Sepia Saturday: She made hats

[dee_burris]

This is a photo I estimate to be circa 1868-1875 of the millinery shop owned and operated by my great-great grandmother, Mary Emily (Conner) Meek in Grenada Co., MS. (Click here to read more about her.)



From comparing the only known photo I have of her to this one, I think grandmama was the lady seated to the right of the post.

But I can't be sure.

This is a Sepia Saturday post. Head over there for more wonderful photos.

Comments

Hats

[hangingonmyword.blogspot.com]

What a splendid photograph, I wish I could enlarge it! To have a great grandmother who made hats too; were any 'hat stories' handed down with the picture?

Re: Hats

[dee_burris]

No hat stories, but if read the other link, you can see she was a busy and accomplished woman.

Re: Hats

[(Anonymous)]

It is wonderful! Your Grandmother looks so prim and pretty. That little girl needed a hat the most, she doesn't have hardly any hair.

Thanks for showing this one to us.

Kathy M.
Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy

Bob Scotney

[(Anonymous)]

I wonder whether you have the all the staff in the photo. Good to see a little girl getting in on the act.

Re: Bob Scotney

[dee_burris]

That's what I figured, Bob. Like the posed photos of the entire family outside of their farm home that were common of the mid to late 19th century, complete with the horses/mules and milk cow.

[imagespast.wordpress.com]

How wonderful to have this photo. Do I see hats in the window on the right? Great pic. Jo :-)

[dee_burris]

Yes, and I'd love to have one of the stands on which they were displayed...

hats

[(Anonymous)]

Great photo. I like that they are holding hats in the photo.

From Alan Burnett

[(Anonymous)]

Great photograph - you are so lucky to have this fine old image in your collection and to be able to identify so much of the detail.

Re: She made hats

[(Anonymous)]

What a super quality picture considering it was taken over 140 years ago!
Did you know that the Meek surname is (also) Dutch? Oldest record I could find is an Elisabeth Meek who had her daughter baptized in New Amsterdam on July 21, 1697.
If you are interested, please contact me at patmiebies at gmail dot com.

from Brett Payne/Photo-Sleuth

[(Anonymous)]

Judging by the clothing, I'm pretty sure that this wonderful photographic portrait was taken in the 1890s, and would be fairly confident at narrowing it down to the late 1890s. These leg-of-mutton sleeves would not have been around prior to 1890. Thanks for participating in Sepia Saturday and sharing your family archives.

Re: from Brett Payne/Photo-Sleuth

[dee_burris]

The millinery shop was closed by 1875, when my great great grandmother had remarried and moved to Russellville, Pope Co., AR. By 1890, grandma was 52, and a widow.

That's why I used 1875 as my outside date.

I think you are calling a puffy sleeve - which was in vogue in the late 1860s and early 1870s, a "leg of mutton sleeve." A leg of mutton sleeve was generally gathered at the elbow and tight from there on down to the wrist, as in this photo of dress patterns from the 1890s below.



Also, that flat hat worn by the woman I believe to by my grandmother was in vogue in the 1870s. Women tended to wear their hats more straight atop their heads or even pitched forward on the forehead.

By the 1890s, the crowns of women's hats had gotten much higher, and the Gibson Girls were emulated by many women, with their cloche style hats.

[(Anonymous)]

Such a great photo, and I too have so many photos that I wish they'd written clearer on !

[(Anonymous)]

I have many dressmakers in my family but only recently found a milliner. Sadly, no photographs though. This is a gem. I read the post you linked, but where is the other photo you are using for comparison? Hats were such fun - now all we see are ballcaps worn backwards which is so unflattering. Is there a "Carnival of hats" or "Millinery Monday"? I am so out of the blogging mainstream that I wouldn't know.

Margel

[dee_burris]

The one in this post.

The longer I look at the photo here, the more I wonder if the woman standing to the far right is Mary's mother. If so, this photo would have to have been taken no later than 1866. Betsey Curtis Conner's photo is on her Find a Grave memorial.