Category: Bucklin

The Bucklins in 1950: Color by Betty Lou

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Fred D. and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin family in 1950

This is the best photo of my mom and her family from when she was growing up.  I posted a family photo of them from 1948, but that one didn’t include her parents.  There were several photos taken on the day of this photo, with some of them looking like they were trying to be serious.  But inevitably, one of them was laughing or smiling.

This is the Fred and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin family in 1950.  Fred Bucklin married Myrtle Phenice on March 12, 1930, at the Raymond Methodist Church in Raymond, Louisiana.   The day before their first anniversary, they had their first daughter Sylvia Daisy Bucklin.  She is the dark haired beauty standing on the far left of the photo.  Their next daughter was my mom Betty Lou Bucklin, who was born on May 20, 1933.  She is standing on the far right of the photo.  Their next daughter was Alma Marie, who was born on November 10, 1935.  She is the blond standing next to my mom.  Their fourth and final daughter was Loris Janet, who was born August 31, 1937.  She is the brunette with the inquisitive look standing next to Sylvia.  Then, the day after their 12th wedding anniversary, a little boy finally showed up.  Austin Harry can be seen front and center in the photo.

This photo is actually a composite of two of the photos taken that day.  Most of the photo is from one original photo, but I swapped the part of my mom with another photo that I thought was better of her.  These photos are really difficult to work with.  They are textured and matte finish, which makes them look scaly when they are scanned.  I remember my mom liking the quality of the paper with that particular finish.  She said that it worked really well for tinting photos.  And that’s exactly what she did with one of them.

The colorful Fred and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin family in 1950. Color by Betty Lou.

This is the family photo that she tinted.  It was this photo that was on my mind this week when I was considering my blog post.  I recently joined a group on Facebook that provides free colorizing of old photos.  I submitted one of my dad’s father and it came out nicely. 

When I first started doing any type of photo editing, one of the things that I did was tinting black and white photos.  I later decided to focus on making the photos as clear as possible by removing blemishes and improving the contrast and lighting.

But I’ve seen some really good colorizing that has made me reconsider my view.  Maybe I’ll follow in my mom’s tinted footsteps and you’ll see a future post titled “Color by Van.”

 

Update Dec. 20, 2020 – replace photos with enhanced versions for more detail in the faces

Twins and Stilts

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I remember my mom telling me about her dad’s family when I was a child. I thought we were a pretty big family because I was one of six children. But my grandfather was from an even bigger family. He was one of twelve children! I was pretty impressed by that. It was like that book I read back then called “Cheaper By the Dozen.” But my great grandmother Addie Hine Bucklin cheated a little, because she had two sets of twins. So she only had ten pregnancies.

My grandfather Fred was in one set of twins. He had an identical brother named Clarence. They were born Oct. 2, 1907, and they were the seventh and eighth children of Louis and Addie Bucklin. I’m not sure who was born first. I wonder if anyone knows? After two other children were born (Edna and Robert), there was another set of twins in 1915. Obviously they were not identical, because the girl was named Ruth and the boy was named Roy.

Ruth Bucklin, Myrtle Phenice, Orville P., Clarence B., Myrtle Moon, Warren P., Roy B., Fred B., and Jack Jester circa 1927

Both of the sets of twins can be seen in this photo. Ruth is on the far left of the photo, while Roy is the one with the stilts on. I would say they look about 12 years old in this photo, which would put the year for this photo at 1927.

According to the IDs that I had on this photo from Joseph and Louise (ID’d by possibly Ruth and my mom), Clarence is the twin fourth from the left and Fred is the one second from the right. I really like this photo and really appreciate the IDs, but the original version of the photo that I got was rather poor. I was getting ready to inquire about a better version, but then I got this copy from my cousin Carla. And that’s why you’re seeing it today – I finally have that better version.

