All My Ancestors

Here’s a good example of answering one question but getting at least two more. When was this photo taken and who is the subject?

Due to my recent posting about John Wright Osborne, I’ve made another family connection. I’ve very glad as one of my goals is to find descendants for each of the generation that has 10 Osborne sons–the sons of Jonathan Osborne and Martha Roland. I believe that at least one of them had no descendants–Archibald Magruder Osborne died before he was married and I assume he had no children. I’m not sure about the oldest son, named Christopher for his paternal grandfather. I’m certain I’ve found descendants from 3 of the 9 who are known to have had children, so I have plenty more work to do.

This photo came from a descendant of John Wright Osborne’s father, Thomas. I believe I’ve mentioned that he married twice–his first wife, Mary Jane Wright, was John Wright’s mother. His second wife, Eveline Matlock, bore 9 more children for a grand total of 13. Thomas was just younger than my own ggreat-grandfather, John Osborne, and was his business partner in some land deals in west Tennessee, though Thomas lived in the eastern part of the state.

Thomas’ descendant wants this to be a picture of Eveline. The subject’s clothing, hairstyle, and jewelry are the main clues from the photo itself. There is no photographer’s stamp or mark on it–nothing is on the reverse. The original is small, about 2.5″ x 4″. The cardboard backing is not thick but it is rigid.

Eveline was born in 1824, so even if this photo was made in the early days of photography in the 1860s, that would make Eveline in her mid to late 30s. I’ll admit that I have a hard time estimating today’s ages, much less those of folks a century or two old, but I don’t think this person looks 35 or so. I have some books on reserve at the library to see what I can find about the jewelry and the dress style. Her hair looks like its in a snood, but my research on snoods indicates they’ve been used since the middle ages, so that doesn’t help narrow the date. From the little research that I have done, the fact that there are no props in the picture and that it’s a bust shot rather than a full-length shot, and that it’s a small photo, make me think this photo is earlier rather than later.

But what do you think about a date? I’d be happy to hear from anyone with a tidbit of info about photography history, and I’ll be happy to be contradicted–not a common event, trust me.

Here’s another cropped version of the photo–maybe it helps

Is there a hint of a high waist line at the bottom of this image?

We’d love to know what you think.