Gallery Samples Stories of our Ancestors | Page 27

I don’t know if I’m imagining it but I’m sure I can recognise the young Ida in my memories of
Granny Ida.

JACK AND IDA ON THEIR WEDDING DAY

JACK ANDERSON and IDA BEATRICE WATERS: married in the West Hill Wesleyan Church,
Grahamstown on the 26th November 1907; they were both 22 years old.
The man on the left was thought by Ruby to be a relative of Ida’s. There’s no resemblance to
her Father, George Job Waters, the old man in the photo we’ve just seen. Ruby thought he
might have been an uncle, but she didn’t discuss why the Father wasn’t there in his rightful
place. Perhaps Ida’s Mother Sarah Jane was already too ill to attend as she died two to three
years later. Or could it be that they didn’t approve of the marriage?
Then there are the groom and bride and seated on the right is Carl Gustav, aged 58 at the time.
Seated in front wearing the most alarming hat, black stockings and elaborate bouquet is Jack’s
young sister Linda. (Linda was red-haired and reputed to be a lovely, kind girl. She grew up to
marry Albert Hodgkiss, my Father Les’ eldest brother).
It is obvious that the Mothers of the family were not considered important enough to be part of
the family wedding group, whether Sarah Jane attended or not. After all, the bride was being
‘given away’ to the groom and the men were doing the giving and receiving. Jack’s Mother
Catherine would have been there. While on the subject of the two Mothers, Sarah Jane was six
or seven years older than Jack Andersson’s Mother, Catherine who was born in 1864. Both
Catherine and Sarah Jane had their last children within two years of each other, in the late
1890’s. And both of these baby girls died at or before aged two years. Therein the similarities
appear to end. If one considers that the two women were contemporaries the photo
comparisons are startling (see Catherine at the end of Part 2).
Looking at Ida and her generation from our perspective, it takes some adjustment to
understand her lack of formal education. Her family was not impoverished but how many early
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