Mystery woman from when?

[roopat]

I think she looks very small, like a girl in her teens maybe. Her shoulders are tiny and she seems dwarfed in the jacket. Her hands are also very small.

Pat

[Westfrem]

So if born 1852 she would be at least 18 but I see what you mean about looking younger.

 

[chinakay]

She does look small compared to the jacket, but 1870s style dresses featured loose sleeves like these. The jacket also looks large because it has to fit over the bustle.

Girls of marriageable age wore her hair up. Were she much younger her hair should be loose around her shoulders, although as her hair looks a bit unruly she may have done something with it.

One more odd feature is that the photographer has messed with her eyes. Sometimes when a sitter's eyes lacked definition in a photo, the photographer would "enhance" them with little black dots. Usually with gruesome results, especially if the dots are uneven. Like here

So the eyes may be confusing her apparent age.

Cheers,
China

[Westfrem]

Thanks China,

So do you agree with the date for '2little girls'? Can you see any resemblence - one of the girls has very distinctive eyes but the other may have inherited her mothers?! Now I am letting my imagination run away with me!!

[chinakay]

I've been staring at the photos, and the girls do have a similar face to the woman. She has lighter eyes than I first thought (darn those awful dots) and one of the girls does have very light eyes. For all the facial similarities of the girls, the other one has completely different eyes, doesn't she...very dark.

But as they are both sepia photos and we can't really see the actual skin and hair colouring, I suppose my best guess would be "maybe"

When did the lady marry?

[Westfrem]

Ah now there you have it! She never married but had 7 children - no named father. Neither was she ever living with a man in any census or shown as married!!

 

[chinakay]

Eeeek

Gooood luck