Want to see my hillbilly family?

[Lewguitar]

This is an old photo from the 40's.. Actually a shotgun wedding photo if you can believe it. That's my aunt holding the shotgun.

Coal miners before they all packed up and headed north to settle in Detroit...which is where I was born.

We visited the ones who didn't make the move when i was about 10.

Really poor...altho those who moved to Detroit did quite well for themselves eventually.

They weren't stupid. Just very poor.

I remember visiting my Uncle Joe with my dad in the 50's.

Uncle Joe was dying. Black lung.

When we walked up to his little house the thing I remember is a Kellogg Corn Flakes box sewn with wire over a big hole in the screen door.

https://imgur.com/bghSVKF

 

[revtime]

If the little kid had a fiddle it would be perfect.

 

[Lewguitar]

He does have a dog in his arms though. I think that might be my dad's brother, Ken. The little kid...not the dog.

Dead, gone and blended back into the undifferentiated cosmic soup....

 

[ruger9]

Wow, what a pic. I know poor still exists (here in the US), but nothing like that. Do you know where this pic was taken? (I can't tell if you inferred this was in Detroit, or before)? Asking because my family also comes from coal country- the hills of Eastern Kentucky. After returning home from WWII, my father worked in the mines for a short awhile (before going to DETROIT to get work with the big auto manufacturers- LOTS of work up there after WWII)

 

[aphantomvaper]

Great share, thank you!!!

 

[SinSir]

I know poor still exists (here in the US), but nothing like that.

Go to Chicago and check the tents.. I'd rather be a hillbilly. There's poor worse than above in US, the cloting and setting may be different, but it's here.

 

[Lewguitar]

Wow, what a pic. I know poor still exists (here in the US), but nothing like that. Do you know where this pic was taken? (I can't tell if you inferred this was in Detroit, or before)? Asking because my family also comes from coal country- the hills of Eastern Kentucky. After returning home from WWII, my father worked in the mines for a short awhile (before going to DETROIT to get work with the big auto manufacturers- LOTS of work up there after WWII)

Sure do. Premier, West Virginia.

My dad's family were coal miners.

My mom's were copper miners in Calumet, Michigan.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

If the little kid had a banjo it would be perfect.

FIFY

 

[alantig]

If the little kid had a fiddle it would be perfect.

Why do you think the lady has the shotgun? They just claimed "shotgun wedding" because it's more socially acceptable.

 

[Moondog Wily]

After seeing this, the term hillbilly got in my head and so I did some searching on it! Interesting stuff!! Here is the wikipedia entry on the topic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly

A 1900 New York Journal article definition: "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him". Sounds like my kinda kin folk ;~))

If I ever record it, I will try to remember to post here the song I wrote last year called "My In Laws Is Out Laws"!

 

[bodia]

FIFY

What, not a harmonica?

 

[bodia]

I love old pictures like this. When I used to take the train into Chicago every day I’d often stare out the window and wonder what some of the area looked like 100 years ago….

 

[d4rkst4r]

I prefer 'Mountain Williams'.....

 

[ruger9]

Go to Chicago and check the tents.. I'd rather be a hillbilly. There's poor worse than above in US, the cloting and setting may be different, but it's here.

Well, there's poor and there's homeless, and the reasons they are homeless.... but that's a subject for a different place, not a guitar forum IMO.

 

[ruger9]

Sure do. Premier, West Virginia.

My dad's family were coal miners.

My mom's were copper miners in Calumet, Michigan.

My dad's family was around Pikeville, KY. Alot of poor in those areas, still today. Areas also decimated by the oxycontin scandal unfortunately.

 

[SinSir]

Well, there's poor and there's homeless, and the reasons they are homeless.... but that's a subject for a different place, not a guitar forum IMO.

Homeless is no longer defined the traditional sense, especially in some major cities. There's tents with Harleys.

I had a client in Kentucky, on the outskirts the families looked much worse off than that pic. An acquaintance from Flint has family in much worse conditions than I could imagine. List goes on and on.. Heck, I don't even agree with lumping the family pic in with our poverty today.. warm clothes in good shape, healthy appearance, and happy.. even if it is a shot gun wedding!

The world isn't filled with little boxes on the hillside made with ticky tacky that all look the same.

I agree not a discussion for a guitar board, and a luxury one at that. Many of us are removed from the realities some families face today.

Rant off. On topic great pic @Lewguitar Its neat to see these old pics from a different time. Thanks for the share.

 

[Lewguitar]

Why do you think the lady has the shotgun? They just claimed "shotgun wedding" because it's more socially acceptable.

That's how that get together was always described to me. We've had the photo a long time.

My Aunt Mary, the one holding the shotgun, was a trip.

She was scary.

But this time i think she was just being funny.

 

[SinSir]

That's how that get together was always described to me. We've had the photo a long time.

My Aunt Mary, the one holding the shotgun, was a trip.

She was scary.

But this time i think she was just being funny.

Is the guy in the center the groom? Almost looks like he has a six shooter in his back! Lol

That's awesome to see a legit shot gun wedding photo, even if it is family lore. It's still greatness.

 

[Lewguitar]

Is the guy in the center the groom? Almost looks like he has a six shooter in his back! Lol

That's awesome to see a legit shot gun wedding photo, even if it is family lore. It's still greatness.

That is my Uncle Ivan. He was married to my Aunt Mary. I don’t know who was getting married. Maybe those two!

 

[dogrocketp]

I understand humble family. Both my parents came fro Western Maine, whose best days were post civil war.