Close to Home: Growing Up on the Lane

Photo collection of William and Hannah (Champlin) Broadfoot
Privately held by Midge Frazel 2016

Close to Home: Growing Up on the Lane

This small photo tells me a lot about the years that my father and his siblings spent living on Bowling Lane in Bradford, RI. I have just a few photos of my paternal grandparents with their children and this was a new one to me. My father had a close relationship with his mother as evidenced by my grandmother, Annie with her arm around my dad. Whoever took this photo almost cut off my aunt. They probably couldn't imagine that this would be the only photo taken that I would see of them when they were older.

None of us in my generation knew Tom and Annie as they died before any of us were born. I was quite surprised that my grandmothers knew each other. They had completely different experiences living in the same town.

While I was researching the Broadfoot and Aiken ancestors, I used to wish I had a photo of their four children all in one photo. Now I have several. Isn't that the way things happen?

The dog in this photo is just a small puppy. The later pictures I have show the dog a little older. What I gained from the photo is what the children called their parents as they are identified as Pa and Ma.

Telling the story of each one of their children brings them close to home.