September 18, 2013

Getting a Haircut: Wordless Wednesday



This photo, from the collection of my grandmother, Nora (Eberhard) Ballenger, is one of those rare candid shots we all wish we had more of. When she looked through pictures with me many years ago, Nora identified the people in this photo as her parents, Mary (Comfort) Eberhard and John Llewellyn Eberhard. Mary is giving her husband a haircut outside on a bright, sunny day. It appears to be spring or summer.

In dating this picture, I had to ask myself, “Who would have been the photographer?” Most pictures I have of the family show them posed and wearing their best clothes. Here, Mary and Llewellyn seem unaware that their picture is even being taken. They are in their everyday attire for a day’s work on the farm. Since it’s highly unlikely that a roving photographer just popped by the farm one day to snap some pictures, the person who took this shot was probably one of their older children. I do have a few other similarly-sized candids from this time period, such as Harold Eberhard in a “sports car,” Harold with a milk wagon, and Harold holding his youngest sister. Harold, the second oldest of eighteen children, was born in 1896. He seems to have liked the camera. If he took this picture when he was in his mid-teens to early twenties, it dates the photo to about 1910-1920.

During this time period, the Eberhards lived on a farm near Galena in Harlem Township, Delaware County, Ohio. So by using a bit of deductive reasoning, I have a place and approximate date range for my photograph.

Isn’t it fun to get a glimpse of an unguarded moment in the everyday life of our ancestors?

--Shelley

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5 comments:

  1. What a cool, but rare glimpse into our ancestor's everyday lives! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. This is such a wonderful picture! I do wish I had more candid shots like this. Just a bit of everyday life - which is often what I really want to know about my ancestors.

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  3. What a fantastic moment captured! I do wish I had more of these kinds of moments. It reminds me that I need to tale more candid photos when around my family. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I love this photo, Shelley. I love the dress/apron your ggrandmother is wearing! It looks very comfortable. I could enlarge the photo in feedly (but not in blogger b/c of Lightbox). It was interesting to see the dog there sniffing around, and then to see the bucket and your ggrandfather's hat lying on the table. Looking into the doorway it almost (almost!) looks like there's a boy's face watching, waiting. It's probably just some tools; it's not quite clear enough to tell for sure. What a treasure of a photograph!

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  5. This is a great photo, what a treasure you have...Happy Fall, Mary

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