Old Photo Mysteries and Genetics

At the recent New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) I met Pat McHugh. She told me about a very interesting image in her family collection. The name of the couple is currently unknown.

Their clothing and the studio setting suggests it was taken in the late 1860s. The pair was likely born in at least the early years of that century. It’s not their attire or the setting that makes this image stand out.

Take a good look at the woman in this carte de visite.

Have you spotted anything unusual about her hand?

She has six fingers on her right hand. The extra digit is on the outside of her hand, so according to the Wikipedia page on polydactyly, her condition is known as postaxial polydactyly. The incidence is only .6 per one thousand births for female Caucasian births, and it’s considered an autosomal recessive trait.

This woman wasn’t alone. There are many famous individuals who were born with an extra digit and a good number of fictional characters as well. Anne Boelyn’s extra finger may be a myth.

I’m hoping that armed with a date, Pat can determine who they are on her family tree. Unfortunately, the additional digit is unlikely to be mentioned in any documents. There don’t appear to be any stories passed down in the family about this woman either.

This one image is a reminder to study all the details in a picture very carefully for unusual identification clues. What’s the most unusual thing you’ve found in a family photo?

Identify your old mystery family photos with these guides by Maureen A. Taylor: