Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Hat, fur and palm tree

Mrs Marvel

1 comment

May 17, 2011

This photo is cut from a photo postcard, although the corner is missing so I don’t have the ability to date it very well. I will say sometime prior to 1920. The woman featured has a lovely, full hat with feathers or some sort of frou frou on it, and a full fur over her shoulders and extending to the hem of her jacket. You can just see a little pin on her lapel. Behind her on the obviously cloth backdrop is painted a palm tree, although we can only see the fronds. Perhaps it was a beach scene?

Coming in the next day or so, an exciting album find or four!

Pretty & Pouty

Mrs Marvel

3 comments

May 15, 2011

 

Here we have two sisters photographed in about 1865. It is unfortunate that there is damage to the photo on the left, right across the eyes, because she has such a serene expression on her face. I call her Pretty. Pretty is holding a flower in one hand while resting her other arm on the table next to her. Her dress is exquisite, surely held out with a corded petticoat and probably one or more standard petticoats. The skirt – with two growth pleats at the hem – appears to be pleated to the waist of her bodice, which has a wide opening and petal sleeves. Her hair was painstakingly curled into ringlets all over her head. She looks like a little adult, which was quite common for girl’s fashions. I call her sister Pouty, because she looks for all the world like an early Shirley Temple to me. She clearly does not want to be having her photograph taken and likely wants to go home. Her dress consists of a skirt, white blouse and jacket with 3/4 sleeves. It also probably has a corded petticoat and a couple flounces underneath. Her hair also was carefully curled into ringlets and has an interesting side part, which might lead one to initially think this is a boy, but the face is very soft and feminine. Maybe she just stamped her little foot and insisted in her little girl way that she wanted it parted “her way!”

Mystery woman

Mrs Marvel

19 comments

May 13, 2011

Even though this lady is not identified, I am including this in the Mary Harding / Frank Buxton / Florence Gardner mystery grouping for two reasons. One, they were together in the same batch of photos from ebay, and two her photo was made by the same photographer as Frank Buxton’s and has the same distinctive deckled edge. She is an attractive woman, and just note that although we can only see 7 buttons on her dress, there are probably 7 more at least that we don’t see. That is a lot of buttons! You can also see the shadow of a frame in the shape of an oval above her head. Someone at some time revered this woman enough to display her image in a frame.

This is a proud Sepia Saturday post, although not on theme (which is flying machines). I suppose you could say that with these old photos we fly through time.

Little Florence Gardner

Mrs Marvel

6 comments

May 13, 2011

 

Again in the same hand, we have two CdVs identified as Florence Gardner. She was a lovely child, obviously well loved to have had two photographs taken of her at such a young age. I’d guess the vintage of these photos is approximately 1885-1890, due to the clothing style in the photo on the right. She appears to be about 5 years old in that photo. Below are the backs of the CdVs.

 

Both photos were taken in Michigan. Allegan is about 20 miles from Plainwell, where Frank Buxton’s photograph was taken. Both are near Otsego, and the Kalamazoo River runs through the area. An historic map of the town shows a fairly good sized town with a hospital, three railroad lines, and a race track. It’s very interesting to study.

Meet Frank Buxton

Mrs Marvel

4 comments

May 12, 2011

This is Frank Buxton, as identified by the unknown writer. The ink is ballpoint so this is a somewhat recent addition to the photo. How these photos later found themselves for sale on ebay I have no idea. Again, this is a difficult name to search because there were many Frank Buxton’s living in or born in Michigan! Who knew?

The photographer was J. M. Brigham. On this historic map of Planwell dated 1895, I was able to find the plot of land he owned at the corner of Bridge & Prince streets, and on a Google map, there is still a residence located there. Makes you wonder if it was the same house where he had his business. The somewhat long property directly to the left of J. M. Brigham’s home was also owned by a Brigham – a family that has a very long history in America, having come over in 1635!

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