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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: CuriousCollector on November 07, 2010, 10:49:52 AM
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I'm hoping some of you have skill in identifying period clothing or hairstyles, and can help me figure out which of my husband's ancestor's wives this is.
These two large images hung in frames in my FIL's mother's house. When she died, he pulled them out of the frames and propped them up on a shelf against a wall -- this is the same wall that, in previous posts, I have mentioned had a roof leak, causing wet plaster to cascade on paper, artifacts, and as you can see, on this large image of the wife. They don't look like photos, and they don't look like original drawings -- perhaps copies of drawings. The paper is thick and in layers, with the thinnest layers on the back starting to peel from the moisture.
Here is the husband, Lemuel Morton. He was born in 1809, and married his first wife, Sarah Faegin in 1832. She was born in 1816 and died in 1856 in childbirth. Lemuel lived until 1898.
(http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/HowTownGirl/LemuelMorton.jpg)
Here is the mystery wife -- sadly, this image took the brunt of the water damage. Six months after Sarah's death, he married Elizabeth Peed. Elizabeth was born in 1834 and died in 1877. She was 22 when she married Lemuel who was 47.
(http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/HowTownGirl/WifeofLemuel.jpg)
It would seem more likely that the wife is either Sarah or Elizabeth, as he had 21 children by these two women. However, he did marry a third time to Jennie Duke in 1878. I have no birth or death information for Jennie, but I think she outlived Lemuel.
If any one can give me any advice about which wife it might be -- perhaps hairstyles or dress styles point to a particular era, one which might rule out one or the other -- I sure would appreciate it!
Thanks!
Jeannie
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Do you know where they lived? State, County, etc...
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Sorry! Yes, they lived in Stewart County, GA, moving there from Jones County, GA around the 1840s. Lemuel was a substantial landowner (and -- sorry, but it's true -- large slaveholder) in Stewart County. All this means is that in 1860 he was rather rich, and by 1866 not so much. My husband's dad was born on that farm, and his mother lived there until she died in the 1990s -- my husband and his cousin own all the family farms down there, now.
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Sure looks alot like these.....my relatives from GA - next County Over (I descended from the Jones line) which are from the 1850 - 1870 range.....
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Interesting.... Maybe a local artist in the area?? Very cools pics... I'm jealous!!!!
CC... You probably already know but your family missed the Mayflower by this much (my finger and thumb are almost touching) ;D
I'm looking for pics in some books and family trees... Maybe we'll get lucky!
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Oceans -- actually, they made it! Well, the direct Morton line came in on the second wave (1623, aboard the "Ann"), but if you take a shimmy over to a female line, they go back to Edward Doty on the Mayflower.
KC -- wow, those pics look so much like mine!
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I didn't have much luck and if I knew how to sew this page would be helpful to me
http://www.ajmorris.com/roots/photo/datep18.php
Maybe you can understand it more?
ETA: Ahhh good! I come from the (troublemaker) Billington line.
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I'll have to read it when I can concentrate on it -- fashion language isn't one of my primary tongues! Thanks, Oceans!
KC -- if this is the work of a local artist in the Jones Co area, then it would be the first wife, Sarah. She died after the move to Stewart County.
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This may help...
http://www.fashion-era.com/Dating_Costume_History_Pictures/index.htm (http://www.fashion-era.com/Dating_Costume_History_Pictures/index.htm)
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Just found out that they moved from Jones County to Greene County which is within a good spitting distance of Stewart County!!! East of it.
They said this was the style of photos/clothing and hair in this area at the 1830's to 1860's!
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They don't look like photos, and they don't look like original drawings -- perhaps copies of drawings.
CC, your pictures look to me like the typical "mail order" pictures one could order during that era by sending a photo to an artist who would then create the large picture from the small photo.
Like this one, ..... probably made about 1900 given the fact of (Blanche Mollohan Tonkin, dob 1881 – dod 1917)
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Cogar, I see many of these pics at auctions but had no idea they were (at least some of them) ordered by mail from a smaller photo. It totally makes sense, given the number of them around and the sizes are pretty consistent. Learn something new everyday on this forum.
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Ugh! If one could mail in a picture and get a drawing, it could be any one of the wives!
Thanks for all the advice and links, everyone! I think if I can pinpoint the era for her wide and pointy bodice and the pointy cap of the sleeves, I should have some luck.
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One thing I found yesterday was a Father/Son team in Atlanta. The son was a photographer and the father a portrait artist. I was thinking this team probably did the very thing Cougar says. They were in an 1880 directory and probably active well before that. From the style's link I read yesterday, I thought the dress seemed 1870's. By the 1880's I think Beards were out and Georgia is hot (right?) so why wear one if not fashionable?? My memory is poor tho...
I can get the names of the artists if your interested.
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After reading the links, I, too, was thinking 1870s, or even 1860s -- the beard definitely looks 1860s And I would think country folk would be less fashion-forward anyway!
That would preclude the first wife, who died in 1856.
Also, if the images were done at the same time, that also precludes the first wife, who was Lemuel's contemporary, and would have been as old as he. The second wife was a good 25 years younger.
In the 1860s, Lemuel would have been in his 50s, and the second wife would have been in her 30s.
