52 Ancestors: #15 Hester Florence Latham's Living Room

I wish I could travel back in time and walk into my great great-grandmother Hester's living room. Whenever I look at this photo, I wonder what books she has on her shelf and what color the velvet sofa is.  I wonder if the African violet on top of the shelf needs watering. (I raise violets myself.)

I wonder what the rest of the room looks like.

Hester and Milton on their 50th anniversary.
Back row, from left: Edith, Virgil, Mildred, Merle, Goldie.
Front row, from left: Pauline, Hester, Milton, Paul.

Hester Latham

Hester Latham, born March 11, 1878, was the daughter of John Wesley Latham and Harriett L.York.  She had an older brother, Joseph Daniel (1869), and a younger brother, Oscar (1881).  Hester grew upon a farm in McLeansboro, Illinois.

At eighteen, she married Milton Davis on September 28, 1896, in Hamilton County, Illinois.  Their first child, Edith, was born in 1897.  They had six more children: Goldie (1901), Virgil (1903), Merle (1906), Mildred (1910), and twins, Paul and Pauline (1916).

Between 1910 and 1914, the Davis family moved from McLeansboro to Vincennes, Indiana.  Milton opened a furniture store there.  (Maybe that's where she got the nice furniture in the photo.)  Hester died in Vincennes on May 7, 1951.

In addition to the pictures of Hester, I also treasure the topaz necklace that she owned.