Old family portraits and their meaning

On a recent visit to Ireland I spent some time going though some old family photographs.  I have never met any of the people in the images below.  They had died by the time I was born.  However, it is really interesting to have pictures of them and the see what they looked like.  When we look at the history of photography we see how the portrait developed and how the painted portrait was overtaken by the accessibility and cost of the photographic portrait.

All to often we find that we see old photographs in photography books but we don't know the subject's stories.  In this case I do know their stories which makes them even more special.

However, they don't give too much away about their personalities.  Most of them have adapted the serious looking pose with the exception of my grandmother who is holding her first born daughter in her arms.  There is an element of maternal love and pride in that shot.  I like the way the focus is also on the daughter.  Her mother is looking down on her so we don't see her face on.  She draws us, the viewers, to her daughter sitting on her knee.

The quality of these images is not great having used my iphone to shoot them.  They were all framed too and I didn't want to damage the images by taking the out of their frames.

My grandmother Kathleen Deane.  Kathleen had five children before she died aged 39 from an asthma attack.  My father was 3 when she died so he never got to know her.  I estimate that this image was taken circa 1923. 

My grandfather John Patrick Deane.  John died in his 90s after having 6 children from two marriages.  He was heavily involved in politics in Ireland.  He was involved in the War of Independence and received an Old IRA medal.

Dr Annie Teresa Deane, my Great Aunt who was GP in the town of Ballycastle for many years until her retirement.  She never married and died in 1961.  

May Deane sister of Annie.  May immigrated to America and ran a deli store in Cleveland Ohio.  She returned to Ireland in her later years.  

My Great Grandmother Elizabeth McAndrew nee Quinn

My Great Grandfather Martin McAndrew.  I love his beard.