Ancient History - Photos from the Dawn of Time

Me And meg in 69: photobooth pictures.

Here's one of the oldest photos I own, taken in 1905 (over a hundred years ago!). That's my Grandfather, Robert Poole Weldon, with his first wife (Harriet), and my uncle Dick, the baby. I never met my grandfather; he died when my father was a little kid; but I recently learned some stuff about him. (Thanks to the research of Suzanne Ledet, my cousin-in-law). Apparently he got kicked out of medical school as a result of playing a prank involving human body parts, which is why he ended up in a log cabin north of Lake Superior (as a mining engineer & amateur doctor), rather than in a warm office in Montreal. It also got him disinherited, along with the fact that Harriet was part Ind... ...uh, Native Canadian! Harriet was not my Grandma, though... ...she died about 10 years after this, and he married Gertrude, the nanny who took care of his 3 boys. He had 2 more sons with her; the eldest, my father.

Below... ...skip ahead to 1971... ...Margaret, me, and Joanna Davidson camping somewhere in the Maritimes; photo by Philippe Tatartcheff. Not much changed in 70 years, eh?

Below, mid 1980s? An early incarnation of the Dunham Thumbs, (later just the Thumbs), who would play badly for decades! L to R, little Willy, who actually became a pro musician, big Dave Farrington (pennywhistle), Audrey (flute), cousin Peter (home-made bass), Chris Hinton (mando), me on banjo, Philippe on guitar, Hilari Farrington on Irish harp.

More to come!