52 Ancestors Week 31: Large

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 31's theme is "Large." Large family, large business, living large, larger than life...  How will you interpret this week's theme?

I wonder if the font was big enough.....

Large families are the norm for both sides of the tree. My mother has over fifty first cousins and my father has a ton of first, second and third cousins I knew about long before I ever took a DNA test. This week, in honor of a picture I discovered in one of my grandmother's albums, we will be talking about the family of Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault and their large 50th wedding anniversary party!

Austin and Henrietta in November of 1963.

Let's go back in time to the November of 1963. Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers, had just made their Marvel Comics' debut on newsstands across the country and would eventually become a box office juggernaut. Just one day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the worldwide phenomenon the world would know as Doctor Who premiered on the BBC.

The year was definitely interesting and no doubt many of the then current events were discussed at the party. The Kennedy assassination, however, was likely not the topic of discussion as the party was held a few days before the tragic event in Dallas, Texas.

A little bit of backstory before we continue. Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault were married on November 29th, 1913 in the city of Haverhill. The couple had six children between 1914 and 1929 and had several.....SEVERAL.....grandchildren. I need a scorecard to keep track of them all because by the time of this anniversary there were twenty-two grandchildren including my mother. Christmas was likely a big deal.

In the album, I found several pictures from the event and naturally I asked my mother about them. She was fourteen at the time and she remembered quite a bit. In fact, when I colorized that picture on MyHeritage, she noticed a few glaring omissions. Firstly, Austin apparently had the bluest blue eyes ever. I doubted that until I saw pictures of him in color from my parents' wedding in the early 1970s. His eyes were VERY blue. Note to self: Use discretion on the colorizer.

Back to the party. It was clear by the pictures that many of Henrietta's siblings were there. My mother was quick to point out her aunt Matilda and a few other relatives. From the looks of things, everyone had a great time. You can tell just by looking at the picture above that the happy couple were all too thrilled to have their family gathered at the event.

Sadly, I had to crop out the cake after I scanned the photo. There were bits of tape all over the photo as it had been ripped due to time and being stored for ages. It happens. Luckily, I happen to be a master of the fine art of jiggery-pokery. After scanning, I edited the photo in my paint program by brightening it and removing ink spots on Austin's jacket. I thought I did a good job. I think, if I print it out on glossy paper, it would be as good as the original. Isn't modern technology amazing? =D

Back to the story. My mother remembered the party as there were quite a few relatives she hadn't seen in ages because she was living in California at the time. Everyone had a great time and I think it really set the stage for what was to come in the future. Every once in a while the Hamel and Felker clan would throw large parties so people could catch up. Think of them as family reunions or an excuse to have some fun and a lot of food! It happened quite a bit while I was growing up in the '80s and '90s.

Grandpa Hamel and eight out of ten grandkids.

My grandpa Hamel's ninetieth birthday in 2013 was another one of those events that brought the entire family together. Some of the people who were at the party fifty years prior to that were there and obviously several people were gone by that point. Notably my grandmother.

That is life,. People come and go and you have to document everything at these large events. And that's exactly what I did! By 2013, I was in my third year of making videos on YouTube. I decided to take it upon myself to record what I could of the event on my camera. Yes, people were taking pictures. However, I was one of the few people with a small camcorder!!

His 90th birthday party was supposed to be a surprise party. Hiding a small camera was an interesting feat. Still, we had a great time and I managed to get a few bits of genealogical information from the people there. Recorded? Eh....Not really? Don't worry. I got the important stuff.

I guess this brings me up to my final point. Large parties, like dinners with your great-aunts, can yield a ton of genealogical information if you know what to ask. I did ask several questions. Parties are great places to do that because 1. How often do you see these people? and 2. They won't feel too pressured in a social setting. Sometimes people don't like being interviewed.

I do wish I was a fly on the wall at my great-grandparents' 50th. I remember my grandparents' 50th in 1998 pretty well and I wish I had asked questions then. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that. For now at least, I have these amazing pictures of my great-grandparents' 50th. They put faces to the names and dates on my tree and actually makes them come to life again. The pictures mean that much to me and maybe somehow they were at the same events I was at in spirit. Who knows? I like to think they were.