--- title: At the margin description: One of the joys of old photographs is the occasional detail, the one that hovers at the margin, away from the central feature of the image. image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-album-for-VB-249x300-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # At the margin [May 20, 2016](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin) [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [Photographs](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/photographs), [American History](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history), [Collections](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/collections), [A Genealogist's Diary](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/a-genealogists-diary), [Object Lessons](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/object-lessons), [Family stories](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) [Scott C. Steward](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/ssteward) [![ABA album for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-album-for-VB-249x300-1.jpg?width=249&height=300&name=ABA-album-for-VB-249x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-album-for-VB-1.jpg) My grandmother's album. One of the joys of old photographs is the occasional detail, the one that hovers at the margin, away from the central feature of the image. Looking through one of my grandmother’s albums – helpfully marked “Vol. 1,” although I’m not sure there are any subsequent ones in the series – I’m struck by the horses and cars (even the occasional ostrich) that coexist with the people peopling the photographs. My grandmother’s family was considered very “horsey,” and they were happy to be associated with their powerful cars – and I think there is a bit of a story to be found in these images. [![Anne and Theo in California in 1915 for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Anne-and-Theo-in-California-in-1915-for-VB-219x300-1.jpg?width=219&height=300&name=Anne-and-Theo-in-California-in-1915-for-VB-219x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Anne-and-Theo-in-California-in-1915-for-VB-1.jpg) Anne and Theo Ayer in California, 1915. The earliest image shows my grandmother and great-aunt[[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftn1) riding an ostrich in California. It is marked 1915, when Aunt Theo was nine and Grandmother was about seven. My great-grandparents[[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftn2) used to go out west in the winter with my great-great-grandparents,[[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftn3) and I’ve seen letters about their visits to the Banning and Patton cousins in Pasadena. For my grandmother, a native of Boston, these California trips must have seemed quite exotic, and the ostrich ride seems like the icing on the cake. [![Family touring in Mexico for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Family-touring-in-Mexico-for-VB-1024x585-1.jpg?width=604&height=345&name=Family-touring-in-Mexico-for-VB-1024x585-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Family-touring-in-Mexico-for-VB-1.jpg) Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fanning Ayer with their daughters Anne and Theodora. One of my favorite photos of the Ayer family is this one, showing my great-grandparents with their daughters visiting Baja California. The photographer has helpfully provided signage to advertise his services. [![Fancy Dress at the New Riding Club on Greylegs 1916 for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Fancy-Dress-at-the-New-Riding-Club-on-Greylegs-1916-for-VB-300x257-1.jpg?width=300&height=257&name=Fancy-Dress-at-the-New-Riding-Club-on-Greylegs-1916-for-VB-300x257-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Fancy-Dress-at-the-New-Riding-Club-on-Greylegs-1916-for-VB-1.jpg)This photo, from 1916, shows my grandmother riding Greylegs for a fancy dress event at the New Riding Club in Boston.         [![Mama at some point in her career for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mama-at-some-point-in-her-career-for-VB-228x300-1.jpg?width=228&height=300&name=Mama-at-some-point-in-her-career-for-VB-228x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mama-at-some-point-in-her-career-for-VB-1.jpg) Theodora Ilsley Ayer (1881-1945). The next image dates from the late 1910s, I’d say, or early 1920s. My grandmother has captioned it “Mama, at some point in her career,” which suggests they had a fairly sophisticated parent-child relationship.     [![Mama and Edith in their gondola in Venice in 1924 with Giovanni at the helm for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mama-and-Edith-in-their-gondola-in-Venice-in-1924-with-Giovanni-at-the-helm-for-VB-1024x873-1.jpg?width=604&height=515&name=Mama-and-Edith-in-their-gondola-in-Venice-in-1924-with-Giovanni-at-the-helm-for-VB-1024x873-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Mama-and-Edith-in-their-gondola-in-Venice-in-1924-with-Giovanni-at-the-helm-for-VB-1.jpg) Venice, 1924. In 1924, my great-grandmother took her daughters and a friend (Edith Woodward) to Europe. Here they are in Venice, and my grandmother’s focus is on the handsome gondolier: she has captioned the photo “Mama and Edith in their gondola … with Giovanni at the helm.” [![The Hispano at Carnac 1926 for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/The-Hispano-at-Carnac-1926-for-VB-841x1024-1.jpg?width=604&height=735&name=The-Hispano-at-Carnac-1926-for-VB-841x1024-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/The-Hispano-at-Carnac-1926-for-VB-1.jpg)Two years later, my grandmother visited France with a chaperone. While she took a number of photos of the group in which she traveled, my grandmother was careful to photograph their chauffeur (“Albert at Carnac”) and their Hispano-Suiza touring car: “The Hispano at Carnac 1926.” [![TIA up for VB](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/TIA-up-for-VB-172x300-1.jpg?width=172&height=300&name=TIA-up-for-VB-172x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/TIA-up-for-VB-1.jpg)Finally, here is another image of my great-grandmother, identified by her initials: “T.I.A. up.” As a general rule, the photos in this album contain a member of the Ayer family, a horse or a dog, and – as we’ve seen here – some sort of motor vehicle/ostrich/gondola. The thing at the margin has moved to center stage. ### Notes [[1]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftnref1) Anne Beekman Ayer (1908–1947) and Theodora Ayer (1905–1996). [[2]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftnref2) Charles Fanning Ayer (1865–1956) was married to Sara Theodora Ilsley 1904–45 and to Anne Phillips in 1946. [[3]](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin#_ftnref3) Frederick Ayer (1822–1918) was married to Cornelia Wheaton 1858–78 and to Ellen Barrows Banning in 1884; a complicated series of marriages connected the Ayer, Banning, and Patton families, even before Frederick and Ellen’s daughter Beatrice married George Smith Patton, Jr., in 1910. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/05/at-the-margin) - - - More - - ![Scott C. Steward](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported%20images/f0ca00236a2eb95f2a42a6692ce1ee9c%3Fs=96%26d=identicon%26r=g.jpeg) ## About Scott C. Steward Scott C. Steward has been NEHGS’ Editor-in-Chief since 2013. He is the author, co-author, or editor of genealogies of the Ayer, Le Roy, Lowell, Saltonstall, Thorndike, and Winthrop families. His articles have appeared in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, NEXUS, New England Ancestors, American Ancestors, and The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, and he has written book reviews for the Register, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.[View all posts by Scott C. 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