Pleasant Grove
Hello All,
Aunt Linda is my mother's sister. She came to Utah for my cousin Camille Mattson's wedding (to be the subject of an upcoming post). I have the pleasure of her company here at the Fortress. Aunt Linda brought a couple of her photo albums and has given permission for me to post her pictures to this family history blog.
This first post will cover the years 1900 to 1957. Linda and Luella's comments will be written below each photograph (if they have anything interesting to add).
Let's get started....
Great Grandmother Ida Tornberg Mattson with son Walter and husband John Albert Mattson
Lead, South Dakota. 1917
Great Grandmother Vesta (left). Grandma Violet's mother.
Taken at Hot Springs, South Dakota. The others in the photo are unknown.
early 1920's
Grandpa Walter Mattson in the Civilian Conservation Corps (far right)
1937
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 17–23. James McEntee was the head of the agency. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.
The CCC was designed to provide employment for young men in relief families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 2.5 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).
Raymond Lidman and Grandpa Walter Mattson.
Raymond's was John Albert Mattson's Grand Nephew (grandson of his sister Josefina).
1942
Luella Mattson. 1941
Mattson Ranch. Montana
Aunt Linda. 1942.
The dress Linda is wearing (and the shoes) belonged to Grandpa Walter when
he was a baby. In 1912, baby boys and girls wore dresses. It made it easier to
change diapers.
Aunt Linda
Linda said it is Luella and Luella insists it is Linda. After a few minutes of
debate and comparisons with other photographs, they both agreed it was Linda.
Luella and Linda on the Ranch
Young Luella with her Grandmother Vesta (Violet's mother).
Vesta is holding Linda. Belle Fourche, November 1941
Luella with baby Linda
November 1941
November 1941
Luella with younger sister Linda on the Mattson Ranch in Montana.
Linda is wearing overalls. Luella is wearing socks that went all the way up
and pinned to her underware. Such clothing was necessary to keep warm
according to Great Grandma Ida who insisted on it - a Swedish thing.
Linda added the following story as she and Luella discussed the photograph above.
"Grandma Ida wouldn't let Luella and I wash our hair if it was baking day. Washing loosens hair and it might end up in people's food. She made us cover our hair with a bandana. Grandma Ida always insisted the table be set properly with the spoon, fork, plate, glasses all in their proper place. Oh, and do you remember [speaking to Luella] that Grandma called us 'Steena'."
Mattson Ranch
Joe Howard, the mailman holding Linda. Luella is in the rocking chair.
1942
Joe would stop and have a cup of coffee when he delivered the mail. He would stop again for another cup on his way back. He was a regular around the Mattson home.
"Mother always had a pot of coffee on the stove ready for anyone who'd drop by," Luella remembered.
Uncle John
1943
John Mattson
1943
1943
Marvin Mattson
1944
Luella, John and Linda
Mattson Ranch. 1943
Uncle John and Uncle Marvin. 1947
Grandma Violet had just come from town with new clothes for
the kids. Then it was straight out for photographs.
The kids on the Montana Ranch
Left to Right: Ring (the dog - a border collie), Linda, Luella (the skyscraper) Marvin is standing in front of Luella, then Dickie Dennson and John.
Dickie was a neighbor who spent a lot of his free time at the Mattson home playing with John and Marvin.
Great Grandpa John Albett, Luella and Grandma Mattson are the tallest.
The smaller children (left to right): Carleen Moss, John Mattson, Irene Moss (white dress), Marvin Mattson and Linda Mattson standing in front of the Mattson car.
Grandma Violet with her two daughters Linda and Luella
Summer 1951
On the Mattson Ranch
Grandpa Walter Mattson with his two sons John and Marvin
Summer 1951
Mattson Ranch
Linda, Grandma Violet and Cousin Diana Pierce (daughter of Violet's brother Walter)
at Belle Fourche Park
1951
Linda, Charles Williamson, Marvin, Luella and John
Summer 1955.
Charles and Luella were dating at the time. The photo taken in the Mattson's backyard in
Spearfish, South Dakota.
June 1956
Luella with her husband by one day Charles Williamson the day after their wedding. The family decided to take a tour of the Black Hills. In the picture left to right; Newlyweds Luella and Charles, Grandma Violet, young Marvin, Grandpa Walter and Linda
"We really didn't have a proper honeymoon. After the reception we drove to Newcastle [Wyoming] for the night then came back to Spearfish the next day," Luella explained.
Linda on the porch of the Mattson home in Spearfish. June 1956
A tour through the Black Hills the day after Charles and Luella's wedding
June 1956. Great Grandma Vesta and her husband are with them
