Saturday, August 14, 2010

Ancient Family Quarry Photos

Quarry workers, dated 1877. Quarry was located at Leete's Island, CT, and was owned and run by my great-great grandfather, John Beattie, my mother's great grandfather on her father's side. I have an obituary of his brother that died a few years after John, saying they trace their lineage back to 12th century Scotland. My friend Nigel that lives in Edinburgh says there is a Beattie Castlle there, lol.


In much worse condition, but about 20 years younger, this is a photo of eagles and other decorative motifs being sculpted at the quarry. My mother's grandfather on her mother's side was a sculptor. He's at the far right, Andrea De Matteo. He came from a long line of artists and opera singers of Italian descent. He carved his own headstone and those of his three wives—he was widowed twice and had a child out of wedlock as well. Such family drama! His daughter, my grandmother, second marriage was to the grandson of the quarry owner, so I'm related to a quarry artisan and the quarry owner. Between all of the marriages and children, legal and illegitimate, there was a 48 YEAR court battle for Beattie's estate, at which time there was virtually nothing left.

These eagles, I believe, ended up in Boston's South Street train station. He also worked on sculptures for Grand Central Station in New York and several other turn-of-the century large-scale constructions.

No date on this photo, but I'm guessing it's the mid 1890s. My great-grandfather the artist is on the lower right, sitting, with the goatee. His last wife, Concetta, was a self-proclaimed clairvoyant and told my then 5-year old mother that a black cloud would hang over her her entire life! Nice woman... My mother believed her too, 'til her dying days. Probably where I get my "waiting for the other shoe to drop" mentality.

10 comments:

  1. IT FUNNY HOW THEY ALL ARE WEARING JACKETS. A FEW AREN'T TO BAD TO LOOK AT EITHER. A LITTLE MAKE OVER AND PUT INTO 2010 CLOTHES, I WONDER WHAT THEY WOULD LOOK LIKE TODAY. CLICK ON THE PICTURE. JUST THINK HOW HARD THEIR WORK WAS BACK THEN. MAYBE MADE 5 OR 6 BUCKS A WEEK.

    GRANNY

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  2. i can probably figure out what the wages were. I have several of the business logs. I have to do SO MUCH research for however I'll work them into a book. I don't know if I'm going to do one book or a few books. This fall and winter will be time for that. I have so much to go through in the attic and to make piles of to organize myself. I have a feeling they made no more than $2 or $3 a week, maybe $10/month. John Beattie built small homes for most of them on his property and he even built a tiny church for the workers so they didn't have to go into the town for very much. They grew their food, had chickens and there was a large cattle farm nearby for meat. It was a very tight-knit community of WASPs that owned the quarry and Italians and Swedes that worked the rock. Very few of their ancestors are around today, but when I was a child there were several people in their 70s and 80s that had grown up with their fathers working in the quarry. I have diaries of some of the workers too. It was a hard life but they all got along well. There was a train station in the community also, and a post office. All of those "conveniences' are gone now of course, and it's just multi million dollar homes along the water. I bet most of the people that live there have no idea what it was like 100-150 years ago. It's all private and very snobby. I've been in one house and it has a private art gallery with Picassos and Renoirs and Matisses in it. It also has a salt water pool and a fresh water pool, depending on which you feel like. And they have a beach on the Sound too!

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  3. CASEY, YOUR A WEALTH OF INFORMATION. WHERE DID ALL YOUR THINGS COME FROM AND HAVE YOU LIVED THERE LONG? MY GOODNESS I WOULD WANT TO BE THE ONE TO MOVE YOU.

    GRANNY

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  4. almost everything I have is family stuff I refused to let get thrown out, or have been collecting by myself for the past 30 years. Last time I moved I had 12 friends working for more than a week to pack everything up.

    gotta run now and get ready for my afternoon. later!

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  5. YOUR JUST WAY TO MUCH AND I LOVE IT. GRANNY

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  6. I find the pic of the cornices being sculpted absolutely fascinating. And the provenance behind the photos give the viewer the complete "picture", if you will. I can never get enough of any type of architectural print. The quarry sure beats the copper mining legacy that I come from.

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  7. i'm glad you liked 'em PX. Andrea De Matteo died around 1915 so of course I never knew him. My grandmother wasn't close to the rest of her family either, so we rarely ever saw any of them. It's cool to think there were artists and musicians on her side though, since I have a degree in music and art too.

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  8. This very interesting. I am an artist researching my family (Leete) and find these pictures fascinating; Much like the logging camp and mining site pictures I find here in Michigan. I find these scenes alluring and love to recreate them in graphite drawings. Thank so much for sharing.

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  9. I'm well acquainted with the Leetes if you have any questions.

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  10. I am very interested in finding a picture of Gov.William Leete.I respectfully wonder if you could direct me to a source I could locate one. Thank you for any help.
    Donald Leet
    dmleet@hughes.net

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