Here is a photo of the Hammell family, taken in 1911. The print is very faded. I was surprised to get an image this good from it.
Identifications: back row, from left: Arthur McClain, Addie (Hammell) McClain, Bessie (Hammell) Hutchins, Floyd “Jack” Hammell. In front, John and Sarah Hammell, with an apparently sleepy Florence McClain (at that time, the only grandchild) on John’s lap.
Dating this photo revolves around two questions: How old is Florence? And what is the time of year as reflected in how people are dressed?
I’m voting for Spring 1911. Florence would have been nine months old in March.
Bessie married Roy Hutchins in December 1910, so where is Roy? Perhaps he is behind the camera.
If there was a family event connected with this photo (as it seems there usually is even for informal family group photos), perhaps it was Sarah’s birthday (May 20).
It’s kind of a peculiar photo in some ways: Grandma Addie peeking out from behind her husband and her father. Floyd (Uncle Jack) with hands on hips, Mom (Florence) dozing, everyone squinting in the bright sunlight. Perhaps there is a story here that we’ll never know.
Grandpa McClain looks uncharacteristically unpleasant, probably just squinting in the sunshine. Interesting picture!!
Yes Donna, and Great Grandpa Hammmel looks uncharacteristicly pleasant! At least from what I remember. Fun picture!
I don’t think I have clearly laid out in this blog anywhere basic information about the children of John and Sarah Hammell. A comment to this post seems like a good place to add that, since all of the surviving children are in this photo.
As covered in much more detail in this post, soon after John and Sarah were married in Coshocton County, Ohio in 1883, they moved to Nebraska and lived around Lincoln. While there, they had three children: Addie (born in 1886), Bessie (1888) and Floyd (confusingly nicknamed “Jack,” born in 1890 just months before Hammells moved to Albany). After they moved to Albany, John and Sarah had a fourth child, Guy, born in 1893. Guy survived less than a year and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Albany.
The children were basically two years apart. Almost exactly two years from Addie to Bessie, 18 months from Bessie to Floyd, three years from Floyd to Guy.