My camera is three and a half pounds of image-capturing magic. Mary Jane Minor’s mouth would round in wonder at its 1295 frames. My great-great-grandma and I are alike in this regard–we collect faces, without identifying the occasion or relation or special qualities that make those eyes so admired, so treasured. Nonetheless, the portraits, now and then, are at an edge, where private lives meet public spaces, revealing a good bit about who we are, what technologies shape our present, what kinds of people add value to our days.
I can confidently put names to only a few faces. So what? This Victorian album is evidence of the sweeping movements of people and machines that transformed my ancestors’ communities in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. More than faces, these portraits are portals to history. 
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 
What a journey this album has taken us on! Learning of those who lived the dream of going West and starting new lives, family connections to familiar names we didn’t know we had, and their desire to stay connected though many miles and many years have come between us. They live, still. Thank you Mary Jane and Marion, and of course, Thank You Kay!
Thank YOU, Linda! I am grateful to have had a companion along for this adventure. In reviewing the Satchel Collection, I am finding documents that provide evidence for the Greene County, Pennsylvania exodus to several counties in Iowa. Wanna go along for another family journey?? 😉
Of course I am ready for the next journey. I wonder what they would think of the homeland?