Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Lady in White

Here is a cabinet card with an unidentified woman from Tiffin, Ohio taken by O. P. Frees.  She is seated on a studio prop "rock wall" and wearing a white dress with a fitted bodice, black hat with white flowers and leaning slightly on a black umbrella.

Most of the clues point to the photo being taken about the late 1880's to early 1890's although it is uncommon but not unheard of to see women wearing white dresses during this time period.  I found the photographer Oliver Perry Frees (4 Feb 1852 - 13 Apr 1921) in Ancestry.com in the 1900 Seneca County, Ohio census.  His age was listed as 48, married 24 years to Mary age 47, one son Orva aged 23.   I found a marriage record for an Oliver Frees and Mary S. Wilcox in Seneca County, 22 Dec 1875.  I also found a death record for Oliver Frees in Seneca County on 13 April 1921.  There were numerous Tiffin City Directory records starting with 1903.  I still want to believe that this photo was taken between 1889 - 1894 and it is entirely possible that he would have began his photography career earlier than 1900 even though he does not show up in earlier censuses.


1 comment:

  1. This is great - I hope you find out more about the photographer, since it does seem like an earlier photograph. I wish there were a way to pin it down through hat styles or something!

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