Those were the days: The Soares clan, with friends & neighbors

Vintage photographs from the 1930s and beyond from the family of Victor Faria Soares, Sr. and Rose Raymond Soares of Somerset, Mass., my grandparents. These were digitized by my uncle, Arthur Faria Soares, who also provided me with many stories about my family and his experiences growing up. The children of Rose and Victor Sr. were: Victor Jr., Beatrice, Raymond (my father), and Arthur.

This is Alexina Ouellette in 1938. She was my great-great aunt, the sister of my great-grandmother, Celina Trahan Raymond. I didn't know of her existence until Uncle Arthur sent me these photographs. Perhaps it was because, as he described her, she was a "strict disciplinarian." My father was the rascal of the family, so perhaps he chose not to speak of her. Alexina was born in Québec and came to the U.S. in 1881. In 1910, she was living with her sister's family on Seventh Street in Fall River, Mass. She was illiterate and worked as a spinner in a cotton mill. Though she had been married eight years, she had no children and her husband apparently was living elsewhere (he may have gone back to Québec temporarily, as the French-Canadians sometimes did). In 1918, after the war ended, Alexina went to Québec to visit her family. Her husband died in the great influenza epidemic while she was gone and had already been buried when she returned. Later, she would live with the Soares family and moved with them to Somerset. Arthur would often do small favors for her, including buying her favorite brand of snuff, "Red Top," at the corner store. Once, as a reward, she gave him a shiny, blue toy pistol. Arthur said he remembered thinking it was an amazing gift.