The Photographer - In a Photo!

Dad let me know that the photo with the collie, "Lady Virginia" is of Aunt Lou Goodale Bigelow, not Ama Lou. Also, the pretty lady on the stairs is Lou. So, now two photos of our accomplished photographer, Lou Goodale Bigelow

Studio Photos

Lou Goodale Bigelow had a portrait/photo studio in Coronado, CA. Here are some studio portraits of Nadine, the first photo being Nadine as an infant in 1910. We think that it is her mother posing with her as well. Drama queens.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Farm Life in Marshall County, Kansas

Nadine, 1912

Great Aunt Ama Lou

While I remember my Great Aunt Kathleen Tilley Newman very well, my memory of Ama Lou is sketchy. Kathleen and Charles lived on Henry Street in San Diego, just down the street from us. I recall many fun parties at their house, and Great Uncle Charles was always so good about giving the kids little presents and making us feel so special.

Johnnie and Ama Lou Stevens, with their daughter Ann. I don't have a date on this one, nor a location. Help me out, folks.

Here are the latest photos....this is fun! If you are family and you have any information on the images, please leave a comment in the comment section. As always, click on image to enlarge.

Let me clarify: Nadine, our grandmother's first name was Alice. She didn't like it, and used Nadine instead. She used Alice as her middle name, so that is how we're using it. This is a sweet baby picture of her.

Kathleen, AmaLou and Nadine Tilley. Circa 1920. Looks like Balboa Park in San Diego. What do you think, Dad? Sound right?

A family pet, "Honey." I'll also try to find the photo of a kitten inside a fish bowl that Auntie Lou shot. Very sweet and funny.

Patrick Crowley and his mother Nadine. Nadine was married to Clarence Crowley and they had Patrick in 1932. Nadine always wore fashionable clothes, which look great in her portraits. She dressed dad pretty spiffy, too. Circa 1933 or 34.

Nadine.

San Diego

As always, click photo to enlarge.

This is the house in El Cajon CA where my great-grandparents Ada and Oscar Tilley, and great-aunt Lou Goodale Bigelow lived. Auntie Lou had a studio off to the right, attached by a lovely breezeway. This photo shows the house brand-new, not like I knew it: it had large walnut trees in front, a screened in porch and lots of green grass. The orchard was still behind it even when I was a kid, but the land has been bought up and turned into a housing subdivision.

Ada Tilley holding her grandson Carlos Newman.

Left to right, Patrick Crowley (our dad), Ada and Oscar Tilley, Carlos Newman (cousin), our great-uncle Charles Newman, Grandmother Nadine Tilley Crowley Robinson, great-aunt Kathleen. Photo by Auntie Lou at her studio in Coronado, CA. Circa 1945.

Kansas Homes

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New home, Marysville. Circa 1915.

Family picture from Ronan, Montana. Perhaps a vacation?

Family home, Marshall County, Kansas.

In the Beginning

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We'll start at the beginning. Ada and Lyman's Wedding in 1880. 129 years ago. And here we are today: the Crowley girls. I'll speak from our experience, though there are many many descendants across the U.S. My sister Shannon and I scanned a lot of photos, which is good considering the age of many of the images: the paper is oxidising and even some of the negatives are turning blue. My grandmother Nadine Alice Tilley Crowley Raine Ince Robinson kept these photos in a box in her storage closet, which was off her balcony. Not the best environment, but they survived! They are photos of her grandparents, her parents, her husband (before Robinson), her sisters Kathleen and Ama Lou, her brothers Lyman and Dee, and her cousins.

Ada Bigelow, my Great-Great Grandmother

Her great aunt Lou was a photographer of some renoun, who started her photographic career with Roland Reed who photographed American Indians in the 1890s. Later in life, she opened a photo studio in Coronado California and for 30 years photographed the rich and famous who came to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado. Sadly, not many photos of Lou Goodale Bigelow exist, as she was the one behind the lens.