There aren’t any other twins in the photo, but there are some other similarities. If I got the date correct, Fred would later marry Myrtle Phenice and Clarence would later marry Myrtle Moon. Myrtle Phenice (or Grandma to us grandkids) is second from the left and Myrtle Moon is the center person in the photo. There are two other guys in the photo who kind of look alike, but they’re just regular brothers. Actually they are two of my grandmother’s younger brothers. Orville is to the right of Grandma, and Henry is to the right of the other Myrtle. That leaves just one more person in the photo. I thought of cropping him out of the photo, but didn’t have the heart. He’s not part of my family, but he is part of somebody’s. Maybe someone will know him. He is identified as Jack Jester. He must have been a friend of the family.

I like these photos of the two families – Phenice and Bucklin – together. With eleven children in the Bucklin group and eight in the Phenice group, there were a lot of opportunities for friendships. Two couples came out of the two groups – Sylvan P. married Mary B. in 1926 and Fred married Myrtle in 1930. I’m hopeful that there are more photos to be discovered and shared with everyone. I’m always on the lookout.

The Wooden Leg

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There wasn’t any one photo or story that called out to me for my blog this week. So I went searching through my “Old Photos” folder on my computer to see what I’d come across. I kept coming back to this photo, so I decided to go with it.

Myrtle and Fred Bucklin were my grandparents.

This is a photo of my maternal grandparents. I am Van Landry. My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, and her parents were Fred Bucklin and Myrtle Phenice Bucklin. I had thought of posting this photo several times, but put it off for various reasons. I figured I’d end up posting it at some point. That point is now.

One of the reasons I didn’t post it was that I can never decide on a date for the photo. They seem pretty young in the photo. The Depression was going on during the 1930s, yet they seem to be dressed pretty nicely. Of course I used to think the family had no money at all, but then had to rethink that when I found out my grandfather used to summer at the spas in Arkansas.

She was born Dec. 19, 1906, and he was born less than a year later on Oct. 2, 1907. They both grew up in the same area and now that I think about it, I have no idea how they met. It’s not like my other grandparents who were cousins and probably knew each other all their lives. But they could have met when they were young since they were the same age and lived near each other. They got married March 12, 1930. So this photo could have been taken before then, or it could be fifteen years later. I just don’t know.

Either way, I think they make a handsome couple. My grandmother was never referred to as a beauty, but was said to be handsome. I wonder if that was said because she wasn’t dainty. I think she looks very striking in some photos. Like this one. She looks a bit stylish with that hat, coat, and handbag.

Grandpa looks nice in his suit, also. It may not have the same lines that are popular today, but he looks rather dapper. Of course when I was a child, I never thought such a thing. He was just an old man that liked to complain about his health. I never thought of him as this young man starting out his married life with his cherished bride. I do think I resemble him a bit, as did my cousins Keith and Dale. (Depending on the photo.)

The other thing that I didn’t like about this photo is that it looks like Grandma has a wooden leg. When I looked at this smallish photo when it was in a photo album, that’s what I’d see. It wasn’t until I scanned it and looked at it on my computer that it quit looking like that, so maybe you won’t see it at all. Maybe you’ll just see a handsome couple looking stylish as they smile for the camera.

Addie’s last birthday bash

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Addie had two of her brothers with her at her last birthday.

Here is a photo from almost 60 years ago. I don’t really know how that could be possible, since I was born just over a month later and I am nowhere near that age! The information on the copy of the photo stated that this photo was taken at the celebration of Addie’s 84th birthday. Since Addie May Hine was born on September 23, 1876, that would put the date of this photo around September 23, 1960.

Addie was the oldest child of George & Sue Hine. She had five younger brothers named Bert, Roe, Lonnie, Jim, and Ollie. Roe died in 1916, Jim died in 1949, and Ollie died in 1954. So at the time of Addie’s last birthday, only Bert and Lonnie were still alive to celebrate with her. She also had her surviving nine children at the event and numerous grandchildren. I know her children were there, because there is another photo from that day.

