Relatively Speaking

As I've written previously, I find my father's side of my heritage fascinating. I also love physical artifacts — a quality that teaching print studies has amplified. I'm currently intrigued by old photographs. Here are some of my paternal relatives. I enjoy both the details in these images and the photos as physical objects in themselves, particularly in the shades of contrast.

1. Great-Aunt Nettie: The girl in the centre is my aunt Nettie, which I believe is a diminutive from Natalya. She seems to have been one of my grandmother's favourite people, as there are many photos of her in my grandmother's collection. I didn't know Nettie, though. I would like to know where this picture was taken.

2. Great-Uncle Fred: What a great period photo! My uncle is the one at the right wearing the hat. I have no idea who the other fellows are. It looks like they're standing in an ice rink, although that's not logical. Again, no idea where this picture was taken; I just love the clothes and the attitude in the image.

3. Great-Uncle Fred (again): If you know a little Western Canadian history, you know that Eastern Europeans were not particularly welcome in Canada, and that sentiment persisted for a long time. Ukrainians — and others thought to be enemy aliens — were rounded up and held in prison camps during World War One — and not just men, either: entire families were interned in some cases. My paternal family is from somewhere in Belarus; my grandmother, born in Canada, identified as Russian, but Belarus is also bordered by Poland and Ukraine, so was likely considered "alien" by British Canadians. Just the same, my great-uncle apparently signed up to be a soldier in World War Two. I wonder how my grandmother felt about this. Her comments on the back of this photo are flattering — she notes how handsome my soldier-boy uncle is — but I'd like to know how she felt about the war and Canada's colonial participation in it.

4. Great-Uncle Paul: My great-uncle Paul also took part in World War Two, although I don't know whether he signed up before or after Fred. Paul married an English girl, Rosemary, an act that I know caused my grandmother great distress. I remember Paul; he didn't agree with my grandmother's ostracism of my parents and stayed in touch with my father for a few years after the great break.

5. My grandfather: He's the one on the left. This picture was taken in 1941; he was working on Lake Athabasca. Here's what my grandmother noted (on the back of a different photograph): "Bill [was] away commercial fishing from April till Oct. 1941. — I remember Bill wrote me a letter & talked about the Nazi invasion on the U.S.S.R. — firstly on Belorus [sic] which was home for him & our parents."

6. My grandmother: On this photo, my grandmother noted that she was fourteen or fifteen years old when it was taken and that her friend took it. This would be the early 1930s.

7. My grandmother (again): On this photo, my grandmother noted that she was fifteen or sixteen when it was taken. It must have been taken somewhere in Riverdale, but I don't have that detail. A few years later, she was married and a mother.

Since I started on this quest to learn more about my history, I've realized I have access to further resources (since all of these relatives are deceased). A history of Riverdale was published in the 1990s; it contains some of what I want to know. Must get my hands on that book — so I'm hoping my mother hasn't thrown away her copy. Just in case, I also contacted the publisher to ask whether they have a copy I could purchase. Curiosity and cats, you know...