How fabulous. To have the necklace from the picture, what a connection. The pictures all look like early 1900s, from the clothing styles. The baby could be either girl or boy, can't really tell. Grandmother and grandchild? Perhaps your mothers grandmother? I hope you are able to identify everyone. Having the picture of someone wearing that necklace certainly adds to the value, but I'm betting that for you it is priceless. Certainly would be to me. Thanks for sharing.

Betty

The baby is a boy...look at the hair. The woman holding him is not his mother. Could it be aunt alice herself? I have pictures of my great grandmother taken in the 1930's wearing a dress that looks like that and pictures of my late husband taken about 1932 wearing a one piece "romper suit" that could be what the child in the picture is wearing.
The story I am constructing is....Aunt Alice returned to Scotland to visit the fincee....he had given her that locket when she and he bacame bethrothed and perhaps promised to join her....notice the XXOXX ( hugs and kisses) on the locket. He didn't show....maybe met and marries someone else? Aunt Alice decided to see for herself and returned to Scotland and found either he was married or had no interest in marrying her. She returned to the US with a picture of him as a grown man and perhaps added some engraving to the locket....letters that only meant something to her...

Now....do you know the fiancee's name? What about the other sister? What was her name? Did she marry?
I believe there is some connection between the woman with the child and the fiancee....even if they were only well loved persons.
The fiance looks like he is dressed lika a scottish soldier....and it could have been at the time of WWI.
The other picture looks to me like it could have been anywhere from 1865 to 1930 by the dress and hair styles.
Could it have been you Great grandmother? And Perhaps a child who died?
Could it ( and now I am writing my novel!) be that Aunt Alice came back from Scotland in 1920 pregnant? Could that be her child and her mother? And that's why they were important?
That style of locket and chain looks like it could be from anywhere from 1875 to 1015 or so....
Could it have belonged first to someone other than Aunt Alice?
Are there any letters hidden away in boxes??
Linda C....who loves a good mystery!

The oil painting of the soldier was done from the photograph in the locket (probably a larger copy of it). I would guess the locket holds pictures of her husband and son. The GFA is a puzzle, but maybe the other letters could be two people's initials.

Love this stuff!! ;)

Have you been able to find them in any Census? Sometimes that helps with ages of people and the ability to identify them in pictures. I do genealogy of my families and have had the same situation as you, no names, dates, or initials on the backs but through the genealogy I've been able to discern who the people are.

Did your Mom die before or after Grandmother and Alice? If after that could be why she had the necklace. Get talking to those realtives and see what they know.

What is your great grandmother and grandfathers initials? If you could find the name of the soldier that would be probably help as well. Maybe the TF means "together forever" dated 1911 since they are in a more scripted writing? Maybe a jeweller could take the pics out for you and see if there are any clues on the backs of the pics?

I'm thinking definitely Scottish soldier look at this;
http://civilwarriorcollectables.com/photo/1281-05.jpg
World War I was from 1914 to 1920 so he could have given her the lock in 1911 and went off to war in 1914 and Alice came to the states where it was safer to ride out the war. Her return at the end of the war was perhaps to visit his grave? I am thinking the GFA are maybe his initials and the F-A his rank?

Do you have other pictures of Alice? Is her hairstyle the same? I have also identifyed woman because back then they had the same hairstyle for life.

This link on dating photos might be helpful and also maybe a profesional photographer could help in some way or historian at a library;
http://www.classyimage.com/dating.htm

Since the pictures are framed in Mass. The picture I'm assuming would also have been taken there. I believe that is Aunt Alice with perhaps her oldest niece or nephew? Perhaps the oldest child of you grandparents and thus the reason for the pictures being at your grandparents place? Maybe the pain of seeing her fiancess picture lead her to leave the picture at your grandmothers after all it must have been true love for her to have NEVER married.

Ok, time to stop dreaming and get my day going.... good luck!

Thanks to all for your thoughts and things to check out! Waiting for a call back from my aunt to see what she can tell me. Will let you know what I find out.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa!!

I am waiting for more of this story!!

What did your aunt tell you?

I don't think the locket initials means this, but G.F.A. -- Good Friends Always? F-C?

I agree to see if there is a little note on the back of the locket photos.

The hair line almost looks the same on the locket photos. Look under a magnifying glass.

