Picture Origins: Overseas or in America

In response to last week’s column on tinted pictures, Barbara Stone sent in this oversize hand colored photo of a young woman. It’s on canvas and framed in a gorgeous gold setting. According to Stone is was found in a collection of pictures of her father’s Irish relatives who lived in Ansonia, Connecticut. The problem is: Where was it taken and who is it?

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I own a similar type image of my great-grandfather. His picture and the one owned by Stone are charcoal enhanced photographs. Both are likely based on a much smaller original photograph. In the late nineteenth century photographers advertised that they could produce this enhanced enlargements.

The wide upper sleeves on her dress, the design of the bodice and her hairstyle all provide a time frame for the image of the late 1890s. Stone wrote that it might depict Jane (Lomasney) Coppinger from Kilworth, Co. Cork and wondered if it was made it the United States or in Ireland. Figuring out if this is Jane is a matter of finding out her birth date to see if she’s a young woman in the late 1890s. If that’s the case, then verifying her immigration year could identify the place of origin for this picture. It’s a case of adding up the facts. Do the details of her life (i.e. her age) and immigration information support Stone’s hypothesis? I’ll let you know if I find out.

BTW-there is a new website for English photo reunions. You can watch my YouTube video about it. If one of your ancestors lived in Hull, England, you’ll definitely want to take the Hull Challenge.