Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Sarah S Moody – Updated: Laura L Moody

Mrs Marvel

4 comments

March 8, 2021

This sweet CDV shows a toddler girl named Sarah S. Moody. The back of the card identified her, as well as the date of the photo as April 20, 1886. At that time, she was 11 months and 1 day old. Extrapolating backwards, we can say she was born on May 19, 1885. Unfortunately that’s about where the trail ends. Census records show a lot of of Sarah Moody’s but most of them are married to a Mr Moody, and this person is presumably unmarried. :-)

Young Sarah had her photo made at the Howe studio at 137 East Water Street, in Elmira, NY. I found another record of this studio which identified the photographer further as C. J. Howe, or Charles J. Howe. He was in business from 1888 through at least 1917. He may have taken over a business from Luce at that location in the late 1870s.

UPDATE: the excellent sleuthing of site readers identified this as Laura L Moody. Check the comments for the exact details discovered by Cindy Stuart & Tabitha. Great work!

UPDATE #2: this photo of Laura might be related to this photo of Edwin Moody Jr, who we saw late last year.

Soft face in Germany

Mrs Marvel

1 comment

March 5, 2021

I took a short vacation, but I’m back to share more great photos with you! Today I have a soft faced woman from Germany. She is unidentified, unfortunately. Her clothing looks 1890s to me based on the sleeves, neckline and what you can just see of a cross-gathered bodice front. There does not appear to be a front opening, and the back opening shirtwaist became more popular in the 1890s. There is some unfortunate damage to the image right on her face, but you can still see she was a kind faced person.

The photographer was Max Taggesell in Dresden, Germany. Note that along side his address, he listed his telephone number. While the telephone was presented at the World’s Fair in 1878, it didn’t catch on in Germany until the early 1880s and really took off by the 1890s. You can visit the Siemen’s site for a brief history (mostly 20th century) if you are so inclined.

Olga Strune or Struve

Mrs Marvel

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February 15, 2021

That is a huge braid crown! This young lady was identified as Olga Strune or Struve. A site reader suggested Struve as an alternate last name for Martha Strune. Struve is also a known name and so I concur that it is a possible match.

The stain on the face of this card is unfortunate, as it makes sweet Olga look a bit haggard, but if you look closely, she has a lovely, clear face. Her dress is impeccable, beautifully embellished.

By the backmark, you see she was photographed in Koenigsberg, Prussia. Koenigsberg has a sad story. It was part of the Prussian kingdom, then part of Germany, and during World War II it was mostly destroyed by Allied bombs. The Russian government annexed it when they took over parts of Germany after the war and the city was rebuilt as Kaliningrad. Most of the original residents of Koenigsberg that had survived the war were expelled. Germany didn’t want the city during negotiations and the Allies allowed it to be taken over by Russia, which renamed it after a Russian war hero.

The photographer of this image was the Photographie Gottheil & Sohn, L. E. Gottheil, at Münzstrasse 6, Koenigsberg, PR.

John Welch

Mrs Marvel

no comments

February 12, 2021

An handsome younger man named John Welch. I’m taking a guess that he’s around 20-25 years of age or so in this photo. The photographer is going to give us some more clues to dating the photo.

Schofield Bros, at 30 Main Street, Westerly RI were known to be in business in 1879. The studio appears to have evolved out of the Edwin Schofield and Schofield & Holmes studios, which were in business in the same area beginning in 1866 and disappearing around 1872 – probably merged into the Schofield Bros. There was also a John Schofield photographer in Philadelphia, PA, which as the crow files isn’t all that far from Rhode Island.

So if John Welch was around 20-25 years old in 1879, that would put his birth year around 1855. Well, as it turns out, there are a LOT of John Welches in Rhode Island during the second half of the 19th century. Some were born in Ireland, some born in the US. Almost all of them did not use a middle initial. I did find a John Welch and a John Welch Jr living in Westerly, which is possibly our subject. There were three John Welches born between 1850-1855, two of them in Providence. There were John Welches working in the local mills, one a cotton spinner, another a wool mixer.

Unfortunately, without a middle initial or any other clues to the family, I am unable to further identify *which* John Welch this is.

Martha Strune

Mrs Marvel

2 comments

February 8, 2021

Today’s photo was identified as Martha Strune. Probably. The last name could be something else. I did find people on old census records named Martha Strune, so it’s probably correct. Martha has a beautiful dress with much embellishment. The bodice appears to be velvet with a satin inset. There’s embroidered trim added along the neck opening and buttons down the front. It is possible this was a national or ethnic costume of some kind. In my reading of vintage fashion magazines, I find there are often patterns to make these types of dresses, so there must have been something of a resurgence of regional costumes. Martha also has a comb on the back of her head and I imagine it was lovely. Her hair is brushed softly to the back and then gathered into a twist of some kind.

The photographer was Atelier Mischewski in Danzig (Poland). The word atelier translates as an artist’s workshop and many photographers used this term to describe their studio. There are several awards noted on the back of the card, dated 1875, 1876 and some others. Note that the card mount is black. I’m leaning toward this being a funeral card.

 

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