Week 3, Favorite Photo: The Meloche Children, 1926

Week 3 of 2024’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is my favorite repeat prompt: “Favorite Photo.”  This new-to-me photo came into my possession when I visited my granduncles in Canada in October of 2023.

Jean Guy (95) and Claude (87) are my grandmother’s youngest and only remaining siblings out of what was once a large family of eleven children.  The photo they shared shows some of their older siblings and was taken about 1926 before they were born.   My grandmother Connie didn’t make her grand debut until 1927.   

From L-R, Pierette, Roger, LeClerc, Yvon, Gaetane (on the floor) and an unidentified girl in the wagon

The five eldest living Meloche children are pictured here.  The little girl in the rocking chair is pretty little Pierette (b. 1924).  The boys at the table are Roger (b. 1919) and the eldest son, LeClerc (b.1918).  My granduncles recognized Roger right away by his eyes and hair.  Yvon (b. 1923) is the little boy in the wagon and the girl sitting on the floor is Gaetane (1922) who grew up to be a nun.  The older girl in the wagon is the only unidentified child and is possibly a neighbor or a cousin.

This photo contains all the elements I love.  It’s old and thoughtfully composed.  It’s full of little children and vintage toys.  As a doll collector, I’m especially drawn to the doll and dollhouse.  The presence of a fluffy dog or a couple of kittens curled up on the doll bed is the only way this picture could possibly get any better.

It was Uncle Jean Guy’s first time seeing this photo.  He broke into a wide smile and exclaimed with wonder and delight, “That’s my sisters’ dollhouse!  I remember it.  My father made it.”  That dollhouse made by my extremely creative great-grandfather, was built with his own two hands to bring his little girls happiness.  My Nana played with it as a child, alongside her sisters France and Denise.  How incredible!  I never would have known this just by looking at the picture.

What I love most about this precious photo is the memories it holds – both for my granduncles as well as me.  They reminisced over the past, their heads bent over the photo as they carefully identified each child.  It sparked laughter and many stories about growing up in their large family in Montreal.  I’ve never asked, “Tell me about this picture,” and didn’t this time either, but all the information the uncles shared with me made me realize that’s something I should do going forward.  It’s equally important to know the details and story within a photo as it is to put names to the faces.  Watching and listening to them is my treasured memory.  They’re the last two people on this earth who shared their childhood with my grandmother and can tell me what it was like to live in that house with the same parents, brothers, and sisters.  Being with them was like having a piece of her back, even if it was just for one afternoon.