But in this photo, front and center of the photo is Addie and her two brothers. On the left with the white short-sleeved shirt is brother Bert. On the right with suspenders is brother Lonnie. As you can see from their faces, this was a joyous occasion! I have to admit, Addie does look a bit disinterested, but at least she is not scowling.

I can make out a few other people in the photo. On the left in the background is a man with his body toward the camera but facing to the left. I believe that is Addie’s youngest son Roy. To the right of him is a man wearing a white shirt and a dark checked collar. That’s Addie’s son and my grandfather’s identical twin Clarence. For some reason the way he is standing reminds me of my cousin Brent. And the guy standing to the right of him in a dark plaid shirt reminds me of myself or my brother Rob. Something about the way he is standing. I don’t know who they are, but maybe someone else will know and inform me.

And then there are the man and woman to the right of the Hine siblings. I know that the man is another son of Addie named Herbert. He is the grandfather of Joseph and John Connors. I don’t know who the woman is or what she is telling Uncle Herbert. Hopefully we can find out at least who she is. I doubt that we’ll discover the other information. (The woman in the photo is actually the 14-year-old daughter of Uncle Herbert. Her given name is Mary Louise Bucklin. She is married to Joseph Connors, III, so she is now known by the name Louise Connors.)

There’s one other person in the photo that I just noticed tonight after I picked out this photo to share. On the right edge of the photo is a young girl sitting on a tricycle. It looks to me like it could be my sister Jodie. She was also the first child of six. Though at the time she was only the oldest of four. I was born the following month and my baby sister Jamie was born in July of 1962. Jodie would have been three weeks shy of her 7th birthday. The girl in the photo looks about that age.

From the photos it looks like it was a good turnout for Addie’s birthday bash. And as I said, it was her last birthday. She passed away on Nov. 25, 1960. She looks like she was in pretty good shape at this event. I’ve wondered if she was aware of me or ever saw me. It kind of seems likely. Maybe one of her children told her, “Mama, Betty Lou had another baby today. It’s a boy.” Though she probably didn’t jump for joy, she might have said, “Oh, good,” and sat back in her rocker with a pleasant disposition.

Betty Lou’s Fishy Valentine Card

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A couple of years ago I went through some of my mom’s old belongings.  It was mostly photos, old school programs, and a variety of different cards and such.  I posted one old Valentine’s Day card back then, but she had a few others.  The one I’m posting today is a strange one, so I’m not really sure why I’m sharing it with everyone.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day card circa 1940.

You see it?!  It must have been given to young Betty Lou Bucklin when she was just a school girl.  On the back of the card it says “To Betty Lou, From Lela.”  I remember when I was in elementary school in Jennings.  It seemed like every year Grandma Bucklin (Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin) would buy us a box or bag of Valentine cards for us to give to all of our classmates.  She would also buy us those little sweet heart candies.  You know, the ones that say “Be Mine” and “Love” on them.

At school on the day before Valentine’s Day, we’d all make a bag to put out to collect our cards from our classmates.  So the night before, we’d write “To Lori, from Van” on the back of the cards.  Then the next day we’d go to each person’s bag and match up the right card for each one.  My mom must have done the same thing when she was younger, because Lela Mae Jester was a classmate and friend of hers and this was the card she got from her one year.

But why did she save it?  Lots of times she saved things because of their artistic interest.  Maybe she would paint it at a later date.  I don’t recall her ever painting a scaly salmon-colored fish smoking a cigarette!  Or maybe it was because of the poem that was on it?  That’s another questionable motivation.  I’m not really sure what the message is.

So there you have it.  A weird, fishy Valentine’s Day card from the early 1940s.

She saved it.  I shared it.  Enjoy.

Mom’s Memories P. 1 aka “I Hated That Haircut!”

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Mom’s memories, page 1 begins with the beginning.

Since the second anniversary of my mom’s death is in two days, I thought I would write a little about her.  I decided that I’d write about my mom’s earliest memory.  My mom had a really good memory for most all of her life.  She remembered what it felt like to be a little kid, so she could sympathize with them easily.  Maybe that’s because her earliest memory wasn’t a pleasant one.

