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.