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Tag Archives: 19th century

Images- Unidentified Necklace

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 1850s, 19th century, Images

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1850s, 19th century, images

Today I am sharing an image I have long since pondered about, but the subject remains outside my area of expertise.

The image is a cased tintype, 1/4 plate, in a leather case. The image is absolutely perfectly clear, but there is a significant amount of lint trapped between the glass, giving us the red flakes in my images.

Our sitter wears a dress of about 1856- She has a fantastic large medallion print on the dress, which features pagoda sleeves and sleeve jockeys. The bodice appears to be fitted with reveres. She wears black mitts. For all intents and purposes, there is nothing out of the ordinary about her clothing selection.

DSC_4027

However, when we look at her neck, I find a necklace or other adornment that I just cannot place. It appears to be a metal bar with circles on each end, attached to ribbons or other fabric that ties on to her neck.  It does not fit in with traditional jewelry that was popular in this era.

DSC_4027 (2)

Now, I have posed this accessory to the facebook community, and have a few working theories, but no documentation for any of it as of yet.

-Example of Native American jewelry

-Example of South American jewelry

-Medical devise for goiters

-Locally made jewelry, or very isolated fashion trend

Anyone know what is actually is?

We also have some unknowns about the young lady- for instance, her age. She could easily be in the teenage set, which would make having her hair in braids (which is an assumption based on the image, and not necessarily what is going on back there). If she is an adult, and if her hair is in braids, it becomes an odd hair choice.

Also, her earrings are unknown. Drop earrings are dirt common mid-century, but are these standard earrings, or do they match the necklace? It can’t be told from the image.  If it weren’t for the necklace, I wouldn’t be giving a second look at her hair and earrings- I am just trying to make the necklace make sense!

Images- Julia Landis

11 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

Our subject today is identified on the back of her image as Julia Landis. She was Photographerd By J.J. Hess, Agt. S.W. corner Fifth and Penn Streets, Reading, PA.  The top corners of her image have been clipped, which indicates to me she had previously been in an album.

Julia

Julia wears a one piece dress, which appears to be made of a solid wool. She has military-influenced trim on her sleeves, with matching center front buttons. In several spots her trim is not laying very flat, but laying perfectly flat in others. It makes me wonder if it was intended to be flat, and some pieces have come loose, or if it was intended to have the movement. The only visible jewelry she wears is a small, round broach. Her hair is arranged simply, and all we can see of her style is the center part. There is a very light amount of pink tinting to her cheeks.

Julia’s style choices places her in the early-mid 1860s.

The photographer’s studio has two very interesting patterns of fabric as the curtain and table cover behind Julia!

Images- Winter

06 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

Today’s image should help you get a mental break from all the hot summer weather happening! This lady is ready for winter!

Winter

Our subject today was photographers by Partidridge, Cor. Main & Bank Sts. Bridgeport. Conn. She is wearing plenty of warm outerwear! She has a long, woolen coat on, that comes to about the top of the ankles. Underneath we can make out the only details of her dress, a band of hem trim. Her coat closes up the front with a double row of buttons, and is loosely fitted through the torso. Her hands are buried in a fur muff, and she has a fur collar or tippet on.

Perhaps her most unique fashion choice is her jaunty hat! It is set at an angle, and covered in feathers, plumes, and other decorations. Her hair is confined in a noticeable thick net, and sits wide around the base of her neck.

While her fashion choices are somewhat obscured, her hat and hair choices would place this image in the early-mid 1860s.

Images- Tucked Skirt

30 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

Today’s image is of an young woman wearing a dress with 15 tucks in the skirt! I think it is a striking affect. It takes a moment to get pass the tucked decoration, and notice other aspects of her appearance. Her bodice is dart fitted, and her skirt is pleated. We can make out the color difference of her hem tape, and the drape of her skirt indicates wool. Her sleeves please into a cuff that has a row of trim on it- possibly a braided trim. Her bodice has buttons up the front, and her collar is crochet or another form of open work.

TuckedDress

She wears a belt with a very 3-dimensional metal buckle at the front. Her hair has been arranged in ringlets, that hand about shoulder length. On the original image, we can barely make out a ring on her left hand, as well as the edge of white undersleeves or cuffs.

She has no backmark, but at some point there was pencil writing on the back that has mostly faded away.

Her fashion choices point her towards 1862-64, and I would assume that she was a young wife at this point in time.

Images- Head-shot

29 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

Today’s image is simple- a tintype head-shot of a young lady, circa 1866-1868. She has no back mark.

Headshot

We can make out the drop of her armsyce, as well as the stitching line down the front of her bodice. Her bodice closes with hook and eyes and decorative fabric covered buttons. Her collar is crochet and closes with a broach at the center Her hair is arrange low, and appears to be covered with a net.

Images- Mary Turner MacLeod

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Family, Images

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19th century, Family, images

Today’s image has special meaning to me, and I post it now for a special reason. This past Saturday, my paternal grandfather passed away. I want to commemorate him here by sharing with you this post. It is not the story of his life, which I do not feel able to comprehensively tell through a historian’s lense, but the story of the oldest image I own of a direct descendant of mine, who happens to be my grandfather’s great-grandmother.

This is Mary Turner MacLeod, or, at the time this image was taken, just Mary Turner. Mary was born on June 6, 1848, in Newmilns, Loudoun, Scotland. Alternative dates are given as June 12th or December 6th of the same year. Her parents were Alex Turner and Margaret Morton, who had been married the previous December 11th. It seems likely that one of the June dates is correct, and the December date was a cover-up attempt at the 6th month gestation period. 😉  She was baptized by Rev. Allan, seemingly in June of that year. Her father was employed as a weaver, and her parents had 5 children after her, spanning 16 years.

