Posts Tagged ‘ 19th century New England ’

I remember my grandmother Ethel as a dignified white-haired lady who walked with a cane, but I’m told that she was feisty in her younger years. She learned to drive an automobile early on and apparently was a fearless cyclist. So there must have been great excitement when her family bought “the first bicycle,” as someone labelled this picture. That would have been in the mid-1890s. Left to right: my great-grandmother Ida, looking uncharacteristically laid back; my grandmother …Read More

There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said: “It is just as I feared! Two owls and a hen, Four larks and a wren Have all built their nests in my beard. Edward Lear, Book of Nonsense (1846) I’ve posted tintypes of bare-faced boys and mustachoied dandies in this space; now for a few of the bearded males I found in the biscuit tin. To paraphrase Stephen Vincent Benét: Like Stonewall Jackson, they are wrapped in …Read More

I found some well turned out ladies in the biscuit tin. The woman above wore a ribbon at the neck, lace collar, fancy tie, and brooch, just as the younger girls did. She’s added a festooned hat, which to my mind gives her an air of confidence. Lovely but wistful Priscilla Parker looks ready for a ride in a carriage. Oh dear, this tintype is pretty rusty, but you can still see the nice plaid, popular at mid-century. …Read More

Here’s something else I found in that box of tintypes and photographs: It was folded up, and inside it was this: Had that lock of hair been undisturbed since 1872? Was the person who saved it in the grip of some obsessive, unrequited love? Far be it from me to toss the program or the lock into the trash! Maybe the New England Conservatory archives would take them.

I’ve got quite a demographic assortment in the biscuit tin–men, women, girls, boys, couples, groups, even a few babies. I’m guessing that the fellows below are in their early teens, since they don’t have the full beards and magnificent mustaches of the older males. Unlike for the girls, the names of several were penciled on the paper sleeves. Here’s J.D. Hill of Starksboro, VT. His tintype is truly teeny–less than 2 cm in height, so it’s dwarfed by …Read More

Here are some more treasures from the biscuit box of photographs. I’m wondering whether these three young women were relatives, friends, or schoolmates. To me, the first one looks the youngest and most innocent, with her wide-eyed expression and loose curls. Also, although she wears a lace collar, brooch, and tie, she’s lacking the ribbon around her neck that the other two have on. Her own little rebellion against frippery? Or did she just forget? The third one …Read More

Well, gang, just call me Ms. Gumshoe. While sifting through the tintypes in the biscuit tin, I actually found one that was labeled. Not dated, alas, but the subject of the portrait was “Mrs. Woodman” and the place, Waterbury, VT. A bit of googling nailed the woman’s identity. She’s my great-great grandmother, Mary Jane Sanborn (1821-1887), who married Albert Alonzo Woodman in 1847 in Compton, Quebec, and then came to Waterbury, VT. She looks terrifying. Was Mary Jane’s …Read More

I’ve been cleaning out closets. In a tin biscuit box, I found a pile of tintypes (photos on metal) and other old photographs dating from about 1860 to 1880. With them was a little scribbled note: “James, Keep all pictures in desk until we can look at them together, Mary.” James would be my grandfather (who died in 1958) and Mary was his sister. Unfortunately, almost none of those pictures had names or dates written on them. I’ll …Read More