.w. t. issell. .6. .private issell and niagara falls.

.sometimes the most interesting things you find, is what you don't find. .many people sell off images that have collecting value, or interesting subjects. .makes you wonder why this one was worth taking. .i have 2 albums from this family, the first album, which will come later, sadly, has almost half the photos removed. .however the photos that are left, are what horror movies could be made of.

.he looks like he's wearing a very typical cadets uniform from the 1920s. .but the arm detail i haven't been able to locate any information as to where he may have been a cadet. .any military buffs out there?

.and doesn't everyone make a trip to niagara falls?



.w. t. issell. .5. .church moving, rivedale zoo, sunnyside beach.

.i jumped ahead to t.w. issel's story because i thought his captions would help me have some success in discovering his story. .but, it seems my research skills are lacking. .i can't even find any record of the town of west mona. .sadly, i'm a bit discouraged. 

.yes, you read that right. .the riverdale zoo used to have polar bears. .i found a toronto archives photo of the cubs in 1926, but cant seem to find when they arrived and what later happened to them.

.another one of my favorite found photos.

.w. t. issell. .4. .black river.

.looks like i may have to take a bit of a road trip up to black river. .it's such a small town, there isn't much information available on the web.

.w. t. issell. .3. .trains and churches. .matheson, ontario.

 .the town of matheson is located a few hours north of sudbury. info on the town can be found here http://www.highway11.ca/Timiskaming/23Matheson/index.php

.lovely that he includes an unknow girl in his family album.

.w. t. issell. .2. .we meet w. t., and the rest of the family.

.it's funny, the only other emmie i know is my sister in law.

  



.w. t. issell. .1. .we meet w. t., mom and dad.

.i'm guessing this journey is staring in the 1920s.

.introducing w.t. issell.

.today i put rudolf on hold for a bit until i can focus a bit more time to finishing up some of the research i'm working on. .i would like to introduce w. t. issell. .well at least that's who i think it is. .the next few weeks we'll see him grow up. .this was a personal album, in which he documents his child hood all the way until he has children. .a lot of these photos were developed at a studio in the heart of toronto, but i'll expand on that at another time. .until then, i'm taking guesses as the when you think these were taken.

.the photos will be posted in the same order they were placed in the album including his descriptions. .well, the appropriate ones anyways, they weren't very politically correct back then! 

.we wonder why.

.the one question i get asked most of all, isn't -why do you care? or -what are you going to do with all these? .the question i get asked most of all is -why didn't some who knows these people keep them? .it's kind of sad really. .imagine all your grandparent's photos ending up in the hands of strangers. .what happened to those family members that forced their photos into a discount bill at the local good will? .no grand kids, brothers or sisters to hold onto them. .or maybe there were, and they just didn't care. .and then they end up with me. .i become oddly attached to these strangers, their lives, what they wore, the outings they ventured on and the friends that they made along the way. .i hope someone will have an interest in all my photos when i'm gone one day. .hopefully someone close to me, and that will pass them down for generations. .and hopefully my awkward family photos will be hidden in shoe boxes for many many years.

.in one sleeve of slides, i've found everything from historical train trips, historic airplanes and graduations to family portraits and celebrations. .below is a selection (including a family photo that maybe they would have wished would have stayed in a family shoebox) of one random box that has no connection to anything else i have. .i find it amazing that after only a few photos, i can start to imagine how these people's lives unfolded. .in this case, a young man shares his life with us. 

 .yup, maybe this one should have stayed in the vault!

.a view from the 6218 train.

 .the 6218 at an unknown rail station.