Week 45: Bearded
I am so far behind on this challenge now that I will probably just skip a few of the topics that don't really interest me that much. Pandemic lockdown has returned in a slightly less draconian form, but prudence has dictated that we minimize our time in grocery and other stores (though I'm afraid we are not very good at that!) and all indoor dining has been stopped in restaurants in Washington state. We've done take-out from one of our favorite local establishments so far, and I expect we'll do it a couple more times, but truthfully we aren't quite done with the Thanksgiving leftovers yet. We look forward to the end of this pandemic, hopefully with the introduction of several vaccines in the next couple of months.
So, bearded. The first thing that struck me as I looked at all of the available pictures of my male ancestors was that practically no one had a beard (my husband does have a beard but I don't think he wants to be featured here!). These guys were clean shaven, almost to a man, with one possible exception. I have a tiny photo, maybe a tintype, of my great grandfather Dwight Belknap. I think I see a beard in there. He definitely looks dashing in this photo, but I don't know much about him so I can't say whether this is a true impression. I've talked about him before, and even shared this picture! on week 27.
Editing on 12/8/2020 to add a little information about this guy. It turns out that his life was a bit more complicate than I thought. He was married once before he married my great grandmother, a marriage that apparently ended in divorce. He had two children by Lydia Ingraham (or Ingram or Ingrum): the oldest, Webb, is mentioned as a son in the legal proceedings after Dwight's death. Webb did not want any of his father's property so it all went to my grandfather. But seeing that made me wonder: I'd always thought that Webb was just a distant relative who might have been treated like a son and who had stayed in touch somehow. My grandmother Grace corresponded with his wife, also named Grace, for many years. From the census data, it looks like Webb, born in 1872, was parked with an aunt and uncle while his younger brother Eben, born in 1877, stayed with their mother at his maternal grandparents home. I think Eben must have died young but Webb made it into his 60s and was a veteran of the Spanish American War. Both Dwight and Lydia went on to marry other people.
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