ERM at the beach

I don't know whose sail boat this was or who the lady is on the far right; that's my parents on the left.

My parents, around 1939 - 1940. What a lovely photograph this is... they are young, attractive, well dressed, his arm around her shoulder.

Portraits, ERM, 1940s (two)

Portraits, ERM, 1940s (one)

ERM on a business trip, late 1930s-early 1940s

This final photograph shows George and Freddy D'Alfonso, who was the chef on the train.

My mother in the late 1920s, early 1930s

At Rondeau Beach, 1932

Back in the 1930s.

2226 Girouard Avenue, Montreal (three)

It's around 1997 and I'm making my first visit back to 2226 Girouard Avenue, the first visit since 1968 or 1969.

SM in front of 2226 Girouard Avenue.

Lovell's Montreal City Directory, 1844-45

First appearance of Laurence Morrissey in Lovell's Directory.

ERM in Miami, 1920s

In the late 1920s or early 1930s my father went on a holiday, by himself, to Miami. Here are some photographs from that trip.

I am always impressed by how well dressed many people were in old photographs. Always well turned out, always a tie and suit, always very dapper...

A day at Westmount Park, around 1953

Here I am, around 1953, all dressed up. I believe that's Academy Road (running parallel to Ste. Catherine Street) behind me, which is the most southern boundary of Westmount Park, between Melville on the east and Landsdowne on the west (I could be wrong about these names). This is a truly lovely park with foot paths, hills, an artificial lake, and an excellent library and green house--both on the park grounds--that are both open to the public. Our old Hillman, bought second hand from the Meldrums, of the moving company family, can be seen in the background. I remember lying down length-wise on the back seat of this car, it was that small. They don't make cars like that anymore, pity.

There's the Hillman behind me, and a public school. I wonder where this outfit came from...

That's the corner of Academy Road and Melville behind me... This is actually a great location in which to live, although I always found the stretch of Ste. Cathrine Street, parallel to Academy Road and running through Westmount just a block south of here, particularly bleak and depressing. So, avoid Ste. Catherine Street until you get to Atwater. Louis Dudek lived for many years just a few blocks from here on Ingleside.

My brother and I.

On Avonmore, 1948 - 1949

Here's my brother around 1948 - 1949.



Here's my brother, before I was born, in the Avonmore apartment, our parents' first home after they married in 1940. This is around 1948 - 1949; it's Christmas and the cards are on the book shelf in front of the living room window. I think those chintz drapes were recycled to our home on Oxford Avenue. Entertainment back then was the radio and reading--no TV, no internet--I think I still have some of the books that are on the shelves beside and under the radio, or I've given them to my son.

Here is what Avonmore looks like today. Photo taken around 2004. One day my mother was followed home by a strange man; she phoned her father who was a fireman for the City of Montreal, and he sent around a police officer to check out the problem. Her parents were very protective of their daughter. Another time, she received a phone call from a neighbour, someone had been killed by a streetcar that ran on the far left (between two streets) of the above photo. Maybe it was a suicide. Streetcar service in Montreal ended in 1959, I remember the tracks on Decarie Blvd. being removed from the road, but you can still see some tracks embedded in asphalt, for instance the corner of Sherbrooke and Elmhurst; as well, where the tracks ran perpendicular to Avonmore, behind someone's fence, you can find the old tracks, maybe ten feet are left.

Here is what Avonmore looked like in 1940, just a single street then, now it's a crescent and the front door of the apartment opens directly onto the street. My parents lived here from 1940 to 1952 or 1953, after I was born. Back then a lot of the old neighbourhood was still country.

Girouard Avenue, 1910

Here's a photograph, from the Fraser-Hickson library, of the old streetcars or trams running along Girouard in 1910, before our family moved to the street. Back in the day when this area was like the country...

2226 Girouard Avenue, early 1950s (two)

Here is my brother, John Morrissey, pushing a pram with me in it. Behind us is Girouard Avenue and the photograph was taken in N.D.G. Park (more commonly called Girouard Park), I would think this is the late fall, maybe early winter, 1950 - 1951.

My brother on his sled, winter 1950 - 1951 at Girouard Park.

Here I am, fall-winter 1950, maybe January 1951, looking grumpy.

My mother and I, back porch off the kitchen, at 2226 Girouard Avenue, around 1953.

With my mother, around 1953, back porch at 2226 Girouard Avenue.

P.S. The large N.D.G. Park is more familiarly called (by locals) Girouard Park, because it is on Girouard

2226 Girouard Avenue, late 1930s and late 1990s (one)

Here is my grandmother, Edith Sweeney Morrissey, holding my cousin Herb Morrissey, a few months after his birth in 1939. Photo taken on the back porch at 2226 Girouard Avenue in Montreal.

Ivy Lewis Morrissey, my Auntie Ivy, holding Herb.

Above: this is Alex Morrissey, my uncle, holding his son, Herb.


I took the following photographs of 2226 Girouard around 1997:

Front door.

The upstairs living room window on the left; Auntie Mable's bedroom with the balcony off of it.

In the lane behind the flat, the kitchen window on the far left of the second floor; the dining room window upstairs on the far right.

The oldest photos

These two photographs seem to have been taken the same day. In the top photo, I believe the older boy is my Uncle Herb Morrissey. The woman, third from the right, looks like my great aunt Essie, my grandmother's sister. The woman on the far left looks like my grandmother, Edith Sweeney. I can't identify the others...

FAMILY ALBUM

Family Album

When my mother moved to Toronto, at age 91, she gave me an old shoebox of family photos. It is a fascinating experience to sort through these images--mostly black and white but also some colour photographs--images of ourselves from when we were young, and of our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles, relatives, friends, those faces to which we can’t attach a name, and some photographs of the old neighbourhoods where we used to live.

Here, then--on my 59^th birthday--is the beginning of the next month or so of posting old family photographs. Everyday, to the end of May, a different set of photographs will be posted, and a brief explanation will accompany the photographs. This is also the beginning of the process of digitalizing all the old family photographs in my possession and making them available to anyone who wants to see them. Even if you don’t know any of these people, the images may still be of interest. The approximate dates of the photographs are mid-1920s to early 1960s. May I also suggest visiting the Morrissey family history website?

Stephen Morrissey
Montreal, 27 April 2009