Margaret Elizabeth Hayes Hansen ("Betty")
I have not posted much about my maternal grandmother Margaret Elizabeth Hayes Hansen on this blog, probably due to the fact that I have boxes and boxes of pictures from this side of the family I am still slowly wading through. I remember taking this one out some time ago and scanning it right away because it was so special. I've kept this picture on my bookshelf for quite awhile now because really it is one of my favorites!
Grandma's picture is small. Her future mother-in-law sits above her, her great grandchildren sit beside her.
I particularly love this picture because it shows Grandma as a teenaged girl, perhaps around 15 or 16, which would put the date of the photograph at about 1933 or so. A snapshot in time. According to the 1930 US Census she was living "Back off the Auburn Highway" in Grass Valley, California, with her mother Emma King Hayes VanDuzer, her stepfather George VanDuzer and her two sisters Dorothy (Auntie Dot) and Frances (Auntie Fran). She was the baby of the family, having been born in 1917. The census records the family as owning a radio and living on a farm (they probably raised chickens). At that time, they were far enough out of town that it was still pretty rural. Mr. VanDuzer was a local barber.
This picture was probably taken in Grass Valley, although it could have been taken in Los Altos where Papa and Granna (pronounced Gran-ay) lived on their prune farm on Grant Road. The girls were frequent visitors to their grandparents' home and had a close relationship with them.
Grandma's picture is in a small paper card, perhaps to make it more sharable with friends and family.
front cover
Did she have several copies made? Who did she share them with? She had probably just started high school and a picture this size would have been perfect for sharing with friends. What I love about this picture is her smile, and how happy she looks. I wonder: Did she like school? Who were her school friends? What did she like to do for fun? She looks like she has the whole world ahead of her.
Eudora Welty was quoted as saying "A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away". I think that's what I love most about this little picture. This moment was preserved forever.
Relationship Reference:
Me->Margaret Ann Hansen Boothby->Margaret Elizabeth Hayes Hansen
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