I really enjoyed your story, and would like to know more.

michele

Good, glad that someone else chimmed in. I have been waiting for "more of the story" also.

I'm intrigued, too! I thought the baby was a boy, but the hair is a unisex style for that period. My mother, who was born in 1914, had her hair cut in a similar fashion, whereas my dad, was born in 1903, had longer curls.

She's way too old to be his mother. I inherited some grandmother/grandchild portraits, and I'm guessing this is one of them also. However, even if someone else had Alice's initials it seems unlikely they would wear her fiance around her neck. And no, I don't think the two men are the same. The plot thickens!

The X's and O's are actually the 1911 you mentioned, no?

My Scottish ancestors lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I'd suggest we were related, except my Alice (my grandmother) ran away from home at 16 to go on the stage. She became an opera singer, married the handsome baritone, and had two children. :-)

Susan

Hi All,

So sorry it's taken this long for an update...way too busy!

Have only been able to confirm a couple things, so I'm still searching.

First, I figured out why the pictures were in my grandparents home. My aunt told me that at some point Aunt Alice stored some stuff in my grandparents attic (my grandmother was Aunt Alice's sister). Guess the pictures, and probably the locket, were with that stuff.

Another thing my aunt told me was that my grandmother's family was more than just three girls, as I always thought! There were actually three girls and three boys. One boy died in Scotland at around two years old. One died shortly after coming to the US, and the other lived in Massachusetts. I just never remember anybody talking about him. Just to complicate things.

To confirm...the xoxo vs. 1911 on the locket-It is 1911.

Regarding the lady and baby in the picture...this still has me puzzled. I checked out the link suggested by Rose (by the way-thanks, Rose) but I still can't figure out when this picture would have been taken. I showed this picture to my sister today. Without hesitation, she said the baby is Aunt Alice. She doesn't know how she knows that...that's just what she remembers, she said. We're assuming it was taken with her (Aunt Alice's) grandmother...my great great grandmother. If that's the case, Aunt Alice was born in 1894, the baby looks to be about a year old, which means the picture was taken about 1895. Does this look like the style of dress for 1895?

I plan to keep working on this but I need to get everyone together to look at pictures. One person might not be available for a month or two, so it might be a while before I can put it all together. Stay tuned....in the meantime, please keep telling me your thoughts. It really is helping me to think of things I hadn't thought to check.

Thanks,
D.

Another thought............ could the child (boy or girl) be wearing a Christening or Baptismal dress?
I have a pic of my Dad wearing one of similar style ...circa 1910.

Tom

I don't think the child is a boy only based on the haircut. My mom was born in 1918 and all of the children in her family (boys and girls) had that haircut through the '20s. It was called a Buster Brown haircut after the cartoon character. My dad was born in 1912 and had the longer curls in his photo.

1895 does not seem right for that photo, looking at the woman's clothing. The '20-30's maybe? The child looks too old for most christening photos. Children were dressed in dresses for a long time. Easy to change diapers.

There seems to be a strong family nose in both the child and the woman. More pics of Aunt Alice would help. The the men in the locket look to be the same, although I guess they could be brothers.

There is a tradition in my family to give a female child an empty locket. My DD is only 9 and my mom gave her a small gold one with her initial on the front. Maybe Aunt Alice did the same and put the pictures in later.

I believe the woman may be younger than her white hair would indicate. Looking at her face, I'm not seeing the wrinkles a woman in her late 50's or 60's would have had. While we can't see her teeth, she doesn't have the shrunken mouth (tooth loss) that many women have in older pictures. Her neck and hands do not appear to be old. I think the picture may be early 1930's (photo buffs should be able to know by the paper and developing process) and this could very well be Aunt Alice at around 35 holding a niece or nephew? Are there any children in the family born around 1933? It looks like a two year old child to me.

Gloria

Gloria-

A whole new spin on things! I've gotta see if I can find more pic's of Aunt Alice...when she was younger. Then see if I can scan them.
I think your theory sounds good, but It's hard to imagine this lady is only 35 years old. Some things you say make me think though. There were several children born around 1933. Aunt Alice didn't have any, but her sisters did. My dad (her nephew) was born in 1934, his brother was born a couple years earlier. Three cousins also. There's a picture that could blow that though. I think Aunt Alice is in a picture with my dad as a child of about 8-10 yrs old. If it's her, she looks pretty young...not nearly as old as the lady holding the baby. Will be a couple of months before I can confirm who is in the picture!

