I look at the painted backdrop, cutout panels, artificial flowers and grass, and ask why they didn’t meet in someone’s garden and take a much more charming and natural portrait. I am also sure that Mrs. David Howells and Charles S. Craven, the photographer, are sorry I wasn’t in Kane, PA, on that day in 1890 to make my helpful suggestions.
If, however, it was taken on a snowy day in mid-January, I may have been less free with my advice. Besides, who am I to impose my 2009 cultural and artistic perceptions on nice people who were doing very well by their own lights in 1890? (If it looked like it had been taken in 2009 I would not have given it a second glance, now would I.)
I am very glad that Mrs. C. C. Davis wrote on the back of this large cabinet print and gave us the following: Front row: Anne Davis, Pearl Coleman, Edith Evans; Middle: Maud Byham, Mary Griffith; Top: Anne Griffith. I think Mary and Anne may be twins – they are dressed identically and are surely sisters.
As genealogists understand, dates are not always reliable. I have a large photo from the same family, of the Davis house with the family on the porch and lawn, dated 1885 (clothing confirms that date); in it is Anne E. Davis, age 18. How could the Anne in both photos be the same person, or how could a 10-year-old Anne be a daughter of the older Anne a mere five years later? The answer is they could not; either the date on this photo is five or even ten years too early, or there was more than one Anne in the extended family during that period. Only research has any chance of answering the question.
NOTE: 8/5/2009. Don Williams, who has contributed his considerable genealogical expertise on other Timebinder images, was able to confirm, together with the original owner of the Davis images, that the date for this photo is likely correct and there were indeed two Annes – they were first cousins, their fathers were brothers and they lived in the same community. Mystery solved!