Great Grandpa's camera

We try to grab pieces of our lives as they speed past us. Photographs freeze those pieces and help us remember how we were. We don't know these lost people but if you look around, you'll find someone just like them.
Gene McSweeney



My great grandfather was a man of many talents. Born September 1, 1842, he lived a long and successful life dabbling with many professions. Then list is long, law, education, (he was a teacher and eventually the local school superintendent),insurance, postmaster, and owner of the local general store, The Golden Rule. He had an extreme love of politics, serving seven terms as a Representative to the Maine Legislature, twice an unopposed candidate on both the Democrat and Republican ballots. He never lost an election.

His camera has helped me relive lost moments, before my birth and those of my grandfather and his four siblings, growing strong and steady in the good sea air surrounding this old house. We have a treasured box of old glass negatives and many prints. His imprint is everywhere, and on me.

His most prized contributions to the future, captured on a glass negative