Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sepia Saturday - Older Women of a Certain Character in Bonnets

Wow!  This week's Sepia Saturday was a real doozy, I wasn't sure which way to go with it, but I just kept coming back to to that old lady in the bonnet with that, shall we say, unusual look on her face.  Or let's just call it character.  I have  several photographs of "older women of character in bonnets" I would like to share so here they are:

This first photograph is a CDV taken probably about 1863-1864 by Geo. W. Wilcox, Traveling Photographer of an unidentified woman.  This appears that it may have possibly had a revenue stamp on it at one time so most likely late 1864.

1864 Woman
 


The first photo below is a CDV taken around 1860 - 1862.  The card was cut at the corners to fit into a photo album.  There is no photographer listed, but on the back is written in hand, " Grandma Misserner, Harrison & Ernest Great Grandmother."  The second photo is also most likely early 1860's and the woman and photographer are both unidentified.  Update:  I just realized the second woman, on the right below, is wearing eyeglasses!

1860 -62 Woman
Early 1860's Woman

This next photograph is interesting, it appears to be of a woman probably late 1850's to early 1860's, but the photo was copied from glass and reprinted most likely sometime in the 1870's.  The photographer who made the copy was Groves & Little, 21 Henry Street, Carlisle and the woman is unidentified.

Late 1850's to Early 1860's Woman
 


This last photo I have posted before but I think it deserves another mention, don't you?

Early 1860's Woman
Please check out all the other enticing photos and stories at Sepia Saturday.



7 comments:

  1. Goodness -- the first lady looks like she's related to the woman in my post. And Grandma Misserner has a bonnet like my Mrs. Coldorn. I do recognize the last woman with her "man hands." Hats off to you, Teresa, for a fine collection of bonnetted women.

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  2. You seem to have a fantastic collection of CDV's! If it is possible for you to dedicate a complete post on bonnets alone, it must be pretty impressive. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. A great pickup on a smaller part of our theme, Teresa. The bonnets are such a period element of old photos and they must have been important to the people of that time. Perhaps they meant "mother" or "grandmother" and were intended for distant or traveling children. I wonder if the bonnet style indicates some aspect of religion, protestant/catholic or maybe ethnic/national origin.

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  4. You did a marvelous job of coming up with things for the old lady! She completely had my attention too-although it does appear to me that she might be made of mud or some other substance! That's possibly what makes her even more interesting to me!

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  5. Oh, they are a formidable bunch! I can't help thinking that these are the matriarchs who would have been left behind during the Civil War (perhaps some of the husbands would have been anxious to go!) the women who "held the fort". And a damn good job they did of it too!

    As for the last bonnetted lady, I can only think, "Grandma, What big HANDS you have!"

    Kat

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  6. Somebody's Mom, somebody's Grandma ... they were all very important women to those in their lives. I'm so glad that their pictures are still around for us to see.

    Thank you for the great selection!

    Kathy M.

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  7. The dark bonnet on the 2nd lady is more flattering that the fluffy white ones on the older women. I didn't even notice the last woman's hands - I was so taken in by the expression on her face. She had her eye on someone!

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