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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: barbaras daughter on Tuesday 21 September 10 08:26 BST (UK)

Title: Am I asking too much
Post by: barbaras daughter on Tuesday 21 September 10 08:26 BST (UK)
Hi folks,

I hope someone can help me here.  I know for a fact that the photo of the man on his own was taken in 1884.  The other photo is of the aforementioned man and his siblings and I assume that it was taken about 1888 as there were originally 2 girls in the family and one died in 1888.   

Working from left to right and assuming the photo was taken around 1888, I've worked out their ages & I'd like to see what others think.

Man 1 = 25
Man 2 = 31
Man 3 = 40
Woman = 37
Man 4 = 33
Man 5 = 30

Does anyone think that man 4 may be the fellow in the other photo?  If not, any suggestions?

I know this is a 'curly' :-\ one but I'd love to have a rough idea of who's who.

Thank you,
Michelle

Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: nickgc on Tuesday 21 September 10 08:43 BST (UK)
I seriously think that at the very least, men 2, 3 and 5, as well as woman, are well older than your estimates.  I think the woman must be well into her 50s (at least), and the man seated next to her and the one behind her are also in 50s to 60s.  But I do think your individual photo and man 4 are the same person.

Nick
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: mare on Tuesday 21 September 10 08:45 BST (UK)
... my first impression is also that they are older than ages given, certainly family likeness in the men and think you may be right with no4 being the individual fellow  :) mare
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: Finley 1 on Tuesday 21 September 10 10:47 BST (UK)
I would also put 10 years on to your estimates  sorry... but yes he does look like man 4  also a little like man1

or is that chelsea 4 and man u 1   ;D ;D ;D

xin
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: jim1 on Tuesday 21 September 10 11:05 BST (UK)
Hello Michelle
There's one or two problems with your dates,the first shows a man wearing a watch chain fastened in a seperate buttonhole,this trend first appeared in 1888.
The first man in the second has creases in his trousers which first appeared in the 1890's,the lady is dressed early 1900's style,so a date of post 1888 for the first but a better date can be given if we could see all of the cardstock & around 1905 for the second.

jim
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: nickgc on Tuesday 21 September 10 11:16 BST (UK)
Michelle,

Perhaps you should get our expert RC photo daters involved in estimating date of second photo.  The woman's dress might give good dating clues.  When I looked at it I thought closer to early 1900s (e.g. 1905) than your estimate of 1888.  The men seem to have soft, attached shirt collars which might mean later than 1888.  I'm not an expert, so could be completely wrong.

Just change title to ask for dating of photo two.


Ah,  I see Jim is here to save the day. :D

Nick
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: Yorvick on Tuesday 21 September 10 11:20 BST (UK)
Kia ora,

I agree with Nick, the people in the photo are much older than your estimate, despite the fact they lived very hard lives and the lack of "Ponds" or "Oil of Olay"


Best of luck tracking the ages down


Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: barbaras daughter on Wednesday 22 September 10 00:49 BST (UK)
Good morning all,

Thanks go to all for your help.

I'm afraid that I can't send a copy of the card stock as the first photo is a scanned copy of the original sent to me from the Singleton Historical Museum and the second was emailed to me from a member of the descendants of one of the people in the 2nd photo.

Re photo 1:  Jim1, you said that the watch chain in the button hole didn't appear until 1888?  The photo is a cropped version of a wedding photo (the one sent to me from the Singleton Historical Museum) & this couple married in 1884.  Any chance that it wasn't the 'norm' in 1884 for watch chains to be worn in this way?

Re photo 2:  Yes, I was just guessing as to the date the photo was taken as only one daughter is in the photo & the 2nd daughter had died in 1888.  What I am mainly after with photo 2 is trying to figure out which man is the eldest, fourth eldest, middle, 2nd youngest & yougest.  I don't know if this will help but the men's birth years were 1848, 1855, 1857, 1858 & 1863.  The woman - 1851.

I've attached another photo of the 5 boys in the hope that it may be of assistance.

Nickgc, mare, xinia, jim1 & yorvic, I appreciate your help.

Michelle
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: nickgc on Wednesday 22 September 10 02:10 BST (UK)
OK, this took a lot of flipping back and forth between 1st and second group photo doing physical comparisons and here are my guesses.

1st Photo              and        2nd Photo

Middle = eldest                        middle man standing
Seated Left = 2nd eldest           left man standing
Seated right = 3rd eldest           standing right
Standing right  = 4th eldest       seated left
Standing left  = youngest          seated right


Now let's see how my guesses compare to other's...

Nick         
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: mare on Wednesday 22 September 10 02:19 BST (UK)
... I was just trying to do the same Nick, having just logged in again ... and now will have to look at both pics yet again with your guesses ... I thought the clean shaven one with the lighter trouser in second pic was the youngest  :-\

... the 3 who are close in age, b 55,57,58 are a hard call ...

Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: mare on Wednesday 22 September 10 02:54 BST (UK)
.... It's taken a lot of flicking as you say and several jottings.  From your guess then Nick, you have the individual as no 2 in the first group ... swapped places with Michelle's guess at no 4 in OP ... and think that might well be the right order ...

Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: Finley 1 on Wednesday 22 September 10 12:18 BST (UK)
here you go for comparison

xin
modified
Title: Re: Am I asking too much
Post by: barbaras daughter on Thursday 23 September 10 07:25 BST (UK)
It is VERY difficult isn't it?  I agree with you mare that the boy with the light coloured trousers in the photo of when they were younger is the youngest. 

By jove I think I've got it!  Thanks to Nick.  Yes, I do believe the following of the first group photo I sent through:
    L to R  (or another way of looking at it)Youngest to oldest
Man 1 = youngest                                             Youngest = Man standing left        )
Man 2 = 2nd eldest                                          4th eldest = Man standing right      )
Man 3 = eldest                                                 3rd eldest = Man seated right         )  Same as Nick
Man 4 = 2nd youngest                                     2nd eldest = Man seated left           )
Man 5 = 3rd eldest                                                  Eldest = Man in the middle        )

So.................. this now means that Man 2 IS the man in the photo of the man on his own!!!!!!! :P :P :P :P :P :P

Now with all this in mind, I with "attack" the photo of the boys when they were younger & see what I come up with there.

Thank you all for your help.  It really does help to have others to discuss these things with.  I'm a happy little chicky now :-* :-* :-* :-*

Bye for now,
Michelle