A Favorite Photo : The men of the Thomas/Bellas/Stables family of County Durham, England.

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for us called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. You can learn more about it here and sign up if you think you would be interested. It’s a great way to share some of our data and as I looked through my photographs for the Week 2 prompt “Favorite Photo”, I not only enjoyed a quick refresher seeing some of my favorite photos but it also jogged my mind as to a few things I had meant to do with those photos and hadn’t yet. Thanks, Amy!

It’s not easy picking a favorite photograph. There are so many great ones that I like for different reasons. I finally settled on one that has some of my favorite people in it. It not only has my grandfather in it but also my favorite uncle, who we nicknamed ‘Uncle Snoozy’ as he would come from England to visit us in South Africa and would fall asleep each afternoon lying in the warm South African sun.

This photograph was taken late 1950s/early 1960s and shows several generations of the Thomas/Bellas/Stables family. It was taken either in Shiney Row, County Durham, England or Edmonton, London where the Stables family lived. The original is in my father’s possession and I have a digital copy. I’m not sure what the occasion was but there is another photograph, obviously taken at the same time, with all the wives and children. It looks to be a happy occasion whatever it was.

In the front is my grandfather, James Thomas, who was born in 1894 and whom I unfortunately never got to meet. He served during the First World War with the Tyneside Scottish, attached to the 21^st Northumberland Fusiliers and spent his 21^st birthday on the front. My father clearly remembers that his father forever hated the sound of bagpipes after the war as it reminded him of going ‘up and over’ the trenches to meet the enemy.

Behind my grandfather is “Uncle Snoozy”, Leslie Bruce Thomas. He was the oldest of my father’s siblings and I knew him well from visits to England and him visiting us in South Africa. He was a lovely man, a talented musician and always kind and loving. He passed away in 2013 but I can hear his voice with its’ Geordie accent calling me ‘Pet’.

Behind “Uncle Snoozy” is his son, also Leslie Thomas. Behind him is my great aunt’s husband, William ‘Bill’ Stables. Next comes another Leslie (a popular name in our family back then), this is Leslie Bellas. He fits into the Bellas side of the family as it was Elizabeth Bellas who married my grandfather, James Thomas. And finally, right at the back of the row, is Thomas Stables. He was the son of William ‘Bill’ Stables and Margaret Bellas (Elizabeth Bellas’ sister). Thomas Stables died in 1962 of renal failure, he was only 21. A favorite multi-generational photograph and one which makes me happy when I see it.