Regarding the baby being a boy or a girl...I think I'm leaning towards girl. Let me know your thoughts. In looking at the original photo some more, noticed the shoes have little bows on them. Sound like a girl?

Regarding the pic's in the locket:
Think they are two different men.
Somebody familiar with the men on my grandmother/Aunt Alice's side of my family thinks the man "not in uniform" is related to my grandmother and Aunt Alice-their father maybe?

Thanks for the input. I'm going to look for pictures and try scanning again. Not much luck in the past.

Dee.

Hi.

It is not a couple of months yet, but wondering if you have any new info.

I feel like this story is a "good book that I am reading," but that I misplaced the book in the middle of a good chapter, so any update would keep me going for a while.

Any tidbits to share during your continuing search?

Michele

This is so facinating-------I also have some pictures that we can't identify---whenever I take a picture now I always put the name on the back because maybe many years from now someone will be wondering who the person is.

I also have a picture of my grandmother with a necklace on and I too have the necklace.

thanks for this wonderful story.

Florence

Lurker here but had to post to say--Fascinating story!

I also wonder if the woman in the picture is the mother of this baby. Looking at her hands and her mouth area--she doesn't look that old--maybe late 40s, early 50s.

My great grandmother had her last child (one of 15) at age 47. Only 8 lived into adulthood.

These gals often had babies late in life and might have looked older than our perception due to lots of factors.

I think that the two pics in the locket look like the guy in the painting.

But then what do I know :-)

A lot of people came into this country through Boston, not Ellis Island. You could check those logs, though I don't know exactly how to find them. It looks like Alice first came here in 1914. The locket could have been engraved later, but more than likely was engraved in 1911. Perhaps an engagement gift? Could the second man be her brother? her father? That might explain why the lady is wearing it.
WWI was from 1914 to 1918(not 1920 as someone stated). Could she have become engaged in 1911, he was killed in the war in 1914 and she came here that same year with her mother?
I think the picture could have been taken anytime from the teens through the 1930's. Was the glass curved?
My mother was born in 1917 and I have a picture or her taken when she was about 7 (1924) that has curved glass(and the picture itself is curved. It was a popular way of framing at the time, tho don't know for how many/or which years. I'm guessing that the lady is the child's grandmother.
If you could get more family history including people's initials it might narrow it down for you.
Good Luck

Hi.

Any updates?

Michele

Wow! I loved reading this, it is really like a fascinating book. I love this site, you can find ANYTHING! here. One observation I had in regards to the locket engravings. The letters G.F.A and F.C are in the same block style (font) and the T.F are in a totally different more romantic one. I would think that is to create a easily read visual of the "wording" on the back. The message seems to me to say G.F.A (a person) T.F (together forever) F.A (the other person) and the date of 1911 for a wedding. Are you certain Alice never married? You should look to see whether those initials match anyone else in your family. Just a thought, are you sure the soldier in the picture was really Aunt Alice's fiance? or could her story have gotten mixed up with someone elses. A story of a fiance killed in the war and a picture of a scotish soldier could have easily gotten assumed over the years. Also it is possible that the locket belonged first to Alice's mother and had her husbands pic in it (Alice's father) and that is her wearing it in the photo, because it was hers. And when she died, if that is Alice in the picture(as a child) she inherited the locket and added the picture of her deceased love and the date at a later time? Of course the locket could have belonged to someone else entirely and aunt Alices fiance placed into it by her when she wore it at a later time. Checking out those initials would be my first step. Finding out the dates of family weddings and who died before who would be my second. You said Alice had other sisters, could it be one of their wedding dates? did a sister die before Alice and that is how she inherited the locket? perhaps the other man in the locket is not a father since he seems too young for the age of the photo but a sister's husband (original owner of the locket)and Alice simply left the pic in there since his picture is the one that goes with the engraving and added her own dead love? To Identify the lockets original owner I would go with what I know and get the names of all parties to try to match up those initials with someone in the family. PLEASE keep us posted and good luck!

Hi. You can usually find me in 'kitchens' but I just happened across this 'story'. I love old photographs and stories!

I think the two men are the same. Look at their ears. They say that ears are like fingerprints....no two are the exact same. Both of those right ears look the same to me. If they aren't the same, maybe they are related.