A BRIEF HISTORY
My great grandfather, William Blair came here from Belfast ahead of his wife, Elizabeth Jane McIvre, and settled in the Philadelphia area. After he got established, he sent for Elizabeth. They raised 7 children. His son Edwin Partridge Blair married Viola Hoffner in 1914 and they raised 11 children. The oldest was my father Edwin P. Blair Jr.
My other great grandfather, Thomas Kelshaw, came here from England, eventually settling in Girardville PA, to manage the Steven Girard estate. He married Lamora Young of Hazleton and they had two sons, Millard and Rule. My mother's father, Millard, married Mildred Roland. They had a son, Grayson who died at the age of two in the 1918 Flu pandemic. In 1922 they had my mother Jaqueline Lamora Kelshaw. They bought a photo finishing business, in Girardville, in 1930, and called it Paramount Photo Service. Jaqui met Ed in 1941, in Ocean City NJ at a boarding house called The Manor. It was owned by a friend of her mother's, Dora Loos. After the war, Ed came back to work for my mother's father.
They had Linda in '46, George "Chip" in '51 and finally after all that practice they got it right with Greyson in '54. They bought the business when my grandfather passed away. We three kids grew up, in Ashland PA, around cameras and film processing. Darkrooms and the smell of developer and fixer in our noses. It's now in our blood. The art and science of images. The taste. The smell.
I was a nice, studious little boy when I was young.
Mom was never quite sure what happened. ; )
Ashland, PA