Oh, Those Sleeves! Lizzie Glass, Allegheny, PA circa 1895

This photograph is inscribed on the back, "Aunt Lizzie Glass," and was produced by the J. E. Sonnenberg Studio in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.  The photographer's imprint provides us with two address, 136 Ohio Street and 67 Cedar Avenue.  Sonnenberg worked out of these locations from roughly 1881 to 1897.

There are a lot of clues to help date this cabinet card,  from Lizzie's enormous gigot sleeves to the pinked edges on the cabinet card.  I would date it sometime around 1895-96 when women's sleeves reached their fullest size at the shoulder.

Another help in identifying Lizzie is that this photograph came with a collection of Glass family photos, including one of "Aunt Lydia, "Ethel Glass," "Hazel Glass" and "Grandpa Mason."  All were taken in Allegheny, PA.  And even better, the photographs were found with a bible, complete with birth information on some of the Glass family members, including:

Ethel Elizabeth Glass, born Jan. 2, 1902
Mary Louis Glass, born Sept. 4, 1906
Hazel Lenora Glass, born 21 April 1910
Ethel Elizabeth Glass Patterson, d. May 27, 1929

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Glass, according to the bible, died December 30, 1945.  I found an obituary index listing for Elizabeth Glass who died in Butler Co., PA on this date.  Her maiden name is listed as Mehrmann.  I don't have access to the obituary so I can't provide details on its contents, but this information fits with the specifics I've uncovered in my research.

Elizabeth Mehrmann, daughter of Frank and Margaretta Mehrmann of Allegheny, married Roy E. Glass on the 27th of April 1898 in Allegheny.  In the 1900 US census, Elizabeth (b. 1874) and Roy (b. 1867) are living in Oakmont, Allegheny, PA with Roy's brother, Harry Glass (born 1877).

By 1910 the family has grown, and they are now living in W. Newton Ward, Westmoreland, PA.  Roy and Elizabeth have three children at this time:  Ethel, 8; Mary 3, and a newborn.  In the 1920 census for Beaver Ward, Beaver, PA we discover the newborn's name is "Hazel."

I will post the photographs of Ethel, and Hazel in an upcoming post.  I also discovered who "Aunt Lydia" is, and will be covering that in a future post as well.  I am still working on "Grandpa Mason."

UPDATE  March 10, 2012:  It's another Family Photo Reunion!  One of Lizzie's granddaughters has claimed this picture, along with 7 other photographs from the Glass family collection.  These will be heading back home shortly.

Half an Imprint: Young Genevieve E. Lynch, Boston, 1902.

I didn't botch the cropping job on today's photograph, I really didn't.  The corners and edges were trimmed this way, probably to fit an odd-shaped frame.  The young girl in the picture is identified as "Genevieve E. Lynch." on the reverse.  Unfortunately, a place or a date is not provided.  Normally, at this point, I would move to the photographer's imprint to see what I can learn about their dates of operation.

What to do when the photographer's name is almost gone?  Well, I thought I would see if I could make sense of the half-imprint.  The first two letters look like stylized Ts or Fs to me.  There seems to be a surname after two initials, beginning with P or D.  I see the last letters, "hee." And, a street address:  22 Winter St. Then, it looks like A.E. -and I can't make out any more.  But the big clue is "22 Winter Street."  I googled the word "photographer" along with the address.  It appears there were a number of photographers at that address in Boston, MA.  With a little more digging I found an imprint that matched exactly.  "F.F. Dunshee & A.E. Hill of 22 Winter Street, Boston."

Fredrick Fargo Dunshee and Alfred E. Hill were photographers who formed a partnership around 1893.  Dunshee had a partnership with F. H. Maxwell prior to  Hill.  Dunshee & Hill operated until around 1904-05.

So we know the photograph was taken somewhere between 1893 and 1905.  I studied a few of the imprints for this company, and this particular one seems to date from the later years of the company.  The style of the card seems to be turn-of-the-century to me.

A search of the US Federal Censuses found two possibilities in Boston.
1) Genevieve E. Lynch, born 1901 in Massachusetts, daughter of Mark and Mary Mason Lynch.  They lived in Ward 22, Boston.
2) Genevieve E. Lynch, born 1893, in Massachusetts, daughter of Sarah J. Lynch Conboy and living with step-father Patrick Conboy in 1910 in Connecticut.

I'm inclined to think it is probably #1.  But, of course we'd need more proof to be absolutely certain.