Also, it would make more sense that a picture/drawing on the second wife would have come down through my husband's family -- she was the mother of Lemuel's 20th child (her own 11th child) who is hubby's great-grandfather. She died when he was about 6 years old.
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He looks older than 50s and she looks older than 30s although life was much harder then. I would bump them into the 60s and 40s into the 1870 range as Oceans thought.
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Actually found out from a distant relative (that has diaries)....that a photographer traveled around the area and took photos. It was a really big treat. The ones I posted are photographs not paintings.
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There were probably others doing this but in Atlanta there was:
Joseph Van Stavoren Age 67 in 1880 Census and was a Portrait Maker
James G. Van Stavoren Age 25 in 1880 and an Assist Portrait Maker. James relationship to Joseph is listed as son...
From a relative posting here: http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/bulletin.aspx?Artist=62450
James was a photographer and Joseph was a portrait painter. We believe James was a relative of Joseph and they were working together, though at this time we do not know how James was related.
I haven't checked but they were probably advertising in newspapers etc.
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Wayward, those two pictures above are of the wife’s Great-aunt Blanche Mollohan (1881-1917), a sister to her Grandfather Lucius Mollohan (1886-1959).
And here below is a photo of Lucius and two more similar portraits. The 1st one includes Lucius and his other sister, the wife’s Great-aunt Madama Mollohan (1875-1904) …… and the 2nd one is of Madama by herself.
The face of Madama looks a tad older in the 2nd picture and she is wearing a different suit or dress ….. so they may/must have been drawn from two different photos and/or by two different artists.
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Cogar, that is so neat that you have the photo and the pic of some of your relatives. Most I see are selling the pic for the value of the frame because they have no idea who the person in the pic is. Quite sad.
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I just found out from family history that Addie (Adlai) was an old family name.....and in the family line was Adlai Ewing Stevenson......who ran for President twice and Adlai Stevenson (Vice President of US)! Very Interesting. Have known very little about great great grandmother's side of the family!
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When I was out and about yesterday I saw several of these drawings available at Goodwill and Antique Stores. I thought it was interesting that the prices were all over the map. At Goodwill they wanted $99 and the pricey Antique Mall they wanted about $150 with 20-30% off and at another stand alone antique store they wanted $49. All were about the same size and frame quality.
Not that you would ever sell your relatives... lol
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I've bumped this thread because I think I found the original photo on which the wife's drawing is based. You can see more of the dress she's wearing, and a flat, brimmed hat in her lap. Can anyone give me more clues on when this picture might have been taken?
Here is the drawing again:
(http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/HowTownGirl/WifeofLemuel.jpg)
Now, here is the photograph.
(http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/HowTownGirl/CatrMorton.jpg)
Any ideas on when this photo might have been taken? Thanks!
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Yup, I think that was the photo that was used.
With all those "makeshift" flower pots full of flowers I would hafta guess the picture was taken on the back porch.
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That type of straw hat is called a "boater" and was popular from 1880 through about 1930, so unfortunately it doesn't help a lot to date the photograph. I'd attack it from a genealogy angle first and narrow down the times when you know she was about this age, then start picking apart the fashion to dial it in.
Here's an article on boaters:
http://www.millerhats.com/hatcare_index/boater_hats.html (http://www.millerhats.com/hatcare_index/boater_hats.html)
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This is a long shot but can you get a close up of the brooch at her neck? I did a quick search and crescent moons seem to be popular brooches so maybe we could ID that way?.... As I said a long shot as they may still be popular today...
ETA: There are a few pics with swords thru a moon when I googled. Is this brooch a sword piercing a moon?
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Wow, the boater hat complicates things tons! Elizabeth (the wife I think it is) died in 1877 at age 43, and Lemuel remarried in 1878 to a woman about whom we know nothing -- birth date, death date, nothing! I wonder if it could be her? She would have raised my husband's direct ancestor (he would have been about 6 when his mother died, and 7 when Dad remarried), and perhaps there was affection there. If his habit with the second wife is any indication, he did have a thing for much younger ladies! She was about 25 years his junior.
Here is a closeup of the pin. It does indeed look like a crescent moon with a sword or arrow through it.
(http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af285/HowTownGirl/ElizabethMarthaPeed.jpg)
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Nothing yet but this is great page for the meanings of pre1930's jewelry... Had to use the cached option to get the page:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:d6o4ZaJkxZkJ:eccedea.co.uk/epages/eshop171613.sf/en_GB/%3FObjectPath%3D/Shops/eshop171613/Categories/15/9+crescent+moon+sword+brooch+antique+meaning&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Sword - honour and protect. Crossed swords may indicate death on the battlefield.
Moon - death and rebirth. See also crescent.
Crescent - many meanings incl: Female spirituality, Moon Goddess. Glory. See also moon.
Aside from the above, I thought this was a "fun fact": "For example, a Victorian brooch that is decorated with ivy represents everlasting love, deep friendship or marriage, though if this brooch is also dotted with pearls it means it's a mourning piece (pearls represent tears), so it would have been worn by someone who wanted to remember a departed loved one. "
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Similar one here....dates 1900+
http://www.goantiques.com/detail,vintage-jewelry-cresent,77359.html (http://www.goantiques.com/detail,vintage-jewelry-cresent,77359.html)