Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Today’s photo is also courtesy of Ray Jackson. It shows a lovely cabinet card sized wedding portrait of a young woman and her husband. I read on Patches of the Past that even though the most wealthy could and often would wear white dresses for their marriage, many women simply wore their best dress and …

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For my final photograph from the Mearns Family Album, I have saved one of my favorites for the last. This photo was made probably in the 1870s, based on the lack of ornamentation on the cabinet card. I have often said that the older set hold onto their favorite fashions and this is a good …

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Today’s photograph is identified as Van Sickle, West. I assume that means that the first name was lost to the ages. This lady kind of looks like the mother in yesterday’s photograph. What do you think? She is wearing pince nez spectacles that have a little chain that wraps probably around her ear, which was …

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I am feeling pretty good tonight (thank you Vicodin) so I will try to put in a couple posts. This photo was identified on the back as Marnie or Mamie Clugston and dated January 20, 1890. In the album the person who went around identifying people wrote Fannie Clugston, Indiana. My guess is the name …

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This is an interesting angle to achieve the profile view for a portrait. The subject is sitting with her back to the camera and facing to the right. Lucky for us, it shows off her hair arrangement, the back of which is often a mystery. It is pulled straight up to the top of her …

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