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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 02:01 GMT (UK)

Title: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 02:01 GMT (UK)
If someone can move this to the photo page, I'd appreciate it:  I'm hoping for some help with two photos.  First, the Henry Siik family - this is a photo of my great grandfather, however we cannot tell if the baby is a boy or a girl, which would help with identifying the woman.

The second photo is labeled Mr. and Mrs. August Wiik.  (Good friends of Henry Siik.)  We know that August married in 1898, so this may be their wedding photo.  But does the woman look dressed for her wedding?  Could Henry family had photo taken on occasion of August wedding?

Note, both photos appear to be taken in the same studio, but perhaps at different times.  The photo studio name seems to be Forsander, in Ishpeming, Michigan.  The people all moved from Finland to northern Michigan around this time.  I'd appreciate any help very much!  My first post, so hope I'm doing this correctly.  Thanks. 
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: Billyblue on Monday 24 November 14 07:04 GMT (UK)
Welcome to RootsChat, Marshas

At a guess I'd say the child is a boy. But it's only a guess, purely on physiological features.

You can get this moved to the Photo Restoration and Dating board yourself, within 24 hours of posting.  Just click on report to Moderator and in the resultant box, ask them to move it.

Do you want the second one restored or just dated?  Best to let people know.

Cheers
Dawn M
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: Treetotal on Monday 24 November 14 09:15 GMT (UK)
Hi and welcome to Rootschat...I would go with boy too.
Carol
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: Seoras on Monday 24 November 14 09:36 GMT (UK)
I would go with boy for the first. As to the second, the sleeves on the dress look 1890's and they are both wearing what appears to be a corsage, so I would say it could well be a wedding photo.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: Treetotal on Monday 24 November 14 10:08 GMT (UK)
It looks like the same couple to me?
Carol
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: Billyblue on Monday 24 November 14 11:58 GMT (UK)
It looks like the same couple to me?
Carol

Could be, but... ??? ??? ???
Definitely family resemblance for the adult males.  If they are of the same couple, though OP says differently - the top one is some years after the other one.  But I'd not like to hazard a guess about dates.

Dawn M
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: cazza59 on Monday 24 November 14 12:42 GMT (UK)
I don't think they are a couple myself when you clean away some of grunge.  The women in particular look different to me, but the men could be brothers.

I also vote boy.


Caroline
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: cazza59 on Monday 24 November 14 12:43 GMT (UK)
The second one for comparison.

Caroline
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: jim1 on Monday 24 November 14 14:43 GMT (UK)
Both 1890's.
The first I would suggest is 1895-98.
The second 1896-98 & agree it does look like a wedding. The man is formally dressed in a white tie, the corsages have already been mentioned.
Agree the child is a boy, if this was a girl I would expect the clothes to be more elaborate than this & almost certainly white.
I think these have been taken in a booth rather than a studio with an old camera as there's a lot of fuzziness around the edges.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: dansdottir on Monday 24 November 14 16:19 GMT (UK)
I also think the child is probably a boy, and for a subjective reason.  With only the one child in the picture, it feels likely to me that the mother would hold it.  Since the child is on Dad's lap, it gives me the sense that he's particularly proud, which would more likely mean a son.

Just guessing, of course.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: jim1 on Monday 24 November 14 17:24 GMT (UK)
This may have been a picture for her. His & her photos were common.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 18:47 GMT (UK)
Thank you everyone for your help!  And the photo was restored beautifully - thanks so much.  I also think the baby is a boy, but my cousins have argued it's a girl as that matches a baby born in 1908 that Henry and his wife adopted.  I now need to solve the identity of the woman and baby.   I will take your consensus that the second photo is the wedding photo of August and Selma Wigg.  I know their marriage date was 1898.  Henry and August were some kind of cousins (don't know yet exactly), best friends and later built matching houses next door to each other in Negaunee.  Thanks again!
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 18:52 GMT (UK)
This may have been a picture for her. His & her photos were common.

Please explain further about his and her photos. 
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this the same woman?
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 19:04 GMT (UK)
Thanks everyone - consensus is the baby in the bottom photo is a boy - I agree.
But that creates a new mystery - who is the woman?  Does it look like the same woman in both photos?  Need your discerning eyes! 

We know the identity of the woman and girl standing in the 1910 photo.  The girl is Hilma, born in 1908.  Hilma is standing with her aunt Ida, who adopted her after her mother died. 

Could Ida be the woman in both photos? One taken in 1898 or so, the other taken in 1910 or so? (Though I was told that Ida didn't arrive in USA until 1908 with Henry.)
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: jim1 on Monday 24 November 14 19:41 GMT (UK)
Not the same baby as this was taken much later, certainly post 1905 & could be up to around 1912.
The other photo is mid-late 1890's. That child was a boy who would be around 10/12 when this was taken.
This baby is a girl.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 19:51 GMT (UK)
jim1- thank you.  Sounds like you are convinced the baby photo with family was taken before 1900, so it could be the estranged wife of Henry who traveled from Finland with her youngest son, Kalle, born in 1897 in Finland.  My cousin in Finland, however, says the mother was ill and didn't travel to America.  I'll look for travel records.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: marshas on Monday 24 November 14 20:48 GMT (UK)
The second one for comparison.

Caroline

Caroline, thank you for restoring both photos - they are wonderful.  Will be much appreciated by their family, esp the wedding photo.
Title: Re: Photo mystery - is this baby a boy or girl? Also date.
Post by: cazza59 on Tuesday 25 November 14 09:38 GMT (UK)
You're more than welcome.

Caroline