UPDATE: This photograph has been identified as to the clothing and location it is from. See the update at the bottom of the post!!
This one is no doubt my favorite of the unidentifed photos in the archival storage box.
Look at her outfit. She looks like a pilgrim, doesn’t she? Or maybe Emily Dickinson with a pilgrim bonnet on?
Look at the book in her hand. What is it? A Bible? A hymnal? A prayer book? Surely there is significance to the text.
This is one of my few photos from Utrecht. Did I have family there?
Well, Alice Paak, my great-grandmother, was from Lexmond, which is south of Utrecht, so you could say that that branch of the family comes from the vicinity of Utrecht.
I can’t figure out the relationship. Also, Alice and her siblings were blue-eyed blondes.
Here is the back of the photo in case it offers any clues:
UPDATE: Reader Hubert Theuns has commented below with the following information which adds a lot of information to this photograph.
The photographer, Cornelis Johannes Lodewicus Vermeulen, was born in Utrecht 18.11.1861 and died in Hilversum 05.01.1936. Photographs from the period 1886-1915 can be found athttps://rkd.nl/nl/explore/portraits#query=cjl+vermeulen&start=0&filters%5Bcollectienaam%5D%5B%5D=RKD%20%28Collectie%20Iconografisch%20Bureau%29
In the Dutch province of Zeeland there is a society for the preservation of traditional costumes. The secretary of that society identified the traditional costume as the traditional costume of Cadzand, a small town in the Dutch province of Zeeland. In 2007 Cadzand had about 800 inhabitants. I believe this information may be useful to you.
FASINATING information. I had never heard of Cadzand, but now I will do my research. It doesn’t look too terribly far from Goes–and both towns are in Zeeland.