According to the little booklet she wrote in during her later years when her memories were starting to be inaccessible, her first memory concerned a haircut she hated.  There are a few photos of her during this time, and every time she would see one of those pictures, she would inevitably say, “Oh, how I hated that haircut!”

Obviously it was not a style becoming to little 3-year-old Betty Lou Bucklin from Hathaway, Louisiana.  She did not like having hair like a little boy.  After all, this was the time when little Shirley Temple was making movies showing off her full head of curly hair.  It was bad enough that her hair was pencil straight – not one curl to be found.  How could she curl her hair when it was too short to go on a roller?

Betty Lou Bucklin with first cousin Stanley Keys and their grandmother Addie Hine Bucklin

And the photos of her with that haircut showed her disapproval.  She was either frowning or looking away from the camera.  In this photo she doesn’t look too thrilled.  At least she is a little distracted by her new little cousin Stanley Keys.

This photo used to confuse me when I was a kid.  My mom’s father was Fred Bucklin.  Fred’s mother was Addie Hine Bucklin. My mom’s mother was Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  Myrtle’s mother was Daisy Keys.  So how is it that Mom’s first cousin is a Keys and he’s a grandchild of Addie Bucklin?  I thought that maybe Mama was confused since you can’t see the face of the grandmother standing there.

But come to find out, she was not confused.  I was.  Stanley Keys was the son of Frank Keys.  Frank was Myrtle’s first cousin.  But Frank married Edna Bucklin.  Edna was Fred’s sister.  So that would make Stanley my mom’s first cousin through the Bucklin line, but he was also her second cousin through the Keys line.  I wonder if that confused my mom back then?

Probably not.  All that was going through little Betty Lou’s mind was this:  Who’s bright idea was it to give me this stupid “little boy’s” haircut?

Mama was good about writing on the backs of her photos. This one gives all of the pertinent information.

Grandma Sue and the Granddaughters in 1919

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I’ve posted three other photos that were taken on the same day as the photo I’m posting today.  The photos were taken around 1919 somewhere near Hathaway, Louisiana.  The first photo I shared from that day was posted over two years ago.  The other two photos were shared in 2017.  I didn’t post any in 2018, so I’m thinking it is time to share this one.  The only problem is that I don’t have any more from that date, so this is it.  Unless, of course, a few more show up in the future.

Susan G. Stanbrough Hine with her seven granddaughters in 1919.

One of the photos was of my great great grandfather George Henry Hine with his grandsons.  This photo is of his wife Susan G. Stanbrough Hine with her granddaughters.  Of course, we all know her now as Grandma Sue, since we found letters that she wrote and signed as Sue.

Sue and George were born in Hamilton County, Indiana, as were their six children Addie, Bert, Rowe, Lonnie, Jim, and Ollie.  Before any of the children were married, the family had moved to southern Louisiana.  So all of their grandchildren were born in Louisiana, except for Robert Bucklin who was born during the short stint that Addie and Lou Bucklin spent in Arkansas.

In the photo you can see Grandma Sue in the middle of the photo surrounded by her granddaughters.  She actually looks happy in this photo.  Like her daughter Addie, she tended to not smile in photos and in some cases it looks like they are scowling.  But she has a nice smile in this photo, which I really like.  Sitting in her lap is her youngest granddaughter at the time Wanda Hine, who was the daughter of Bert.  She was born in 1917 and is the younger sister to Leta Hine.  Leta can be seen on the far right in the photo and she was born in 1912.

On the far left of the photo is a little girl with her head hung down.  Her name is Alta Zay Hine, she was born in 1912, and she was the daughter of Lonnie.  I don’t know what she was sad about.  Maybe she wanted to be the one sitting in Grandma Sue’s lap?  Standing between Alta and Grandma Sue is Audrey Hine.  Her father was Jim and she was born in 1910.  She would have a younger sister named Darlene in four years.  Darlene would have Grandma Sue around for the first ten years of her life.

