Entry tags:

mystery monday, photo post, williams

The Williams family photo album is falling apart now. It was given to my great-grandparents, Jo Desha and Maxie Leah (Meek) Williams for Christmas in 1885, probably as an engagement present prior to their marriage on 11 Feb 1886.

This one fell out.



I have no idea who she is. She could have been one of Maxie's friends, since I have found other photos of Maxie's friends in the album.

It was taken between 1871 and 1878, according to my research on the photographer.

Then, there is the daguerreotype - equally mysterious.



I've taken it apart one time to get all the information I could about it.

In the interest of historic accuracy, I really think this is an ambrotype, placed in a daguerreotype case made by Litchfield, Parsons and Co. The tag inside the back of the piece says the case is a Union case, with embracing riveted hinge, patented by LP&C on October 14, 1856 and April 21, 1857. By the late 1860s, the ambrotype was replaced by the tintype.

So I have a date range for my heirloom photograph of roughly 1856 through 1865.

And no clue as to the identity of my ancestresses.