Portrait on the Front Steps of 435

     This lovely family portrait that is staged and yet has a candid feel, was taken in 1906 at 435 Valley Avenue in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The lady in the center chair is Nellie, my great-grandmother, who was pregnant with my grandmother at the time. Two of Nellie's children are near - seventeen year old Florence, holding her cat, and eight year old Wendell, who stands next to his father, Alfred. The lady seated to Nellie's right is her mother, Jane Long, who would have been 64 years old, and the lady to her left is Alfred's mother, Sarah Phillips, age 72.

     The two-story white house was home to a myriad of extended family and friends over the years. It would later belong to Florence and her husband, who continued the same tradition until the mid 1960s when, tragically, the house was torn down to make way for a new highway.