One of the many rules guiding family historians and genealogists in their research is that working with an original document is better than working with a transcription or abstract. The same holds true for photographs. I never quite understood how a photo of a photo could not be just as good as the original until yesterday.
Yesterday was the day I set aside to clean out my Fibber McGee & Molly closet upstairs in my Gene Cave. For months I have had to use my foot to push back baskets overflowing with who-knows-what and then quickly extract said foot while jiggling bifold doors into place.
Who knew I have five 3-hole punchers? Why???
But I digress.
Stuffed somewhere among the paperbacks, office supplies, cookbooks, and craft supplies was an envelope of photos that I must have borrowed years ago from my sister to scan. One photo that caught my eye was this one that I had already scanned.
I have used this photo numerous times here at Jollett Etc. The couple were among my many UNKNOWNs. For a time, I thought maybe this was my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett and his first wife Lucy Shiflett. However, they married in 1859. The couple’s clothing does not fit the period.
Then I thought maybe this was my 2X great-grandparents Mitchell Davis and Martha Willson. They married in 1846. Again, the clothing does not reflect the period, nor does the woman look to be only 14 years old.
What I failed to notice the first time I scanned the photo was the reverse. The frame has aged into very soft paper making the pencil message nearly invisible and almost impossible to read.
There is a sentence at the top. Is the first word Come? Look? I don’t know. The next part is better: Remember me dearest until we meet and I will still *something something something* days apart be *something*.
It is signed “L. E. Sulli…” – the rest is too faded to read but I am pretty darn sure it is SULLIVAN.
“L. E.” was none other than Laura Etta Jollett who married Will Sullivan. Laura was one of the sisters of my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis. The flowers at Laura’s neck suggest this is a wedding photo. (Read about their Golden Anniversary HERE.)
The fact that the photo was in an envelope containing nothing but Sullivan photos tells me I am probably correct. However, as many times as I studied this picture, I never once guessed it might be Will and Laura. At first glance they do not look like other photos of them.
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| Laura and Will Minnie and Pearl (Is Will wearing the same shoes?) |
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| Laura and Will 50th Anniversary |
After I studied noses and chins and overall face shape, I was able – with confidence! - to rename the image from “Unknown” to “Will and Laura Sullivan.”
The moral of the story, boys and girls, is always look at the back of the photo too.
Wendy
© 2022, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
