And What If the Inscription is Wrong? Sarah M. Van Doren, Oshkosh, WI, 1870-ish.

The penned inscription on the reverse of this carte de visite image, reads “Sarah M Van Doren Mother of J.K.V. Died year 78 Feby 15.”

First, let’s try to date this photograph. Sarah is wearing a coronet braid, a style fashionable in the mid-1850s and continued to be worn into the 1860s, and by older women, possibly even later. Her sleeves are full and slightly dropped, though not as low as you find in the early 1860s. The sleeves are trimmed with fringes, over top white linen cuffs. Fringes and tassels were big around 1870. Based on Sarah’s dress and the style of the cdv, I am going to date this image to between 1869 and 1875. I wish I could see her dress skirt for additional fashion clues. It looks quite full, but it's difficult to assess when she's sitting down.

Looking to the photographer, W. F. (Wolcott F.) Webster, I discovered that he came to Oshkosh around 1865 and formed a business partnership with Charles L. Walker, sharing a studio at 36 Main Street. Around 1869 Webster began to work solo, with a studio at 45 Main Street, and later at 49 Main in the 1880s¹. He continued his photographic work into the 1890s, and possibly longer². Unfortunately, there is not a street address on the photograph to help us narrow down the date further. The plain photographer’s stamp suggests an early 1870s date.

Immediately, I ran into a snag with the information written on the cdv and the information that I found in the records. I could not locate a Sarah M. Van Doren who died on the date stated on the photograph on Ancestry or Familysearch. I did locate a Sarah M. Van Doren, who died near Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin 13 Feb 1877 and is buried in Ellenwood Cemetery in Oshkosh³. This Sarah Van Doren, born Sarah M. Bush about 1823, was the wife of Isaac O. Van Doren, and is mentioned in “A Commemorative Biographical Record of Fox River Valley…” Her mention is brief, but does provide the following useful information, “[Isaac] came to Winnebago County, Wis., locating near Oshkosh, where four more children were born, making nine in all…; their mother, whose maiden name was Sarah M. Bush, died at the age of fifty three years at Nekimi, Wis.”⁴

But is this Sarah the woman in the photograph? There is another clue in the inscription: Sarah was the mother of J.K.V. Were any of the nine children given names that match J. K. Van Doren?

There was a  J.K. Van Doren living in Winneconne, Winnebago, Wisconsin in 1880⁵. In 1860, James Van Doren, age 15, can be found in Isaac and Sarah's household, presumably their son⁶. In a short biography of Jacob Van Doren who was a son of Isaac O. Van Doren, a brief history of Isaac’s life was also included. The bio also mentions Isaac’s other son, James K. Van Doren, who “when he was seventeen years old enlisted in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, and served throughout the war, in all five years.  He had some exciting experiences, and was made prisoner three times.”⁷  

So, is this Sarah M. Bush, who married Isaac O. Van Doren and died in 1877? I think there is a good possibility that the death date recorded on the back of this photograph may be incorrect. However, much more research would have to be done to say so with anything close to certainty. If any Van Doren researchers out there have a photograph of Sarah, I'd love to compare it with this one.

---

1 Randall, Geo. A. Illustrated atlas of Winnebago County, Wisconsin : containing outline map of the county, map of each township in the county, with village and city plats. Also maps of the world, United States and state of Wisconsin, together with other valuable information Madison, Wis.: Brant and Fuller, 1889 http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.Oshkosh1889E^↩
2"U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995", indexed database and digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Mar 2020), various pages, W. F. Webster & Wolcott F. Webster entries for years 1869, 1876, 1884, 1891, 1893, and 1903.; citing "Oshkosh, Wisconsin, City Directory"^↩
3 Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 13 March 2020), memorial page for Sarah M. VanDoren (unknown–13 Feb 1877), Find A Grave Memorial no. 11252926, citing Ellenwood Cemetery, Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave (contributor 8) .^↩
4 Commemorative biographical record of the Fox River Valley counties of Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families. Chicago, Illinois: J. H. Beers and Co., 1895. Page 568. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.aplRecords^↩
5 "Wisconsin State Census, 1875," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM97-T5N : 10 March 2018), J K Van Doren, Winneconne Village, Winnebago, Wisconsin; State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,032,694.^↩
6 1860 U.S. census, Township of Nekimi, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, population schedule, p.23 (written), dwelling 185, family 167, Isaac Vandoren household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 02 Mar 2020); citing National Archives microfilm publication M653^↩
7 "Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawno" 1895, transcribed by Mary Saggio. http://genealogytrails.com/wis/shawano/bios.html^↩