Canadian Families (1910s)


Figure 1.--The second half of the 1910s decade was dominated by World War I which broke out in Europe (August 1914). Canada although a Dominion and not a colony was automatically drawn into the war. Suddenly we see family portraits with dads and brithers in uniform. Here we see three generations of a soldiers family. The snapshot is a poorly processed AZO postcard back portrait. The snapshot was probably taken in 1915 or 16. The family looks like a middle-class family in comfortable circumstances. Some of the children are named (Jennie, Tom, Calvert, ????, Barbara, and Loren, but not the family. Given the number of children and ages, there may be two families involved here. Perhaps a father has already been deployed. We do not know where in Canada the photograph was taken. We do know it was an English speaking family. The background suggests a farm or small town.

We have limited information on the 1910s at this time, but are gradually building a data base. Many of the images that we have, unfortunately are undated Thus there is an element of uncertainty with the families we have loaded here. We are, however, fairly confident in our assesment of the 1910s decade. Younger boys wear a variety of outfits including tunic suits and sailor suits. Older boys wear knicker suits, mostly with long stockings. Norfolk suits were a popular style. We see men in uniform after the outbreal of Wrld War I (1914). Many of the images are indestinguishavble from American fanily portrait, although in some photographs we see British touches.

New Brunswick Family

We have lmited information on the 1910s at this time. We have one rural New Brunswick family, but it is undated. We are not sure yet if it is the late 1900s or early 1910s. The boys wear sailor suits. Our HBC contributor writes, "This is a photo post card. The people are named on the back, however I'm not very good and distinguishing what is says. I can make out that it is addressed to a person with the surname of "Estabrooks" (a name found locally), so it's likely that it is a close friend or relative that gave this. It was not stamped or mailed. [HBC note: These post cards could be mailed, but were often included in envelopes with letters.] In this image I noted the boy on the left that one of his pant legs has come loose and fallen down, whereas the other is still in place above his knee. I'm not sure what the "AZO" printed letters stand for around the area allocated for a stamp, but it seems to be common to a lot of Canadian Post cards and I thought it may be the printers label."

Unidentified Boy

We note another image of an unidentified boy that probably comes from New Brunswick is undated, but we believe was taken during the early to mid-1910s. The clothing here is our major indicator. A rough indication comes from the fact that this is a AZO postcard and the stamp box (with four upward pointing trangles suggest that it was taken in the 1914-18 period. We have two photographs of the boy with both his father and mother. The mother's dress may be the most useful dating tool. We do no know enough about dresses, however, to accurately date her outfit. The phorographs look to be taken in the family's backyard. They look dressed up foir the photograph. Perhaps it was taken after church. We'd say the boy is 12-13 years old. Note that they wear identical flat caps. The boy's knickers look almost like jodpurs.

Immigrant Jewish Family

Unfortunately no date on this photo, but it is reported to be a Jewish immigrant family taken in Canada in the early 1900s. We would guess the early 1910s but the late 1900s is also possible. Our dating is based primrily on the clothing styles. World War I cut off immigration, especially Jewish immigration. (Most Jews immigrated from Russia and Russian controlled Poland. When war broke out with Germany, the Jews had no way of reaching Canada and America.) But ofcourse the family could have immigrated earlier and had the portrait taken in the 1910s which is probably what occurred here. The family had four boys. The older boys wear identical Norfolk knicker suits with long black stockings. The younger boys wore white outfits, one with knickers and the other with knee pants.

Middle-class Soldier's Family

The second half of the 1910s decade was dominated by World War I which broke out in Europe (August 1914). Canada although a Dominion and not a colony was automatically drawn into the war. Suddenly we see family portraits with dads and brithers in uniform. Here we see three generations of a soldiers family (figure 1). The snapshot is a poorly processed AZO postcard back portrait. The snapshot was probably taken in 1915 or 16. The family looks like a middle-class family in comfortable circumstances. Some of the children are named (Jennie, Tom, Calvert, ????, Barbara, and Loren, but not the family. Given the number of children and ages, there may be two families involved here. Perhaps a father has already been deployed. We do not know where in Canada the photograph was taken. We do know it was an English speaking family. The background suggests a farm or small town.

Toronto Soldier's Family (1918)

Here we see an English-speaking Toronto family in 1918. We are somewhat confusd by the portrait. The father may be about to leave for France. We are not sure just what the scene is. It rather hs a look of a weding scene, although the lady is not dressed in white. Perhaps it was an informal War wedding. But then who are the boys and in contrast to the adults, they are dressed quite formally. They do seem to be the couple's children. But perhas they are ring bearers and ushers. We just do not know. The only thing we are sure about is that the portrait was taken in 1918. We believe the portrait was taken in Toranto, but we are not sure. A reader writes, "Are the two boys at either end wearing a sort of latter-day Faunterloy Suits? The elaborate lace collars suggest this, don't they?" Well we do see Fantleroy suits in the 1910s, although the style was much less common. That is one reason I think this may be a wedding rather thn family scene. And it looks to be like the younger boys are wearing kilt outfits rather than Fauntleroy suits.






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Created: 6:53 PM 11/3/2005
Last updated: 4:24 PM 1/29/2016