The Merediths at Baron Lake MI in 1916

"Summer 1916, Rutlage's Resort, Baron Lake, Mich" is on the back of the picture in my grandfather's writing.  Brought up in Berrien County on the southwest corner of Michigan, James R. Meredith loved the green forests and the lakes, including the big one, Lake Michigan, that formed the western edge of Michigan. 

Jim didn't have a middle name, so used "R." as his middle initial.  I've always thought it was because of his grandfather's name.   
Benjamin R. Meredith from Kent Co., Maryland had that initial.  Did it stand for a name?  Maybe.  Born in 1801, he was a soldier in the Florida War and the Black Hawk War.

Jim and his wife, Lottie Weekes Meredith, did travel from Chicago back to Michigan often to see his family at this stage, only married 11 years (Nov. 23, 1904).  Jim was doing well,
after moving to the big city, Chicago, for a job and a better life.  In 1916 he was working for a major company, Western Electric, where he would be employed for the rest of his life.

The small woman seated between the two children must be Jim's mother, Ruth Parks Olmstead Meredith, age 68.  She appears in another picture a few years later.  The girl is Ruth Viola Meredith, named for both grandmothers, at age 10.  The boy is James William Meredith (5), who is named for his father and his mother's father, William Walter Wilson Weekes, from Wilkes-Barre PA.  They called him "Jimmie."

Standing behind them are two women I'm guessing are a cousin and an aunt of the man in the middle, Jim Meredith.  Lottie, Jim's wife, wasn't in the picture.  Maybe she was behind the camera.

This is a casually posed picture with three of the subjects looking off to the right side, drawn to something - a dog barking, laughter, someone heading their way.  Young Ruth, my mother, looks strikingly like I did at about that age, right down to the somewhat bored vibes.  It looks like there's a house or a cabin behind those pictured.

Pictures from the past give you a feel for what life was like, but dredge up more questions than answers.  They make me want to study further what life was like at that time and especially for my ancestors.

Precious Post Card From the Past

In the last post, I mentioned finding another treasure in a large box of diaries written later in Ruth Meredith Kellogg's life.  This is it - a post card made by Fain & Corning, 1716 W. Madison St., Chicago.  I'm assuming that's the photography studio, which probably was close to where the Merediths lived on the near west side of Chicago.

The young Meredith family is shown in June, 1910.  My grandmother "Lola" (aka Lottie or Carlotta), is shown in a large, feather-trimmed hat and tailored shirtwaist and jacket.  She looks so much older to me, but is only 23.  My grandfather, Jim Meredith (age 29), wears a derby, bow tie and suit, quite dressed up for the family photo.  Their prized daughter and my mother, Ruth Viola, has a special hat and coat on as well.  She is just weeks away from her fourth birthday.

The back of the card, which is where the address is shown, has more intriguing information.  It's addressed to my Great-Great Grandfather, William Henry Olmstead on Rural Delivery Route 12, Saranac, Michigan.  Jim's mother, Ruth Parks Olmstead, was named for the wife William lost in childbirth at age 25 when young Ruth was born. (Yep, more Ruths to add to the mix!)   In 1910, William Olmstead was an old man of 87, living with family in the state he had always called home.   He lived another six years, passing on in June, 1916.

Though we don't see William's handwriting on the post card, several of his letters were passed on to me.  He has elegant handwriting.  I was told long ago that he was a school teacher.  Someone did address this card to him, most likely Jim, even though he had little education.  It was his employer, Western Electric, that helped Jim Meredith achieve a high school education, even holding a graduation ceremony for all of the employees who earned diplomas.  

One question entered my mind when I saw the card.  You too?  How did it end up with the Merediths when it was mailed to Saranac in June, 1910 from Chicago?  I speculate that the Merediths either reclaimed it when William died or when his daughter, Ruth, died in 1923.  I should mention that Ruth's husband, Nathaniel Meredith, had died in 1907.  He had fought with a Michigan regiment in the Civil War.  Nathaniel and Ruth were the parents of Jim Meredith.  (See the abbreviated family tree on the last page of Pieces of a Life to help figure out who's who.)