Any family historian worth their salt has a collection of family photos and a high percentage of those will be of babies. I have quite a few, and fortunately most of the subjects are named.
I also have a collection of 'found photos', purchased at markets or on the web, and most of the babies in the collection are not named.
This week's Sepia Saturday theme photo is of a stock photo of a nursery with baby in a bassinet, mum (perfectly groomed and in control) reading a book, several soft toys on the furniture.
The matching photo I've chosen is not of a bassinet, it's not of a mother or story time and it's not of a nursery or politically incorrect soft toys. But it is of a baby. And he does have a name.
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| Glad with Allan Phelan, Mitiamo 1927 |
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| Allan Phelan with Glad, two of his aunts and an uncle, Mitiamo 1927 |
Allan Phelan was born early in 1927, the third child of Roy and Annie Phelan. The family lived at Mitiamo, a small town in central Victoria. A local girl called Glad was employed to help Annie look after Allan and his two older brothers. These two photos of young Allan were taken in Mitiamo and they are the only photos we have of him. He died at the age of ten months of 'gastro', some sort of gastroenteritis that causes vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration. These days it is rarely a fatal illness.
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| The Argus 1 Nov 1927 |
Allan was buried at Panoobamawm Cemetery (Pine Grove), a rural area east of Mitiamo where his mother lived when she was young.
I'm sure there are some happier stories over on
Sepia Saturday's webpage.
