William Matheny - Elizabeth Everhart

 William Matheny, born in 1814 in Virginia, was my great-great-grandfather, father to Hiram King Matheny and grandfather to Clifford Alton Matheny.  He married Elizabeth Everhart, born in 1824 in Ohio.

William and Elizabeth were the parents of nine children:  Mary Jane, George Leander, Hiram King, Simon Peter, Hannah Anne, Jesse Newton, William Andrew, Sarah Elizabeth, Minnie Orrilla.

I have no date for this photo.  Nor can I identify their children, although I am inclined to believe the man on the far left, front row, is Hiram.

William and Elizabeth, sometime before his death in 1906.  She passed on in 1913.

Hiram King Matheny - Aletha Zorade Smith

 Hiram King Matheny was born in 1847 in Indiana.  His wife, Aletha Zorade Smith, was born in 1844 in Indiana.  They were the parents of my Grandfather, Clifford Alton Matheny.

Hiram and Aletha were the parents of six children:  Clifford, Esther, Maude, Harley, Sarah and Bertha.

I don't know the dates of the photos below and I have not been able to identify all of the daughters.

Of the children above, Clifford is the tall boy at the center back, with Harley being the other boy.  The youngest is Bertha, seated between her parents.  I am guessing that the next to the youngest, Sarah is standing alongside her father.

In this family group, I believe Bertha is seated between her parents.  Clifford is standing behind his mother and Harley, behind his father.  I have no dates for the photos.

This is Hiram King Matheny in his later years.  He passed on in May of 1936, his wife Aletha preceeding him in death in 1916.  

Letter and Postcard

 

Dad's mother visited her daughter Lois and her family in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  I am not sure, but it looks like the date on the letter she wrote to my Dad was 1945.  Here are the 3 pages of the letter plus the envelope.

During the Depression years, my Dad and some of his brothers would head out to the Dakotas or Montana, looking for work.  Often they found jobs on grain thrashing crews or field work like picking potatoes from the ground behind a machine that dug the potatoes out of the ground.

If the brothers had a car and could afford gas, they drove to their destination  If not, they 'hopped a freight train' and rode it west.

Below is a postcard that Dad sent to his mother when he and Kenneth were in the west, working.

Allie's 80th Birthday

 All of Allie's children, except for Veda who lived in California, gathered at the home place to celebrate their mother's 80th birthday.  The year was 1950.

Pictured from left to right:  Allie, Lois, Ronald, Vera, Kenneth, Keith, Clarice, Bruce, Ralph.

Allie's son Kenneth lived with her and ran the farm until her death in 1955.

The spouses of Allie's children are left to right:  Tom Lindsey, husband of Lois - Etta, wife of Bruce - Gay, wife of Ronald - Elvie, wife of Keith - Marjorie, wife of Ralph - Bill Brownlee, husband of Vera.

Matheny Family

 Clifford and Allie became the parents of 9 children.  The photo below was taken in the early 1920's.  The family house can be seen to the right.

To the far left is Clifford's father, Hiram King Matheny.  Looking to the right are Clifford, Allie, Lois Vivian, Ronald Clifford, Veda, Vera (no middle names known), Kenneth Barton, Keith Alton, Clarice Alzora, Robert Bruce (known as Bruce), and Ralph Douglas.

These photos were taken in early June, 1946.  The little house in the background is in Blackduck and is where my parents lived when I was born.  My Grandma Matheny came to help my mother right after my birth.

The next two photos are of my Grandma with my cousins and Aunt.

Grandma with her grandchildren, Shirley Jensen and David Jensen, in the late 1940's.

Four Generations - From left to right - Dad's sister Clarice holding Shirley (Jensen) Thomas' first child, Betty, Grandma Matheny and Shirley (Jensen) Thomas.

Clifford Alton Matheny and Rachel Alzora (Allie) Olmstead

 Below is a photo of my Dad's mother as a young woman.

Clifford Alton Matheny was born in 1872 in Meeker County, Minnesota.  Rachel Alzora Olmstead was born in 1870 in Indiana.  They were married in 1897 in Meeker County, Minnesota.

Early in their marriage they moved to northern Minnesota, having heard there was money to be made in the logging industry.  They homesteaded a farm about 10 mies from Blackduck, on the Scenic Highway.

I have very few photos of my grandfather, Clifford.  He died in 1936.

My Dad gave me the following account of his Dad's death.

"The day Dad died, he had been having some small pains in his chest, but didn't pay much attention to them.  When a cow that was ready to calve didn't come in at milking time, he set off across the field to look for her.  When he didn't come back, Bruce and I went to look for him.  We found him in the field, laying down like he was taking a nap.  I stayed with him while Bruce went back to the house to tell Mother and get a horse and wagon to carry him back to the house."

Clifford's funeral was held at his home.  The minister who preached the funeral was Andrew Jackson Paul, who would later become Dad's father-in-law.

Introduction

 

Introduction

 I realize that I have accumulated a vast amount of family photos.  Some of the older ones were sent to me by cousins, but most of them were given to me by my Dad.  In a cardboard box.  Loose.  Most with no identifying words.  Many I remembered but a few are still a mystery to me.

A number of years ago I scanned most of my family photos.  Some I have stolen when someone in my family posted them on Facebook.  And some were shared by family members.

I had considered making scrapbooks - either physical or digital - to share with my children, grandchildren and eventually, my great-grands.  But it occurred to me that either method was very time consuming and unless I live to well over 100 years, chances are pretty good that the task would never be completed.

So, my family, this is what you get.  Plain photos that can be saved with a right click.  Included will be the stories behind the photos wherever possible.  I can't guarantee that the photos will be in any particular order, but I will try to keep like photos together.

It is my hope that you will enjoy learning about your family as much as I am enjoying sharing the photos and stories with you.