It was to be my last day in Indiana and by my calculations I
was only an hour or so away from Aurora, the town where the Chance/Smith family
gathered. Genealogy can get complicated very quickly, but here’s the gist:
Chance is my paternal grandmother’s family name. She’s in the title photo, the
little girl down front with big bows in her hair. Her mother, kneeling to the
right, married Frank Chance, my grandmother’s father. Frank came from John
Chance and Rebecca Smith. (In fact, Frank’s middle name was Smith, as is common
in the Anglo tradition but this might too much information.) The farm that I call
the Aurora Farm was in the Smith family for generations and at the time of this
photo was owned and run by Ralph Smith, Rebecca’s brother, and his wife
Catherine. Aunt Meg Smith (as my grandmother called her) is the plump woman in
the back row with the coy smile. I love that smile. She’s the daughter of
Ralph, so essentially she’s my first cousin three times removed, or going back
three generations. See how complicated gets?
My assumption is that my great
grandfather Frank is taking this family photo. He had a photo studio back home
and loved working with cameras. This could have been taken with a huge one that
required a plate, but my guess is that he would have this on a tripod to place
himself in the photo as well. Instead, I’m thinking this may have been shot with a Kodak
Brownie. These were being mass produced at the time and were quite inexpensive.
The photo was certainly composed and
Aunt Meg is not the only one smiling. Grandpa Frank must have been talking to
them, letting him know when he was going to expose the film.
This photo has intrigued me ever
since I found it in my grandmother’s old photo album. In fact, it was so
alluring that I had to make Aurora one of my destinations. Through the magic of
intranet I was able to get in touch with a descendant from the farm, still living
in this hilly area just north of the Kentucky line. She said yes, the farm
still existed though it wasn’t in the family any more. She told me the road but
didn’t know an address. I asked if she knew if the family had attended a
church. She thought for a minute. Most likely the Methodist church at the end
of the road. There’s a cemetery there.
I found the road, driving ever so
slowly so I could enjoy the cold but sunny, beautiful day. I left the Ohio
River following Hogan Creek through a stunning wooded area until I got to the
top and Short Ridge Road. This is the site of the farm. I don’t know what I was
expecting. There’s not much detail in the photo. You can only see the side of
a barn and a field. So much has changed and I was acutely aware of passing
time. New barns and farmhouses – built since 1908 when the photo was
taken – were all along the winding roadway. These are probably not farms but homes
with a bit of land overlooking the huge river to the south. I couldn’t figure
out which property had been in the Smith family and I was too shy to walk up to
just any house. Seemed a bit of a stretch to ask folks if they knew of people
who lived on this land over 100 years ago.
But I did find graves. The
Methodist church and the cemetery were indeed at the end of the road. Newish
now but the graveyard included lots of older stones. I’ve discovered that
cemeteries often include a larger family marker, and, since this burial ground
was a bit large and the wind was wicked cold on that top of that hill, I drove
through looking for familiar names. And there they were. Smith, Chance,
Dennerline, Mendell and Newby. All associated with the farm and all gathered
here on this hillside. I found an especially old grave and cleaned it as much as could with what I had.
My father (another Frank) visited this farm during his summers. I make the 6th generation to
touch the ground of the Aurora Farm. Not so complicated after all.
This is my father, on the left, with his old brother John and Clarence Mendell, Aunt Meg's son.
Awesome!
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