Unfortunately, I owe emails to a few very kind people about genealogy issues, but I have had no time to work on my leads. Instead, today, I thought I’d share with you some photographs of people unknown to me that I found in an antique store in Long Beach, California. When I go into antique stores, the old photos capture my attention more than all the other old discarded belongings put together.
I haven’t had the time to do much research on these photos either, but I post them here in case they can one day be matched with family or friends of the subjects.
Perhaps the most unusual is one of a cast of a woman’s face, rather than of a living subject. I will assume the woman was dead and hence the cast was made, but I can’t know for sure.
The photographer was Jordan, and the photo was taken in Washington, D.C.
The back helps more than most do.
Her name appears to have been Mercy (room to think Mary, but it seems pretty clearly Mercy to me) Ferries or Ferriss. Perhaps Ferris. She had eleven children: Adeline, Mary Jane, Caroline, Eleanor, John, Franklin, Luther, and four others.
A.M. Noble might be the name of the man (assuming) who made the cast.
A brief search right after I obtained the photograph yielded census information about a Mercy Ferris in 1900, 60 years old, a widow, one son living at home, a New Yorker. Unfortunately, there is no 1890 census as the records were destroyed in a fire. What is also unique, maybe, is that the photo was in Washington DC. I’m not finding much with a name like this for that area.
I judge the photo to be from about 1880-1915.
My next photograph I love for its peaceful scene of family or friends socializing in a beautiful porch setting.
I love the details of the mismatched chairs (including wicker one), the tablecloth, the sweater with tie, and the netting hanging down the side of the porch.
Unfortunately, nothing was written on the back of this photograph. Any ideas on how to research this photo?
And here is one more.
Maybe we can find the family of this young lady. The photograph is from St. Louis.
Her name was Miss Lena Buckhold and here is her address! In a quick search, I did see a Lena Taylor who died in California in 1980. Her maiden name was Buckhold, and she was born in Missouri on January 15, 1891. Could that be this Lena? It seems like a promising lead.
Please pass on this post, and let’s see if we can find the families!
The Family Kalamazoo 