Maitland Street - Bloemfontein, South Africa

This card dates from around 1910. Currently, Bloemfontein, with a population of about 370,000, is the capital and cultural center of the Free State Province (formerly the Orange Free State) in South Africa. It is also the seat of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.


Bloemfontein is known for its flowers; it is also the birthplace of J.R.R Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was born here in 1892, but left South Africa for England when he was three years old. He and his mother and brother had actually intended to return to South Africa after visiting relatives, but Tolkien's father died in South Africa during their visit abroad, so the rest of the family ended up staying in England. Tolkien also suffered a spider bite in Bloemfontein, which gave him a lifelong fear of spiders.

Streetcar Sunday - Auckland, New Zealand

Last Sunday we looked at streetcars (or trams) in Sydney, Australia. This week we're off to Auckland, New Zealand.
This, from Wikipedia:
Auckland City had horse trams from 1884, and the electric trams was officially opened on 17 November 1902 - public service was delayed because the motormen from Sydney, Australia, were involved in the SS Elingamite shipwreck near Three Kings Islands 9 November 1902, in which three drowned. Public service commenced a week later, on 24 November 1902, and continued to 29 December 1956. They were replaced by trolleybuses and buses. While light rail is discussed as a future option for the city, there is currently only a heritage tram service between two main MOTAT museum sites, which runs parallel to part of the Point Chevalier tram route on Great North Road, but was not part of the original system.
With services running from downtown at the Waitemata Harbour, across to Onehunga on the Manukau Harbour, meant Auckland had the worlds' only 'coast to coast' tramway system.

Sepia Saturday - Your New Family #2

I once had a friend whose father always reconstructed their family Christmas tree, sawing off branches, drilling holes in the trunk and gluing the branches back in different places to create the perfectly symmetrical tree. It seemed wrong to me. Nature creates the tree and you're supposed to accept it as-is.

In genealogy, it would be the equivalent of discarding unfavorable relatives from your family tree and replacing them with imagined ones, or pretending to be related to the British royal family when you aren't (and why would you want that, anyway?) But, my thoughts about amending trees changed when  I met this girl:

I found her in an antique store. Somewhere along the line, descendants may have decided the picture wasn't worth keeping. So, there she was - abandoned. Not only is she captivating, she's much better looking than most of my early relatives and unlike them, she's actually smiling! Of course I immediately made room for her on the family tree. I didn't saw off any tree limbs, not even the one that includes the great-great uncle who allegedly died by falling into the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone Park.  Nope, we're stuck with him, but I think we can find room for this unnamed girl too. I'll just drill a hole in the trunk of the family tree and glue in a visitors' branch.

To look at more old photos from organic, free-range family trees, visit the Sepia Saturday blog.