A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to All!

From the collection of John Rochon

Found this wonderful Art Nouveau inspired postcard from 1905 years ago, unfortunately neither the artist nor the manufacturer are given.

William A. Couse of Sarnia and Petrolia, ON

From the collection of John Rochon

The two photos above by Couse of Sarnia, ON show the subjects, my grandfather Lee Knudsen on the left and an unidentified baby on the right, seated in the same chair and propped against the same cushion.



From the collection of John Rochon

The above selections show Margaret Hardy standing on an elaborately carved chair and an unidentified child seated in a corner chair.



From the collection of John Rochon

The examples above show on the left, a little girl standing on a wicker corner chair and on the right, a young couple taken in Petrolia, ON.  The unusual hand-carved chair in this photo is now located in the Oil Heritage Museum in Petrolia.

From the collection of John Rochon

The young couple above posed for Mr. Couse in Petrolia.  Joan Crawford had nothing on her!!



Barbershop Chorus - 1966

From the collection of John Rochon

Having performed with the Bluewater Chordsmen for a brief time before I lost the ability to remember lyrics, I always keep my eyes open for Barbershop recordings.  Recently I was happy to find several albums recorded from the early 1960's on.  When going through them later, I discovered this great photo of a chorus tucked into the sleeve of the Ontario District Barbershoppers 20th Anniversary Souvenir Album recorded live at the Grand Theatre in Kingston, ON in 1966.  The photo was taken by the Grand Valley Studio of Kitchener, ON.  Hopefully, I'll be able to identify them.

From the collection of John Rochon

Edwardian Interiors

These three photos are scans from glass negatives taken by Arthur FitzGerald Cochrane.

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon



The top photo shows what appears to be a bar area - I have images of a pool table and cigar smoke when I look at this.  The remaining two appear to be different angles of the same room, the first showing a woman lighting the fire and the second focusing more on the furnishings.

New Arrivals...

Three 'new' CDV's arrived in the mail today for my Ontario Photographers collection.

From the collection of John Rochon

This vignette of a young man is a little confusing, being marked on the front with "Ewing & Co." and on the back with "Ewing Photo" - perhaps they were going through a transition at the time?



From the collection of John Rochon

This wonderful shot of a seated young man by J.H. Griffiths of London is from the early - mid 1860's.



From the collection of John Rochon

This view of a seated young woman from W.E. Linaop of the Elgin Gallery of St. Thomas, ON dates from the 1870's.

In Memory of...

My father, Fernand Rochon, who passed away yesterday at the age of 84.  This pic is of him holding my sister Ann.

From the collection of John Rochon

New Arrival...

Again today my friend Doug called me over saying he found another photo.  He handed me a tintype inscribed on the back with the name S.F.V. (Queenie) Denham.

From the collection of John Rochon

So, I went back to the information I found on the Denhams and discovered that Sarah Victoria - hence Queenie - F. Denham was born c1876 to George and Sarah in Petrolia.  I also found this photo which I picked-up some time ago inscribed with the name Daisy Denham.

From the collection of John Rochon

Whether or not Daisy is from the same family I do not know.  Will let you know if I find out.

Man's Best Friend

Although most people think immediately of dogs, I believe that any pet fits the description.  Here are some of my photos of people with their best friends...

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

The photo on the left above is of my grandmother, Adelia Moffatt with her friends, and the photo on the right is also my grandmother with her niece Helen Hamilton and their friend.

From the collection of John Rochon

The photo above is of my grandmother's family - she is standing at center - taken in Bobcaygeon, ON in 1901.

From the collection of John Rochon

The photo on the left above is of my grandmother, at left, and her sisters May, center, and Margaret at right.

From the collection of John Rochon

The above snapshot is of my mother's cousin's family, Bobby and Robert Merchant and their best friend.

From the collection of John Rochon

The photo above left is of my parents just after their marriage with Ching.  The photo above right is of my gr-grandfather, Frederik Knudsen with "Glamourpuss".

From the collection of John Rochon

The photo above is of my mother's cousin Helen Hamilton with her best friend Jim.  The photo on the right is of the Vieau family with their best friend.

From the collection of John Rochon

The snapshot above is of some of my cousins with their best friend taken in Bobcaygeon, ON in the 1950's.

From the collection of John Rochon

The above photo is from a glass negative snapped in Britain by Arthur FitzGerald Cochrane of the gardener's children with their best friend.

New Arrivals...

While on my way to the Post Office today, my friend Doug called me over to his store.  He had found 5 tintypes in a box and knew that I would like them for my collection.  Luckily (this almost never happens) someone had etched names on the backs!  When I got home I immediately started searching online for information on the persons pictured in these wonderful old pics and much to my delight I found that they had Lambton County connections.

From the collection of John Rochon

Etched on the back of the above photo is "George Denham husband of Sarah Catherine Smith".  From what I could find online, this is what I put together:

George Denham, a druggist.  He was born c1839 in ON.  Prior to 1870 he married Sarah Catherine Smith born c1842, the d/o R.H. Smith and Mary Bogart.  He died in Petrolia, ON on 18 Jan 1903.  Sarah  died 9 Apr 1916 Oxbridge Twp., ON and was buried in Newmarket.  I also found this Real Photo Postcard of the interior of the Denham drug store in Petrolia c1915 which was at the time run by William Denham, s/o George and Sarah, on the Lambton County Library website/Museum Catalogue/Denham.  Could the lady in the photo be Sarah??

From the County of Lambton

From the collection of John Rochon

The two photos above are of George Stanley Stokes, a farmer.  He was born in ON c1865, the s/o Sidney and Elizabeth Stokes.  In Petrolia, ON on 12 Jan 1898 he married Mary E. Denham.  She was born in Petrolia, ON on 13 June 1870, the d/o George Denham and Sarah Catherine Smith.  George Stokes died 22 May 1916 in Oxbridge Twp., ON and was buried in Newmarket.

From the collection of John Rochon

The remaining two photos depict George Stokes (seated) with a friend at left and George Stokes with his sister Olive Isabel at right.  Olive was born c1864 in ON and married Nathaniel James Stevenson, the s/o Mark Stevenson and Rebecca Steen sometime between 1891 and 1901.  They had a son, William Morrow Stevenson born 2 Oct 1901 at Scott, ON, then Olive died on 16 Oct 1901 probably from complications of childbirth.  Nathaniel was born 13 Oct 1862 in ON and died at York, ON on 4 Oct 1921.

Hidden Mothers

An area of collecting that has really taken off recently is that of "Hidden Mothers".  Many old photos of babies were taken while the child was held in it's mothers lap or propped-up by mother seated to the side and out of the camera's view, however, in many the mother has either been disguised behind cloth or draperies or edited out altogether.  Here are some of the examples I have found.

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon

From the collection of John Rochon