Monday, July 21, 2014

Family resemblance

I got it into my head that there is a family resemblance between these two women, and now I am scuttling around trying to justify (to myself) why I had such a firm opinion lodged in my pea-brain! The first woman in each couplet is Ada Alice Selby, born September 1904; died September 1988. The second woman in each couplet is Olwen Dorothy Selby, born July 1921; died October 1997. Yes, they are a generation removed. There is contention whether or not they are both descended from John Selby (1865-1939) John would have been Ada's father, and Olwen's grand-father. A theory has been floated that, even though John married Ada's mother because she was with child, the child was actually not his. In my mind, there is no doubt that Selby is Olwen's grand-father. Olwen is my mother.
Looking at the couplets:
First couplet
Ada married when she was 23, in 1927. John Selby was part of the bridal party. I believe he "gave Ada away", in the niicest possible way. The photo of Olwen was taken in 1942, when she was aged 21. It is the image that my father took to New Guinea with him and stuck up on his sock " drawer". The nose is quiet different.
Second couplet
It is as they age, that the similarities consolidate. To me, they do. The nose is still different, but the set of the jowls is coming together, as are the forehead, and the neck. Here Ada is 56 and Ollie is 40.
Oops, changed this group into a three, once I realised the significance of the nose shape. The middle image, is of John Selby in 1927 at Ada's wedding.
Third couplet
And this is the pair of images that seals it for mine. It is the shape of the dowdy middle-aged body that is identifiable resemblance.Here Ada is 59 and Ollie 41. I think Ollie aged faster than Ada, but then again she was a life-long BEX addict, which eventually packed in her kidneys, and her eyes. I have quite a few images of Mum posed in front of abodes as are these two. The family was inordinately proud of the places in which they lived as a means of bestowing prestige. Not that they ever lived anywhere prestigious.
I am not aware that these two women ever met each oyher.

2 comments:

diane b said...

I can see a likeness especially in the ones where they are older. There is a likeness between you and Ada too.

Julie said...

Would not have noticed btw Ada and I. Must be the horn-rims!