Last week I posted a few amusing pictures of the Harry Hastings family enjoying an afternoon at their beach house. This week I dug deep into the photo archives to come up with more on the Hastings and the beginning of that family.
Here we have a Souvenir List from a European cruise in 1894, upon the Cunard Steamer "Umbria", where my maternal great grandparents met for the first time. Listed member, Miss Margaret Watrous of Wellesboro Pennsylvania is my great grandmother, and Mr. H. L. Hastings of Worcester, Massachusetts is my great grandfather.
The young couple -
Harry Leander Hastings
4-19-1875/10-26-1946
Margaret Isabelle (Smith) Watrous Hastings
12-8-1872/3-15-1950
This photo shows Harry & Margaret leaving on their honeymoon on October 20, 1898.
Harry & Margaret made their home at 23 Westland Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, the same city in which Harry ran the family business, "The L. A. Hastings Co.-Fine Harness & Leather Goods". Photo circa: early 1900's.Harry & Margaret had five children:
Frances Watrous, Sept. 21, 1899-May 25, 1994;
Twins, Elizabeth Lucy & Gerald Leander, August 20, 1903
Gerald died Feb. 18, 1947 - Elizabeth died Oct. 6, 1965
Martha Watrous, March 4, 1905-May 20, 1980
Harry Leander Hastings, Jr., Jan. 12, 1912-Dec. 24, 1938
Shown here are three generations of Hastings men, circa 1905:
Leander Augustus Hastings
Harry Leander Hastings
Gerald Leander Hastings
I love the caption written on this photo dated August 1905, "In the good old summertime". Showing the twins, Elizabeth & Gerald and eldest daughter Frances, with the nurse/nanny.
Circa apprx. 1908-1910
(The above photo was taken before Harry Jr. was born)
The last three photographs are fabulous. (Well, they're all wonderful but I especially like the last three.) They are so much of the era in which they were taken. You must be thrilled to have these and to have so many to document this family. Thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteThe photos tell a story in themselves. They are wonderful and a great inheritance from your past. The house was huge. Simply wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI know from working in Ancestry.com that you have put much work into this post and it is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine Harry and Margaret being introduced at a party, perhaps on board ship, or maybe it was more of a romantic encounter on deck as he strolled around for some fresh air and discovered her on a chaise, reading a book? These are fabulous photos and what a great deal of information you have amassed!
Kat
so interesting; we are in so. IL at an RV rally and the couple parked nexted to us in the twin to our motor home are from Wellesboro, PA! And October 20 is our anniversay day.....coincidence?? Very nice post and commentary
ReplyDeleteImagine being on a European cruise in the 1890s! It must have been so elegant. And how wonderful to have a record of it too. These are beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteThis was lovely through and through. Your great grandparents were handsome people and made beautiful children. I'm charmed by the idea of the two young people meeting on board ship. Fun to imagine that!
ReplyDeleteThe whole post is a treasure : the story, the documents and the photographs. What stunning photographs. What a delight to still have them in the family and what a wonderful thing to share them with us all.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos & a really interesting post!
ReplyDeleteOh Wow... how wonderful to still have those cruise records from all those years ago. What treasures! Thank you so much for sharing your familial history with us. I really enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteI am descended from Gideon Hammond Allen who married Ella Augusta Hastings. Is there a connection to your Hastings family?
ReplyDeleteHarry L. Hastings was my maternal great grandfather. I am Donald Hastings Ramsey from Newtown, CT
ReplyDeleteDo you know if anyone in the family has any of H. L. Hastings' pamphlets or newspapers "The Christian"? I am researching him.
ReplyDeleteThanks.