Photos... do we ever tire of seeing them?  It's our chance to take a glimpse at the past and see the faces of our ancestors and families.  And, I've found in my own family, though eyesight & memory dim from age, a good clear photo will bring back the cherished memories of a time long since gone by and it'll seem like just yesterday... and the  memories and PRICELESS stories will unfold.

If you haven't already done so, make use of the BEST RESOURCE you have at your disposal for genealogy & family history -- the elder members of your family.  They truly have a lot to say and even though some might be fact and some might be fiction, the stories and the time spent will be cherished forever... What we did with my own father about 15 years ago was to schedule a quiet visiting time with just my husband and myself with Dad.  Hubby had a camcorder and took a video of my Dad taking his old photos from a cigar box, identifying them and then telling me the stories behind them.  PRICELESS!!! And what was even better was when hubby zoomed in on the pictures and we played back the video for Dad to see... You see, my father is almost blind but because the zoom made his own pictures so much larger, he could see the huge, ugly belt-buckle his brother Joe had won at the fair and was proudly displaying... and it was crystal clear and like yesterday in Dad's mind, though the fair was 70 years before and Uncle Joe has passed away...

As for photos, we have UNLIMITED SPACE so send them on in!!! I don't need originals, just a scanned in photo or a good xerox will do nicely... if you are scanning the pics, I prefer jpeg, bitmap or gif and try to keep them as large as the originals are... if they are already scanned and not in the above formats, no worries, we can open almost anything!!! Just send them to the ANNE email link at the bottom of any of the Florence pages... And we love class photos, church photos, post cards, etc... and if you know the people on them, GREAT.. jot down as much info as you have.. and if you don't have names for the faces.. no problem.. we'll post them and hopefully our Florence area experts will be able to help identify them for us!!!

AND, if YOU know of anyone in the following pictures, email me and we'll update the page!!!

LOGGING IN FLORENCE COUNTY
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PIONEER HOME OF NELS WICKSTROM - circa 1890
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Looking down Main Street in Florence, WI circa 1910

Florence, Wi as seen from across Fisher Lake circa 1910

TELEPHONE COMPANY CAMP ON THE BRULE RIVER ~ 1908
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TIPLER GRADE SCHOOL, TIPLER, WISCONSIN

"The picture that I have attached is of the Tipler Grade School, which no longer exists.  It was located in the town of Tipler.  It consisted of 4 classrooms and a good sized gymnasium.  When I started school there, we had 4 teachers, but it had shrunk to two teachers, each of whom taught 4 grades, by the time I completed 8th grade in 1946."

Sent in by Dorothy (Nichols) Rasmussen

CAMPBELL'S ARMY in FLORENCE ~ 1912
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Sent in by Kathy Patrick
 

Ellen Derosier Godin & family ~ 1930
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This photo is of Ellen Derosier Godin (born 1871) with her surviving 11 children - Frank, Lester, Genevieve (Ebel), Frank, Leo, Edward, Lucille (Semanski), Claude, Blanche (Jacques) , Leger and Philip.  I have included the married names for the daughters. It may have been taken in the 1930's.

Sent in by Kathy Patrick