6.5.14

Sister Alice

This week I manage to fulfil the Sepia Saturday theme of Sisters. Alice E. Daniels, known as Allie, was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1870. She was the younger sister of my great-grandmother Louise, whom I spotlighted in my last Sepia Saturday Eff-Stop post.

 I believe that of these three girls, the far-right one is Allie (there's a telltale birthmark on the bridge of her nose) and the far-left Louise, born in 1868. I have not as yet determined the identity of the older girl. The picture thus would have been taken around 1873, a few years before the family moved a tad south to Lenawee County, Michigan.


Here's Allie with what must be a favorite doll. She has some sort of adornment on her head, unless it's a hairdo of some sort, and appears to be in front of a painted backdrop.


A couple of years later, Allie (left) has a very similar dress -- perhaps the same one but let out -- and a different collar. The backdrop is rather sickeningly tilted! Interestingly, her sister appears in a similar photo wearing the same dress, though without the necklace.


Here is what appears to be a teenage Allie -- looking, I have to say, rather wistful, though I think she's the more beautiful of the sisters.


One mystery is that in the 1900 census, there is a Harry Daniels, aged 6, living with his grandparents Henry and Martha Daniels, along with Alice. Alice, now 30 (although being listed as 25), does not have a married name. Harry, noted as a grandson, not a son, is not the son of Louise, who was by this time married to Gaylord Orr, with her own children. He is listed as being born in Arkansas -- a state the Danielses never lived in, as far as I know. Was he born out of wedlock? Did Alice marry, move to Arkansas, and then divorce and return home?

For more about Louise and the Orrs, see The Irish Side.

17 comments:

  1. It's fun to speculate about old photographs, but can be frustrating at the same time as they generally offer more questions than answers - such as who little Harry's father was and what happened to him, or to his relationship with Alice? I hope an answer to that question might materialize somewhere, somehow, someday. But the reality is - it probably won't, leaving you to wonder. Still, to have those pictures of your great grandmother and grand aunt is pretty special.

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  2. That is a wonderful set of photographs - you can browse from one to the next watching time and mood play games with familiar faces.

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  3. I especially like the photo with the doll. It is interesting how the same dress appears in different ways.

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  4. I had a matching dress with my little sister one year...I wonder if it is possible the sisters here did as well? It is sure fun to chase the various relationships that genealogical searches leave hanging. For years I thought my grandfather was raised by cousins, until I found his mother was still living on a census, with her own children listed as well.

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    1. Yes, I don't know whether they had matching dresses, shared one, or whether Alice inherited Louise's.

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  5. What adorable children. The little off-the-shoulder dresses in the first picture are very sweet. I wonder how they managed to keep them up, being
    presumably active children. Harry looks like an angel.

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  6. Great photos from that old album. Are there no state birth records ot christenings you can access that might confirm that Harry's mother was Alice, and what did the later censuses say for Harry in 1910, 1920 or 1930?

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    1. Believe me, I've scoured the censuses and birth records. Harry is just suddenly there and Alice retains her maiden name!

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  7. Long boots seem to have been popular. Were they handed down as well?

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  8. Such old photographs are wonderful and you are so lucky to have them.

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  9. A fine post and collection of family photographs. Isn't it interesting how Ancestry.com can turn up such an amazing array of facts and mysteries?

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  10. Or was he a cousin or nephew who was living with them and enumerator was told or assumed that he was a grandson? Perhaps a neighbor gave the info. I have a great uncle suddenly having 2 grown sons appear in 1940. Never appeared before nor after. A boarder gave the information.

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    1. The only other clue I have is a much later document where Harry claims Louise as his closest relative.

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  11. I'm wondering if that could be a Native American doll with a headdress and fringed skirt.

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  12. The two younger sisters are very much alike.

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  13. I'm interested that the little ones were wearing off-the-shoulder dresses in that first photo. Are you able to obtain a birth certificate for Henry? I do love a mystery.

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  14. Very interesting; I could pore over these photos for ages. I do love a mystery though; if you find out who Harry is be sure to let us know.

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