Early in 1999,
after over a year of research and phone calls, I
learned the whereabouts of a treasure trove of
pictures from the turn of the century. The story
goes like this. When Annie (McDonald) Sweeney
died in November 1950, she was keeping two old
picture volumes in her possession. One was
covered in red velvet and one in gold. According
to Rose (North) Drummond, Annie’s
grand-daughter, These albums held pictures of the
old ancestors of the Sweeney family. After
Annie’s death, they passed from one
descendant to another and gradually became lost
to view. However, eventually word reached
Annie’s grandchildren in the Detroit area.
The albums were sitting under a bed in the home
of Hugh and Mary Ann (McDonald) Montpetit. Hugh,
an amateur photographer, was gracious enough to
scan and send me copies of the priceless
photographs. Many of the pictures are distributed
throughout this Web Page in sections describing
the history and fortunes of the Sweeney and
McDonald families. However, several photographs
were made of individuals whose relationship, if
any, to our family is unknown. They are posed in
the attached gallery for you the reader to meet
across time’s ocean of a century. If any of
you can identify the "unknowns" in
these pictures, tell us and we will post the
information on the Page or Query Boards. In fact, recently we did
become aware of the identity of the man in the picture
at the bottom of the page, Julius Long. He was the
grandfather of Phyllis (Long) Rockwell who contacted
this site to try to find out more about the history of
her family. Imagine her surpise when I mentioned that
we had a picture of someone named Long. You will find
two groups of photographs in this collection. Some must
have been taken in a local photographer’s shop,
perhaps the famous Ott and Hayes shop in Towanda,
Bradford county, 26 miles north of Dushore.
Thousands of these glass negatives from 1895
onward have been preserved and catalogued in the
Bradford County Historical Society collection in
Towanda. We don't know for sure where, but
the posed pictures suggest a formal staging area
such as a photographer might provide.
The second set of
pictures appear to have been taken locally, then
sent off to be developed. These are the photos
with Pennebacker Studio printed on the margin.
The notice also says this studio is in Columbia,
PA, far to the south of Sullivan county near York
in "Pennsylvania Dutch" and Amish
country. I cannot imagine that the farmers and
common people of Sullivan county trooped off over
100 miles for a picture shoot. Therefore, the
pictures must have been mailed or couriered for
development in Columbia, then mailed back.
Perhaps a local shop had the photos developed
remotely. The Pennebacker name is an old and
famous one in the southern part of Pennsylvania,
but I have not so far been able to determine any
specifics about the history of this studio or
whether any records survive. And we don’t
know how these pictures came into the possession
of Grandma Annie either. But there they rest in the
old albums next to pictures of Margaret Jordan,
Margaret Sweeney, John Sweeney, Lizzie Sweeney
and the rest. Little did Grandma Annie realize
what a gift she was preserving for posterity.
Photos through the
gracious contribution of Hugh and Mary Ann
Montpetit of Grosse Point Farms, Michigan.
Note:
Remember to click the pictures to see them full
size!
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Lizzie Cowley, Lizzie Sweeney, Agnes Wales. Circa
1900
Julius Long, husband of Mary Susan Barth. Circa
1900
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