Really, really old family picture(1873)

monica_pa Grieves

14 years ago

I just got this picture from a distant cousin.

My Great, great grandparents holding my infant Great grandfather.

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Comments (18)

alisande
14 years ago
You're so lucky to have that, Monica. It's a great picture!

PS: Your great-great-grandfather is a cutie. (The baby's cute, too) :-)
softball_80
14 years ago
Gosh, people sure didn't smile much in the old days. Just about every picture from that era looks like it was taken at a funeral.
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monica_pa Grieves
Original Author
14 years ago
softball...I think the anticipation of that flash blowout when the picture is taken would have me looking edgy..too.
gadgets
14 years ago
Very neat photo. I'm glad you now have it.

I've always heard that they didn't smile because it took several minutes to take/process picture and you couldn't move at all while it was being done.....easier not to have to hold a smile on your face. Don't know if this is true or not.

Shirley
folkvictorian
14 years ago
Wow, what a priceless piece of family history! Your great-great-grandmother looks to be about 14 or 15 years old, which wasn't out of the question back then for marriage. 1873...your great-great-grandfather looks young, too, but could have been involved in the Civil War and was probably a teenager when President Lincoln was in office. Priceless!
monica_pa Grieves
Original Author
14 years ago
According to census and marriage records....at the time of this picture, she was 20, and he was 24.
There is also one older child...looks like it may have been a christening picture.

I love the old pictures, and have a lot.

My family is known for longevity...and I was lucky to have met a GGrandmother(whose daughter married the son of that infant) whose father fought in the Civil war. I wish at the time that I had thought to ask her questions, but I do have a few of her things, including a quilt she made.
socks
14 years ago
Lucky you to have that old picture. My they look severe, don't they? I wonder if the photographers in those days said, "Don't smile!"
zuzka
14 years ago
wow amazing picture! totally different time:)It's like from western movies:P
nodakgal
14 years ago
I'd love to have that! I'm sure you treasure it!

I was sure I had some really old pics of my great grandparents. I went through a big box and all my albums and I don't!! Now I am wondering who has all of my Grandma's old pictures! :(
susan_on
14 years ago
What a wonderful picture you have there! You are so lucky to have an image of your family from an era from so long ago. I just love history, especially family history. You're a very lucky woman, Monica. And that quilt of yours is very special!
jemdandy
14 years ago
A standard, but nice photo. Back in the 1870s, exposure speeds had improved. In good light, speeds of 1/50 sec were possible, but in a studio setting with lighting less than outdoors, the speed was more likely 1/25 sec which is getting a bit slow, but still practical. However, the subjects would have been instructed to 'freeze' just before the photographer snapped the shutter.

The problem was that it was not many years before this when long exposures were required, and that idea persisted in the general population long after shutter speeds were upped. People holding a pose for several seconds struck a pose they thought they could hold without moving. A nice smile is fleeting, changes, and produces a blurry photo when the exposure stretches over several seconds. Also, a family picture was serious business, so a dour expression was common.

In the early days of photography, studio portraits made use of 'props', literally, real props. The subject's back was held against something to help the person to hold still. This may have been a heavy rod that was hidden by the subject's body.

Some of the dour expressions reflect's the subject's attitude about having their picture taken.
alisande
14 years ago
To add to the information Jemdandy shared, you might notice in some old family photos that the adults are in focus but one or more of the children's faces is blurred. Kids just can't keep still........ :-)

Also, I can't help wondering how much of the seriousness of expression is due to the fact that life was just plain harder that many years ago. In the picture Monica shared, the mother was lucky to have survived childbirth. The baby in her arms would live to grow up and have a family, but his parents had no way of knowing that when the picture was taken. Infant and childhood mortality rates were a lot higher then. And most people worked a lot harder than we do today.
minnie_tx
14 years ago
It looks like a beautiful job of hand coloring the photo. I think most were in black and
white My sister did beautiful painting work on photos.
pump_toad
14 years ago
Very nice photo. I enjoy seeing the clothing that was worn in that era. Especially the childrens clothing with the girls in their pretty dresses,boy's in knickers and their button shoes.
Lois
bee0hio
14 years ago
Great to have such a picture.
Do you see any family resemblances?
monica_pa Grieves
Original Author
14 years ago
bee...The Father in the picture looks a lot like my sister's son.
kacram
14 years ago
Love it. its fun to look at old pictures, and it does seem that they rarely smile. I have a boat load old photos. I should get them scanned.
tami_ohio
14 years ago
Monica, you have some real treasures!

Tami