: not Germany :-)

Cousins - Karen's First Birthday

I love quests.  I love gathering, researching, compiling information.  And I always feel rather satisfied when the pieces come together into a cohesive story.  The following images are the result of one such quest.

The pictures were in one of Aunt Nancy's photo albums.  They weren't labeled and they were scattered throughout the pages.  As I sorted her photos, I realized I had three images of the same event.  Emails from RoseMarie and Sue confirmed that they were they two oldest children.  The three of us guessed that the baby was Karen.

Then I emailed Aunt Katherine and as Paul Harvey always said, "...now you know the rest of the story."  

.

Click the link below for the second page:

Renewed Admiration

I love this picture of Aunt Maymerose and Uncle Robert.  They are so young.  They look so happy and even glamorous.

From their marriage, came two cute little girls.  RoseMarie, named in part for Grandmother and Maudie (Mary) and Sue, whose name is Nancy Sue, named after Aunt Nancy.


Unfortunately, later in life, things went somewhat awry.  Especially unfortunate is that the trickle down impacted their sweet little girls.  Although the story isn't mine to tell, my feelings about my cousins is. (or "are".....let's see..."feelings" would be plural....or in this case is it collective.....WHAT-ev-er!!)

Granddaddy's Transportation

These are Granddaddy's horses and his carriage (reportedly, there is also a picture somewhere of these horses pulling Granddaddy's hearse).

The other two are  from a book I have entitled Cars of the Fabulous '50s.  (Isn't anyone curious why I own a book about cars?)  Anyway, Grandmother and Granddaddy had matching Dodges with the pushbutton shifter. (See picture to the right)

Hers was pink and white, his solid black. I'm not at all certain that the year was 1959, but the black one stayed

around long enough for me to drive it.


I'm pretty sure Uncle Kenneth wound up with the black one in 1978.

They were very cool cars.  But were they any cooler than the white horses and the carriage?  Not so sure. I love them both.

Thanks to Sue for sharing her picture of the horses and carriage

Ah Ha! Cake Mystery Solved

I was wrong.  Well, I was 1/2 wrong.  The cake recipe we've been baking all these years did come from Aunt Vena.  That's the 1/2 right part.  However, there was a similar recipe that belonged to Grandmother (Rowena Hayden Dunn).  That's the 1/2 wrong part.  I had no idea she had a Chocolate Spice Cake recipe.  And it appears that over the years, Mama had somewhat combined the two, using ingredients and techniques from each.

I've struggled through the years with the Aunt Vena cake.  It rises nicely, but there's not enough structure to the cake to support the center.  As a result, the it always sags a bit.  Frustrating (although still incredibly delicious)

Fairytale Friday

Once upon a time,  in a brand new Executive Cottage on Kentucky Lake, we had a one and only family vacation.

Aunt Vena, Uncle Herschel, Linda, her friend, Norma, Grandma and Grandpa all came down and we spent (I don't remember how many days, probably just a weekend) at this cottage.

Aunt Vena brought a cake recipe with her - a chocolate cake recipe that she got from her pastor's wife.  She even brought a pan with her because she wasn't sure if the cottage would have the right size pan.

That cake has been baked again and again (if, for example, it had been baked once a month since summer of 1967 it would have been baked 528 times).  It has been passed on to the next generation (Shelley and Hannah both make the cake).  It has been passed on to cousins (Rosemarie baked it this week).  It has been passed on to friends (Nancy Anne baked one for us and brought it over still warm). 

Fairytale Friday

Shelley and Grandmother, Rowena Dunn

 Once upon a time, a beautiful princess was born......wait.....that's not a fairytale!  It actually happened!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELLEY!!

Fairytale Friday

I decided to try creating a weekly entry called "Fairytale Friday".  Named this, not because the stories aren't real, but because they come entirely from our memories and therefore, can no longer be independently verified.  That means, there is likely a bit of fantasy mixed in.  Not intentionally, you understand, but just because our memories sometimes either blur or become exaggerated over time.  I'll want to include your stories, too.  So be thinking....until then....

Once upon a time, there were crayons and a table.....

...and as far as I can remember, the table sat in the living room of the old funeral home.  When I was a little girl, Maudie would color with me at this table.  We lived across the street in the little white house and when all the other grown ups were busy, Maudie would watch me.  And color with me.  And demonstrate infinite patience with me.

The little table now lives at my house, the cut glass candy dish one of the last things Mama gave me.  She said the dish needed to live with me because it always sat on the coffee table.  So for today, here's the start of our stories. You'll remember the table.  You may not remember the dish.  But you certainly remember hours spent coloring with Crayola crayons.

Finally, to tie the pieces together, a picture from so long ago of us girls on the couch with the little table just barely visible in the lower left hand corner.

(l. to r.  Beth, Cindy, Mama, Grandmother, Rose Mary, and Maudie)

PS.  Just because there aren't any small children in our house, doesn't mean that bringing out crayons wasn't fun :-)

 

Work in Process

Over the next few weeks, I will be updating this blog.  I was surprised to see that I hadn't posted since May, 2010.  I am working on a couple of projects that I hope all of you will enjoy.  Check back in a few days....I will "literally" keep you posted :-)