Standing behind Grandma Sue is the oldest granddaughter.  Her name was Mary Bucklin and she was born in 1900.  We saw a photo of her with her mother Addie along with Sue and George previously.  Addie’s middle daughter is the girl in the dark dress.  Her name is Edna Bucklin and she was born in 1909.  Addie had six sons in a row between those two girls. (Including my maternal grandfather Fred D. Bucklin) There was either one or two sons between Edna and the next daughter Ruth.  She was born in 1915, but so was her twin brother Roy.  So if Ruth was born first, only Robert was between Edna and Ruth.  Otherwise Ruth was the last child born to Addie and Lou.

So that’s it.  Sue and her girls have all been identified.  Oh, wait!  I mentioned Ruth, but forgot to say which one was her.  But since I have pointed out all of the others in the photo, you know that she was young girl in the front on the right of the photo.  She seems preoccupied with something she has in her arms.  It looks like it could be a stuffed animal or such and her little cousin Wanda seems drawn to it as well.

Now we’re done.  Everyone accounted for.

Say so long to Grandma Sue.

Fred Bucklin Circa 1928

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Fred Bucklin circa 1928

This is a nice old photo of my maternal grandfather Fred Bucklin.  I’m thinking he was around 21 years old in this photo, so the estimated date in 1928.  I’m not sure of why this photo was taken.  It was with a group of other photos from the same time.  Some of them were of him and his identical twin brother Clarence and others were of the land where their family lived.  I posted one of them a few weeks ago that looked like the beginnings of his nursery.

The other thing that I noticed about the photos is that both Fred and Clarence had a boutonniere or something with a ribbon streaming down from it.  They were both dressed up as well.  Their father Louis Bucklin died in November of 1927, but I’ve seen a photo of that and nobody was wearing anything like what is seen in this photo.

I also wondered if maybe it was some prize ribbon that they got at some fair or something.  This is probably the time that they started gaining interest in plants and nursery work.  They graduated from high school in 1926 and I know they had a business together at least by 1930.

This was also when Fred was still a single young man.  He was married to Myrtle Phenice March 12, 1930, in Raymond, Louisiana.  I would assume that the wedding took place at the Raymond Methodist Church.  I’ve never seen a photo from their wedding, but I don’t doubt that it happened!  In the 1930 Census, the record shows that Fred and Myrtle Bucklin were married at age 22 and they both were still 22.  So they were newlyweds.  He was listed as a laborer in the farm industry.  He probably worked on the Bucklin farm for his mother Addie Hine Bucklin.  Myrtle was not working at that time.

Bucklin Bros. Nursery 1931 price list

As I said, he was in business with his brother at least by 1930.  I have this copy of the price list from the 1931 growing season and my cousin Joseph has posted the one from the previous year.  As you can see from the photo, the name of the business was Bucklin Bros. Nursery.  The sheet says Elton, LA, but it was really in Hathaway.  Elton was just the closest “big town” around there.  I wonder if the name of the business was an homage to their uncles?  Their dad’s brothers Joe and Edd had a mercantile business in downtown Jennings in the early 1900s (approx. 1899-1914).  It was called Bucklin Bros. and was  a successful business for a time.

The Bucklin Bros. Nursery later changed names because there was a falling out between the two brothers.  I don’t know the particulars of the why and when of this, I just know that they ended up both having nurseries down the road from each other.   My grandfather stayed in the business for a long time.  I remember him puttering around the greenhouse in front of their property when I was a kid.

And though he retired and later died, there are still plants and cuttings of plants that he rooted and sold all of those years ago.

I enjoy coming across them from time to time.

