Sepia Saturday: Hattie Chapin Balding

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:50:31 GMT

Unfortunately, I have no photos to go with the theme this week.

So I offer a photo of my great-grandmother, Hattie Chapin Balding, taken in front of the ruins of a Hopi dwelling on a trip to the Grand Canyon in the 1920s.

Before my cousin discovered an old family album, we had no idea our Mema was such a traveler.

This is a Sepia Saturday post. Head over there for other really wonderful old photos.

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"No Larry, we're not putting Grampa out with the trash"

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:59:30 GMT

Twenty years ago (or maybe a tad more), before I started tracking my ancestors in any serious way, I got a phone call from my second cousin.

He was one of my Balding cousins, the only son of one of my grandmother's brothers.

His father died in 1980, and his mom couldn't live by herself any more. Larry was packing up her house to move her to Tulsa where he lived and could keep an eye on her.

The call was to let me know he had finished the packing and there were some leftovers in the house - bits of furniture and memorabilia, and he wondered if my sisters and I might want some of it.

I said sure, and we made a date for the next afternoon. I called my sisters to let them know.

I can't even remember now if my sisters accompanied me.

But I will never forget what I saw when I pulled into my aunt's driveway.

This portrait, leaning against the garbage cans on the curb.

Fred Chapin, 1858-1938

I grabbed it up as I went in the carport door. I gave it to Larry when I went in.

He looked at me. I told him I found it out by the trash. That's Grampa Chapin.

What he said just floored me.

Dee, that frame isn't worth anything. That's why it's out with the trash.

I may not know much about the monetary value of old portrait frames, but there's one thing I did know.

At that time, that portrait was 100 years old.

So...no Larry, we're not putting Grampa out with the trash.

Grampa Fred Chapin's portrait has hung in whatever humble abode I have occupied ever since then.

I had a very interesting text conversation with my nephew today.

It's his 24th birthday and I texted him to wish him a happy one. We kidded back and forth about where his envelope full of cash was, and I told him I'd remember him in my will.

What he said just floored me.

When I die, he wants this portrait of his great-grandmother, Doris Geneva Balding, Fred Chapin's granddaughter.

Doris Geneva Balding Williams, 1907-1998

I think Grampa may have a new home...

This is a Sepia Saturday post.

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Shakin' the Family Tree

Sepia Saturday: Hattie Chapin Balding

"No Larry, we're not putting Grampa out with the trash"