The house on 15th Avenue. 100 years of a family's memories.

1908 Four Generation Wiggins-Peavey family.  Original photo in possession of author.

15th Avenue house.  Date of photo pre-1950. Original photo in the possession of the author.

Photos of three, or four, or sometimes five, generations are a staple of family photo albums.  They are usually taken at family reunions, weddings, funerals and sometimes at the birthday celebration of the oldest generation or the birth of the youngest.  Not many photos are taken because all four generations live in the same house. 

What you see in the photo of the four people above are my great-great-grandmother in the rocking chair to the left.  Her daughter (my great-grandmother and my paternal grandfather's mother) sits sternly next to her.  One of my great-grandmother's sons (and half-brother to my grandfather) is the only gentleman in the photo.  His daughter  (my grandfather's niece) is the only child.  Their names are almost as long as the description of the seating arrangement because both women were married twice.

 The four people on the porch were not the only occupants of the house.  My grandfather was there.  He bought the house for his mother in 1901.  He had just probably turned 21 and he wanted his mother to live in a house that she did not have to move (or "remove" from as they said back then) when the landlord decided to sell his rental property.  It had happened to them before.  My grandfather's half-brother had a wife and, by the time of the 1910 census an additional daughter of his who all lived in the house.  Also in the 1910 census the other half-brother had moved in with his wife and three sons.  Twelve people occupied a six room house that did not have an indoor toilet at the time. 

As the years came and went, at least four additional family members cycled in and out as residents of the house on 15th Avenue.  One of those family members was my father who was born in the house.  They left bits and pieces of their lives there.  My great grandfather who died prior to this photo, left his tool chest that he had used since he was a carpenter in Green County, AL, in the 1850s.  His step-father-in- law left the tools of his shoemaker's trade.  My grandfather's half brother who is pictured left remnants of some of his inventions.  As children, we played with the funny sunglass- looking pieces of plastic that I did not learn until a few years ago were part of his prototype made for the patent he obtained for a "glare shield".  He also left behind some of the pay telephones from the telephone companies he managed. 

Many pieces of furniture also lasted longer than the people who used them.  The wicker rocker that my GGGrandmother sits in on that porch now sits in my sister's home.  At one time it found a place in my own home.  Some of the furniture that my carpenter great-grandfather made are in my home and the home of one of my daughters.  Some furniture awaits in storage for younger generations to have in their homes. 

And of course there were the family Bibles and the photographs and a few letters.  There were the quilts, tatting, embroidery and even a few pieces of clothing made by the women in the family who were masterful with a needle and thread. 

It was a hard decision for my parents who were the last of the generations to occupy the house as a primary residence to finally sell the home.  After all, it had been the place where memories had been made for the family for 100 years.  In 2001, my parents moved to live near me.  In 2003 they decided it was time for a new family to make memories there.  It must have been the right decision because, in an old neighborhood where "for sale" signs would sit for years, the house of 15th Avenue was under contract within two weeks.

I might drive by the house on my way home after my week at Genealogy Camp.  The current residents are restoring the house.  I can't say their choice of paint would be my choice.  But their choice to love the house of my family's memories definitely gets my OK.