I am still looking through old photographs from my father’s side of the family. I found several with images of my great-great-grandmother through the years. Here she is early on with five of her sons.

They are identified as Mary Frances Kelly Paris, Lonnie, Oscar, Grady, Smiley, Abb, and the father, Edward Malen Paris. Grady was my father’s father. I am not sure which he was in this photo; possibly the one in the center with the wide, white collar.

I don’t see any resemblance to my father or to the photos of his father at a later age, but I think I can see a resemblance between one of the brothers in the back and some of my cousins.

Here’s a little closer look at Mary Frances.

She looked so young and petite, and not especially worn out after giving birth to five children. Here she is a few years later with six.

Still kicking it, and wearing her hair a little longer. She’s not looking at the camera here. I wonder why. Is that a hint of a smile?

Here she is sometime in the 1950’s, I think, with some of her grown children. These would be my father’s uncles. My father’s father had died years before this photo was taken.

Mary Frances is showing her age, which is to be expected. After all, this must have been at least 40 years after the earlier shots. The photo is labeled Abb, Smiley, Mrs. E.M. Paris, Curry, Oscar, and Lonnie. Abb never married. My father helped take care of him in his later years. According to my father, he was a riverboat gambler. I don’t know whether there was such a thing in those days, but that’s what he said.

That’s still Great-great-grandmother.

The dark areas on the front of her dress are artifacts of the print.

Here is an interesting photo that’s labeled “Barbecue 1905”. She’s in there, near the middle.

Barbecues were somewhat more formal in those days.

Here is a closer look.

I wonder what she was looking at.

The thing I find somewhat surprising is that she seems to be with Pancho Villa. I think it might have been possible, since, as far as I can tell, Villa was not otherwise occupied during that period.

OK, maybe it wasn’t Pancho Villa.

I think it was. I think my great-great grandmother had a secret life, and she didn’t tell anyone, except maybe my father. I think that’s why my father has such an odd expression on his face in so many of the older photos of him.