This page contains a collection of home movies taken by my Mother and Father a long time ago. They were originally shot on 8mm and Super8 film in the 1950s. About 1990, they were converted from film to VHS format cassettes and they have been collecting dust since then. In 2021, I decided to purchase a couple of hunks of hardware to transfer the VHS tapes to my computer and start editing them into record clips of those that were in the movies. I intend to host them all here. They will be in chronological order and will be indexed as best I can by the names of the people in the clips. How to do this is still evolving - so please be patient.
I am struggling with assigning dates to these clips. I am working from an old set of notes that were written by my mother when she had the original films tranferred to VHS. At the top of each page she wrote the year the original movies were taken. The date that she wrote feels incorrect in quite a few cases. The best that I can promise is that the dates are the best that I can do.
The quality of the clips is not great. This is due to errors when making the original movie - forgetting the light bar, shooting into the sun, not using a tripod, and on and on. Additional issues may be caused by deteriorating colour as the film aged, between the 1950s and 1990. Some new issues were introduced by the original transcription from film to VHS - not cleaning the film, and recording using a VCR with worn heads. The equipment that I have used is inexpensive, but seems to have done a decent job moving from VHS to mp4. Deterioration of the clips should stop now. At the bottom of this page, there is a description of the technology used to do this final transcription, and I would be happy to offer any advice that I can on it's use.
| Year | Description (none of these clips have sound) | Time | Play | Date Posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Mom, Dad and me fooling around with a Mexican hat in the old sunroom at 1045 Hamilton Rd. Irene must have taken this video | 4min | Play | 27Jan2021 |
| 1948 | Christmas at 1045 Hamilton Rd. With the Williams Family | 4min | Play | 27Jan2021 |
| 1949 | Mom, Dad, Irene, Tim and I in The Driveway on a snowy day | 2min | Play | 01Feb2021 |
| 1949 | Christmas, Sam Williams Arriving, then Bruce Sylvester Williams, then unknown (maybe his daughter Evelyn), Emery, Murray, Myrtle Culp | 2min | Play | 01Feb2021 |
| 1949 | 1949 Appleton Gathering - Aunt Verneice & Uncle Joe, Grandma Appleton, with Mom, Dad, Irene & I, Aunt Bea, George Appleton, Uncle Fred & Aunt Thelma, Mom, Dad & I, Grandma playing with Fred & George. Mom thought that this was 1949; I think the following year. | 9min | Play | 03Feb2021 |
| 1949 | 1949 Another Appleton Gathering - Grandma Appleton, George Appleton, Me, Uncle Fred and Aunt Thelma, Mom and Dad, Laurine and Gordon Moffet,Susan and May Ellen Moffet, Annie and Marilyn Burch, Edna, Libby, Peggy and Ken Edwards, Nora and John Harrison | 6min | Play | 04Feb2021 |
| 1950 | 1950 Various Carnival Clips, lots of Anne's Carmelcrisp.(Appleton) | 9min | Play | 08Feb2021 |
| 1950 | 1950 Verneice and Joe's at New Years -Annie & Frank, Bea, the Metcalfes, Marilyn, Peggy, Verneice and Joe in their Balleymote General Store. Grandma Appleton's birthday - Georgie and I, Mom and Dad, Annie and Frank, Edna, Vernice and Joe, Thelma and Fred. | 5min | Play | 08Feb2021 |
| 1950 | 1950 Starts in Gordon and Laurine's basement, Mary Ellen and me, then Gordon and laurine, Susan, Aunt Ollie and Uncle Len, Irene, LaRene, LeRoy, Edwin, Chris, Grandma Appleton with a puppy.(Everingham) | 8min | Play | 08Feb2021 |
| 1950 | 1950 Mom described this as "At Ednas - Peggy, Marilyn Evening Dresses" but the clip ends with Irene and I think she is home at 1045 Hamilton Road. Sorry about the quality of the 1st part of the clip. (Appleton) | 3min | Play | 08Feb2021 |
| 1952 | 1952 newborn David Everingham coming home from the hospital, Edwin, Chris and LaRene Everingham. | 2min | Play | 08Feb2021 |
| 1954 | Aftermath of Hurricane Hazel at the International Plowing Match in Breslau. Mom and Dad worked the Plowing Match most years. The Carmelcrisp and Ice Cream trailers are both shown, knee deep in water. I think that there is a short shot of Taffy Laur. (Carnie) | 5min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Aunt Mabel's (Williams) 25th Wedding Anniversary - starts with short clip of Aunt Mabel giving facials to some of my Appleton aunts. Lots of Williams family at the event. | 3min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Van Nuys California, with Edwin, Chris, LeRene, LeRoy and David Everingham (Appleton) | 3min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Winter, Fairmont School Classes, George Appleton and I skating | 6min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Christmas with the Williams Family | 4min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Irene's Art Class around the Christmas Tree at 1045 Hamilton Road | 3min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Williams Family Reunion at Aunt Iva and Uncle Clare's Home | 6min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | a clip of Janet and Susan Williams | 2min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1954 | Sam Williams at home in Lyons, Mom and Dad visiting with the big trailer, Unknown lady with two children | 2min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1955 | Irene's Wedding Reception at 1045 Hamilton Road, the Wedding Party, Mom and Dad, and Clarence | 10min | Play | 26Jan2021 |
| 1955 | Carnie Day Off. Carnies usually kept the show open 6 days a week, then tore down, moved, and set up on Sunday to be ready to open Monday at noon. Very occasionally on a short hop they would have some time to relax and play. This clip was taken somewhere in the North, but Mom was not certain where. (Carnie) | 5min | Play | 11Feb2021 |
| 1955 | Gertrude (Allemand) Bowes and her daughter Carol. Gertrude was a sister of my Aunt Wanda (Allemand) Williams . They lived in New Liskard and we would stop and have a quick visit with them each year while the show was playing in North Cobalt or Haileybury. | 2min | Play | 11Feb2021 |
| 1955 | Bradley Baby Movies | 19min | Play | 15Feb2021 |
| 1955 | A clip showing how the harbour in Port Dover looked in 1955 | 2min | Play | 17Feb2021 |
| 1955 | Another Williams Family Gathering. Mom thought that this started at Mom and Dad's home and them moved to Aunt Mabel's home on Dufferin Street.It is a good clip of the family. | 4min | Play | 17Feb2021 |
| 1956 | 1956 May 2nd, George and Claire Kernohan's Wedding. (Williams) Great looking couple. | 3min | Play | 10Feb2021 |
| 1956 | Mom and Dad's 25th Wedding Anniversary, Irene and Bradley, Sam Williams, Mabel, Mom, Mrytle, Iva, Clare, Ira, Emery and Dad. | 2min | Play | 22Feb2021 |