Helia Justine Reini (1907-1925)

Helia Reini c.1917, Seattle, WA
Courtesy Viola Petersen 

My entry for Sepia Saturday #42 is this photo of my grandmother Aune's beloved sister Helia Justine Reini. She was born Jan 29, 1907. I am guessing that she is about ten in this photo, so that would make it c.1917. The photographer's imprint says, "Aiko Studio, Seattle, Wash".  The Library of Congress has photos from this studio dated 1911 and I found others online from 1912 to 1918. My family has always remarked that Helia looked a bit Asian in this photo and, coincidentally, every single photo I found online from Aiko Studios was of Japanese Americans (which Helia was not, although she likely did have Saami ancestry).
My grandmother used to tell a story of how one day Helia took it upon herself to get dressed up, carefully curling her hair, and went down to the local photographer to get her picture taken. I wonder if this is that day. They were a very poor immigrant Finnish family, so I wonder how she got the money together for the photo. (She probably even made this dress for herself since she was a talented seamstress from a young age.)

[Update - Aiko Studios operated in Seattle at 613 1/2 Jackson from 1911-1925. Helia and her family were living at 108 Broadway in January 1918 according to her father's naturalization application. This is less than 1/2 mile away! Judging from this new information, it very well may be the photo taken the day of the story above. The family had moved away by September 1918.]

Helia was said to have possessed psychic ability. From what I am told (surprisingly, by family members who don't believe in such things), before she could read, Helia would pretend to read the newspaper to her parents, making up news stories about neighbors and local events. Strangely, on several occasions the events she described were reported to occur AFTER she "read" them. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but she does look like an "old soul" in this photo.
She did extremely well in school, making straight A's, sewed beautiful clothes for her family and played a large part in raising her four younger siblings. From all accounts, she was a very talented, kind and well loved girl.
Tragically, Helia passed away at the age of 18 on Oct 10, 1925. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as "diabetic coma". At this time she was the wife of George G Hawke. Her family was understandably brokenhearted to lose this very special girl. Aune thought so highly of her sister Helia that she spoke of her with deep love and in the most glowing of terms, almost on a daily basis, for the rest of her long life (96 years). Because of this, I grew up feeling like I knew her, so I am pleased to be able to share this memory of her with you.

Dressed up like cowboys c.1910

"Cliff Purdy and Uncle Lou" 

The back of this photo that I inherited from my Great Aunt Gladys (by way of my Aunt Yvonne) says, "Cliff Purdy and Uncle Lou". Cliff (on the right) was Gladys' and my great grandmother Blanche's brother. His real name was Jonathan Clifford Purdy, but everyone always called him Cliff. He was born on April 17, 1892 in Minnesota to Jonathan Edward Purdy and Jennie Cole Purdy. Jennie was raised by her Cole grandparents and grew up with her uncle Lewis Fredrick Cole. I believe that Lewis is the "Uncle Lou" in the photo (on the left). He was extremely close to Jennie and it has been said that he considered her his sister rather than his niece. Since Cliff's father died shortly after his birth and Lewis never had any children of his own, it is not hard to imagine that Cliff may have also enjoyed a close relationship with his (great) uncle. Lewis was born on June 4, 1855 in New York -the last child of Asa Cole and Mary Eastman. He lived in many different places during his life, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Washington.

Since this Real Photo postcard has AZO and four triangles pointing up where the stamp is to be placed, it must be from between 1904-1918. Only in the 1910 Federal Census were both Lewis and Cliff living in Washington State, so that timeframe fits nicely. There is no photographer stamp, so I have nothing else substantial to go on to place an exact date for this photo. I did find other "fake cowboy" photos from 1910 and, in one, the men were even wearing fuzzy pants just like Cliff is wearing here. In 1910 Cliff would have been 18 and Lewis would have been 55, which looks about right, so I will tentatively date the photo then.

I wonder if they were at a fair or just went to a studio to have their photo taken for fun. Cliff (like his mother)obviously enjoyed having his picture taken since I have inherited so many of him, including a number of other Real Photo postcards. It is funny to me that they pretended to be cowboys. Lewis had, no doubt, experienced many real adventure while moving West along the frontier, yet he apparently still enjoyed a good game of dress-up (or, maybe, he just wanted to please his favorite nephew)!

Happy Sepia Saturday!

My Family and their Cars #12: c.1927 Model T

Roy Proctor and the family Ford

This may be the same car as #7. If so, it is 1923.
Update: Footnote Maven pointed out that the hood ornament is different than #7, so this is a different car. This family sure had a lot of cars! Thank you FM!

Thanks to Norie and her husband, I have tentatively placed this as a 1927 Ford Model T. Thank you!

My Family and their Cars #11: c.1921

Jack and Fred Moore with Jennie Cole Kint Purdy Phelps in background

Fred is my grandfather and Jennie is my great great grandmother. The boys were born in 1908 and 1909, so that should help to date this photo. Any ideas?

Norie and her eagle-eyed husband pointed out that the license plate says 21 and that this may be a 1921 Packard. Thanks for the great tips!

My Family and their Cars #10: c.1937 Packard

Cliff Purdy (brother of my ggrandmother Blanche) and his BIL George Roberts

Gladys Phelps Roberts, sister of Cliff and Blanche Purdy (my ggrandmother)

My Family and their Cars #9: Late 1920s Packard

Cliff and Martha (Block) Purdy

Cliff was the brother of my great grandmother Blanche Purdy Moore. This is probably somewhere in or around Seattle. Notice the old Coke sign behind the car.

Thanks again to Norie and her hubby for the hints!

My Family and their Cars #8: c.1910 Packard?

Willard Calvin Moore, my great grandfather

Any ideas on the year?