Family Time In Philadelphia
posted in blog on Sun 3/5/2006
I headed down to Philadelphia this weekend to hang out with my family. I know I say this EVERY time I leave New York, but it felt really great to get out of the city. Philadelphia seemed so quiet and clean and very spread out and wide-open compared to New York.
My Mom had been staying in Virginia with her parents, so she took the train up and my Dad flew out from Seattle. We all met at my sister Galen's kindergarden classroom (shown here). I guess I just missed it by about an hour, but her class interviewed my Mom and Dad, which sounded pretty hillarious. A little girl asked my mom, "What's your favorite color?" and when my mom said "Blue" the girl GASPED and said, "That's MY favorite color too!!!" :)
We got to hang out with my grandmother a bit which was nice and then on Saturday we hung out with five of next generation of Longstreths (and Goodwins and Others, etc.) most of which were like two or three. Almost all of my 13 cousins have children now, which is pretty crazy. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of them to show here because I was too busy building forts, talking on prentend phones, playing with blocks, setting up domino snakes, building tunnels for cars and transformers, doing magic tricks, etc. etc. It's been a REALLY long time since I got to hang out with some leetle guys and it sure was fun. Man, I want to have kids some day...
One of the coolest things from my trip was that I took some photos of a comic book (of sorts) that my Great Grandfather, John Claghorn, drew back in 1935. It documents a camping trip that he took with his friends and family up to Lake Kedgewick. I've posted the photos over in the Comics section if people want to check it out. See? Drawing with ink is in my BLOOD!
11 comments on this entry
Your great grandfather's drawings are priceless. That is a true treasure you have there, and now you have it digitally preserved too. He draws wonderfully... and I would think by looking at the style he was a fan of the comics at the time? Curious how he omits the eyes in some drawings...is there a story there? Looking through the book is a great connection to that particular time. Do you think he dug Frank King?
Yeah, I thought the "eyeless" thing was a little strange too. I don't really know if he read the Comics back then (but MOST people did, so I'm sure he would have). He was actually more of a painter than a cartoonist. He did thousands of huge watercolor paintings in his lifetime, many of which are on the walls of my family's house and all of my aunt's and uncle's and cousin's and grandparent's houses too.
I only met him once, when I was very young, right before he died. He was bed-ridden, but had still worked out a system (with periscoped glasses), so that he could lie flat in bed, but still paint.
I can only imagine what it would be like to find something like that created by my grandpa. That is beyond cool, man.
What a cool way to remember a trip.
Just wanted to say that I enjoyed the illustrations/travelogue that your gramps did, and it's great that you uploaded those issues of Phase 7...I stayed up all night earlier in the week reading them...I couldn't stop.
Also, your school assignments are looking really nice, your inking skills look masterful to me.
Wandered into your blog searching for the branch of the Philadelphia Strawbridge family that built a vacation home in Southern Pines, NC in 1927. One candidate seems to be John W. Claghorn? We are making the NC property a 1920's/30's period inn, and highlighting the property's past, which included bandleader Glenn Miller and a list of famour golfers, among them Ben Hogan. Looking desperately for the Strawbridge connection, any photos of that era that may stil exist, etc.
Bruce & Laura-
I don't know about a vacation home in Southern Pines, but my grandmother was a Strawbridge from Philadelphia. And the 1935 Drawings mentioned above were done by my great-grandfather, John Claghorn.
I'll forward your email address to my relatives in Philly and maybe they'll be able to help you out. Good luck!
I am looking for information about an artist J Claghorn. His paintings are absolutely beautiful water colors. I believe his name was John but my father always thought it was James. I have two paintings, my sister has two and my brother has one. I can spot a Claghorn anywhere -- they are so lovely; soft colors. I do not believe he is your great grandfather but I wonder if you could give me some info. I believe J Claghorn was from southern Maryland or Virginia (purely a guess on my part as I know nothing about J Claghorn.) Thank you. JW
Jane-
I'm pretty sure that you ARE talking about my Great Grandfather. Although I posted some of his cartooning work from 1935, he made his living painting watercolor painting. Our whole family (and all of our extended family) have dozens of his paintings on all their walls. He was very prolific and loved to paint landscapes, birds, trees, deer, The Valley Green and other areas from his hometown of Philadelphia and from vacation spots up in the Poconos.
Hi Alec, we have just discovered your website. I am your father's first cousin and the son of John W. Claghorn, Jr. You did give Jane White the correct answer about my grandfather's paintings! Although there was a James Claghorn who was a painter, but surely she is referring to John Claghorn.Come visit us. John W. Claghorn, III
I purchased 2 water colors from John W. Claghorn - a 1966 woods and stream scene and a 1974 camouflage bird in the woods. They are treasures to me. I first saw his works in a private pocono preserve community which friends owned. They had displayed some of his work in their cabin. They said he was a neighbor there and we went over and I bought the 2 I own.
Carol - Cool! My parents have a bunch of my great-grandfather's paintings up in their house. It was really neat growing up in a home with art by a relative. I definitely think it is one of the reasons I became an artist!