Family Resemblance?

I have a famous cousin - Christina Hendricks of Mad Men. Her father is my second cousin (we have the same great-grandparents), so I guess that makes us third cousins? Anyway, her dad, Robert, and I have become email pals, as he has been doing lots of work on geneology, and needs help identifying faces on old pictures. This has been lots of fun for me, as I have tons of old photos, and while I know lots about my family, I have learned lots more - and have acquired lots of "new" pictures, too. Here is a lovely picture of Christina from Mad Men. Now look at the photo below...

This is an awesome photo of 4 generations! In the back row is my great grandmother, Charlotte Upgren Johnson, and to the right is great great grandmother Upgren; front row is Josie (Josephine) Johnson Hendricks, and her son, Stanley. Josie would be Christina's great grandmother. Josie is my grandfather's sister. My Grandpa Johnson had 10 brothers and sisters! I think that Christina resembles Josie a little bit - and has the same elegance.

This is a wonderful photo that I had in an album, and had never really looked at it. In the album, the picture is tiny - maybe 2" by 3" - so it was hard to even identify anyone in it. Well, after meeting with my cousin Robert, he scanned in some of my old photos and sent them back to me. It gave me the ability to blow up the photos, and see lots of details. (NOTE - you can click on the picture to enlarge it.) I also recognized many of the people in the picture! Standing right in the center, on the stairs, in the white dress, is my grandmother, Myrtle Grife Johnson (who I resemble, I think). My Grandpa Richard Johnson is right behind her, and the little girl next to her is my mom, Leona Johnson Heggestad. The rest of the group include my grandma's two half-brothers, their wives, and others.

My husband, Scott, loves sharing in my family history - looking at photos, hearing the stories, and also the fact that we now have many family antiques in our home. Scott is the one who noticed another fun detail in this picture: the wooden chairs on the porch? These are now our dining room chairs. We always called them Grandpa Grife's chairs (my mom had them when I was growing up), and there they are, on Grandpa Grife's porch, about 90 years ago. Wonderful!