I liked the structure for this piece. You dive right in to the goodies, get the readers attention and then back track a bit to cover the necessary preliminary connections. Well done. Your intuition about the true purpose of the family photo appeals to me as well. With the invention of the the Carte de visite' process after the Civil War, one photo could be printed multiple times so for a man in this situation or a single person could affordably get multiple photos of themselves to distribute to friends and family as a sort of "advertising." Hey they didn't have E Harmony!
Finding a genealogy-minded cousin who is as excited and passionate as we are to share and build upon each others knowledge is a true gift, don’t you think?!
Great research on these fascinating ancestors, and rich insights into their lives. It’s clear you’ve thought about them and care about them deeply. I agree with David that the piece was very well structured. I also loved the rich trove of photos. They really brought me into the lives of your ancestors. I think Mattie’s father motivation for the family portrait was definitely to aid in his search for a new wife. The nineteenth century equivalent of setting up a dating app profile!
I loved this story! I enjoyed how you took dry documents, articles, and photos and read the inner lives of a family into them. I try to do that in my writing too. You have a writing style that made me want to read more to find out what happened!
Thanks Anne for your generous comment. I enjoy the challenge of weaving my findings together to try and tell a story. To me the historical background of the day is almost as interesting as the family member’s history.
Hello. I enjoyed your story. I was focused on the "boarded out" reference. I have a couple of ancestors that I suspect were "bound out" which was a legal process by which orphans and children from difficult financial situations would be given up by their parents or guardians in exchange for the receiver to agree to take care of the children for a given period of time. I don't believe this is a similar practice as your "boarded out" ancestors, but I wanted to mention it to see if maybe there was more to being "boarded out" than just sending (and I presume paying for) children to a boarding house or school. Thanks!
Hi Steve, you are correct… my reference to “boarded out” involved sending the children away to school, rather than giving up legal responsibility. From my distant cousin, I learned that this was preferred by great-grandmother Mattie and her sisters, who apparently did not get along well with their step-mother.
I liked the structure for this piece. You dive right in to the goodies, get the readers attention and then back track a bit to cover the necessary preliminary connections. Well done. Your intuition about the true purpose of the family photo appeals to me as well. With the invention of the the Carte de visite' process after the Civil War, one photo could be printed multiple times so for a man in this situation or a single person could affordably get multiple photos of themselves to distribute to friends and family as a sort of "advertising." Hey they didn't have E Harmony!
Thanks David! I love the additional history about the Carter de visite photo process
Finding a genealogy-minded cousin who is as excited and passionate as we are to share and build upon each others knowledge is a true gift, don’t you think?!
Great research on these fascinating ancestors, and rich insights into their lives. It’s clear you’ve thought about them and care about them deeply. I agree with David that the piece was very well structured. I also loved the rich trove of photos. They really brought me into the lives of your ancestors. I think Mattie’s father motivation for the family portrait was definitely to aid in his search for a new wife. The nineteenth century equivalent of setting up a dating app profile!
Thanks Lisa for this generous compliment. I owe a lot to a distant cousin for all the rich photos.
I loved this story! I enjoyed how you took dry documents, articles, and photos and read the inner lives of a family into them. I try to do that in my writing too. You have a writing style that made me want to read more to find out what happened!
Thanks Anne for your generous comment. I enjoy the challenge of weaving my findings together to try and tell a story. To me the historical background of the day is almost as interesting as the family member’s history.
Hello. I enjoyed your story. I was focused on the "boarded out" reference. I have a couple of ancestors that I suspect were "bound out" which was a legal process by which orphans and children from difficult financial situations would be given up by their parents or guardians in exchange for the receiver to agree to take care of the children for a given period of time. I don't believe this is a similar practice as your "boarded out" ancestors, but I wanted to mention it to see if maybe there was more to being "boarded out" than just sending (and I presume paying for) children to a boarding house or school. Thanks!
Hi Steve, you are correct… my reference to “boarded out” involved sending the children away to school, rather than giving up legal responsibility. From my distant cousin, I learned that this was preferred by great-grandmother Mattie and her sisters, who apparently did not get along well with their step-mother.