Just a Lazy Day Circa 1938

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Betty, Marguerite, Alma, Myrtle, Daisy, and Sylvia circa 1938

Here’s an old photo that could easily be overlooked.  I really don’t remember where it came from.  I’ve scanned old photos and slides, I’ve taken photos of other people’s photos, and I’ve collected digital files from other family members.  For some reason I think it’s an old photo I scanned, but I can’t put my fingers on the original.

It’s funny how some photos are overlooked in a photo album.  Maybe it was small or the people were a bit blurry, but it wasn’t something that stood out to me.  But when I start to look through photos to scan, I start to notice details about photos that are interesting.  And sometimes the scan is much better than the original photo.

Since I can’t find the original right now, I don’t know if the scan looks better.  But there is something sweet about this old photo from around 1938.  On the far left is my mom Betty Lou Bucklin standing at what I think is the back of someone’s house.  I’m thinking it is her Phenice grandparents’ home because that grandmother is in the photo, as well as a Phenice aunt.  Mom would have been 5 years old at the time. Looking toward her is her Phenice aunt Marguerite, who was a single girl of 20.

In front of Marguerite is one of my mom’s younger sisters Alma.  She is a happy little 3-year-old girl in this photo.  The next person is uncertain.  I’m thinking it could be Marguerite’s older sister Grace.  She was 35 at the time, so that might be right.  Maybe someone else knows who she is for sure.  (See update.)  The woman who is sitting on the steps is Marguerite and Grace’s mom, Betty Lou and Alma’s grandmother, and my great grandmother, Daisy Henrietta Martha Keys Phenice.  She would have been the 62-year-old matriarch of this little group.  The 7-year-old girl on the tricycle is my mom’s older sister Sylvia.

It just seems like an idyllic spring or summer day.  Spending time with family doing little or nothing, but enjoying every minute of it.  You can’t go wrong with that.

11/10/2018 Update: After much discussion among the cousins (and Aunt Loris) on Facebook, it has been determined that the unidentified woman in the photo was my grandmother Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin. That was a nice surprise. It makes the photo that much more special to me. So this photo shows three generations of my family along my maternal line.

I also was able to figure out where I got the image. It was from a group of old photos that I copied for Grandma back around 1979. She let me borrow some of her favorite photos to photograph with my old SLR camera, and this was one of them. I rediscovered the old forgotten negatives a while back. It makes even more sense that it was a photo of her with her mom, sister, and daughters. One that she cherished. And now, so do I.

The Old Bucklin Place

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I was reminded this week that I now have a share in some property that my great grandparents owned.  The great grandparents in question were Louis and Addie Hine Bucklin.  When Addie died in November 1960, it was left to her children, including my grandfather Fred Bucklin.  Once Fred and Myrtle died, his share was split between their children.  After my mom’s death, her share was split between her children.

Bucklin land in Hathaway circa 1929

This photo shows the area in Hathaway where the Bucklins lived.  In the foreground was the nursery owned by Fred and Clarence Bucklin around 1929.  From what I’ve heard, my grandfather and his identical twin brother started out in business together with a nursery.  Later on there was some type of falling out and they then had their own separate nurseries about a mile apart out in the sparsely populated Hathaway/China community.

In the background on the left is the home of Louis and Addie Bucklin.  It was a large two-story house that was built in 1888.  I’m not sure when the family bought this house.  Louis and his family came to Louisiana in 1884 from Iowa.  They came by train, which brought their belongings including cattle and horses.  Addie and her family came in 1894 from Indiana.  Louis and Addie were married on June 12, 1898, and started their large family shortly afterward.

I like being from a large family.  There is a drawback, though.  You have to share everything.  That original land was divided between 10 descendants.  The 1/10th my grandfather got was divided between his 5 children.  That 1/5th my mom got was divided between her 6 children.  That makes my share 1/300th.  So you could just say that I own that small little shrub and the dirt around it in the foreground of this photo.   Woo hoo!  I come from the largest family in each generation, so it’s the smallest share of all the great grandkids.

And that’s more than okay… Yes, it is perfectly okay… I assure you (and myself) that it is indeed okay.

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