Mary moved to Glasgow sometime as a teenager, and was employed there in the mills. Her image here shows her in the 1863-1866 range, in her late teens or early 20s. Her image was struck by H McFarlane, 107 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. 

MaryTurnerMacLeod

In 1869, she married Alexander MacLeod on July 16th. They were married at 39 Whitevale Street. They followed the traditional practice of Banns. At the time of the wedding, both Mary and Alexander listed their address as 258 Main Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow. Mary’s profession was listed as working as a Cotton Weaver, Steam Loom, and her husbands as a housepainter. James Allen proceeded over the wedding, and the witnesses were Alexander’s brother and an unknown to us woman- Catherine Wilson.

Within two years the couple were living at 50 Dalmarnock Road in Glasgow. At that time, during a census, there were 74 people at that address, giving some idea of the conditions inside the tenement. Some years ago, I was able to locate an 1890s image of the building that stood there, but have misplaced that image at the time I am writing this. The the couple had two girls in their first two years of marriage, Margaret and Annie, the first being born a year after the wedding.

10 more years of life passed for Mary, and the couple had two more girls, Kate or Catherine, and Mary. I wish I knew what prompted them- life long dream, opportunity, friends or something else, but in 1881, they immigrated to America. They traveled in a 2nd class cabin aboard the SS. Circassia, where they lied about the girls aged to get cheaper fair. Children under 8-9 were half fair, and children under one were even less. Though their daughters would have been 11, 10, 6, and 3- They now had an 9 year old, a 6 year old, a 3 year old, and an 11 month old! The family told the story of carrying the youngest around on board, even though she was 3, to help give the impression she was still under a year.

They arrived in New York on March 22, where they moved to Paterson, New Jersey. They lived in at least five different addresses in the 1880s before settling on one house for about 10 years, but in the 1890s, started their frequent moves again. The had four more children once in America- Two more girls, and two boys. In addition to the 8 children who lived long enough to be named, they had four at some point who did not survive.

The couple continued to work hard in America- with Alexander working as a house painter, as well as coachman and chauffeur he even worked as a chauffeur for Vice President Hobart- McKinley’s V.P. This played an important role in getting their youngest son into Yale.

In 1896, Mary and Alexander became charter members of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Paterson. I have one more image of Mary during her life, taken around this time. She stands on the deck of a boat called the “Liberty Bell” with her eldest two daughters, and several grandchildren. Around this time she also became a member of the Daughters of Scotia.

On August 26, 1902, Mary became a widow, with Alexander dying of cirrhosis of the liver at age 56. Mary lived another 15 years along, dying on May 22nd, 1917 in Clifton New Jersey. Her cause of death was an amnesic coma.

Images- Uncased Ambrotype

22 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

DSC_4059Today’s image does not have much background. I purchased this image uncased- from a seller who was unaware if you put a black piece of paper behind an uncased ambrotype, you can see the image again!

Our young man, likely from the late 1850s, dresses typically for the era. You can make out that his shirt front is pleated, and that his vest is made of a printed silk. He wears a eight-pointed star watch fob, and a ring on his pinky finger.

Images- 3 years

19 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

I decided to mix it up a little with the image I scanned today- a kid!  This little girl, was apparently three years old at the time this image was struck.

3years

She wears a white dress with infant bodice, a common style for her age group. You can barely make out that the edge of sleeves are vandyked. She has a beaded necklace on, possibly of coral beads, which were popular on children, as they were believed to have healthful proprieties.

She was photographer by Samuel Masury, 289 Washington St Boston. Masury had an established photography business in Boston by the time this image was taken in the early 1860s. He is to this day recognized as an artist for some of his daguerreotype work, which he started training in around 1842.  His studio is also know for producing several famous images of the era, including the “Ultimate Thule” image of Edgar Allan Poe!

Images- Broken Ambrotype

18 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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19th century, images

Today’s image does not have much story. I bought this stunning image in its current condition from a vintage clothing shop.

BrokenAmbroShe wears a low-bodied gown with full white undersleeves that terminate at her elbows. She is old enough, that I would assume this is an evening dress-possibly for dinner or dancing. Her hair is arranged in ringlets, and she wears earrings, broach, matching bracelets, and at least 2 rings. Her earrings, broach, and rings have been tinted gold.

I would place her in the mid-late 1850s, but there is not a lot of fashion to go on in this particular image.

Even in her sad condition, she is quite lovely! Perhaps someone with better photoshop skills will piece her together one day?

Images- Happy Couple

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Stormi Souter-Brown in 19th century, Images

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1860s, 19th century, images

Today I am sharing a set of ferrotypes of the same couple. I can’t tell you how fond of these I am.

Our first image shows the couple as the came in off the street, and in a typical and average pose of the era.

couplepose1

The second pose has the woman sitting on the man’s lap, in a much more intimate, and less commonly seen pose! My favorite part is how they both now sport a happy little smirk on their faces! The woman did move slightly during the exposure, so her face is blurred, but it is still an adorable image!

couplepose2

The combination of two shots gives us a full picture of what the woman, at least, wore that day. She wears a dart-fitted dress, likely of wool, with pleated skirt and coat sleeves. Her collar is of a round, stand-up variety, which pushes the date of this image into the 1865-1866 range. She wears a small broach, as well as a ribbon/net over her styled hair. While outside, she adds her smart sack-style jacket or coat, with a hat, which is a very sporty and fashionable choice for the era.

Our man wears matching striped trousers and vest. His cravat appears to be checkered, though it is hard to make out. There is a different, narrower stripe to his sack coat.

These were purchased in Ohio, so there is the possibility that is where the couple lived. They are just adorable!

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