RootsChat.Com
Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: Wexflyer on Thursday 21 August 25 23:56 BST (UK)
-
Maybe taken Tombrack. Looking for approximate date.
Unfortunately the original seems to be saturated for much of the clothing.
-
Couldn't hazard a guess at the date but I've lightened the image a little and posted it directly on to the board so others can have a good look and perhaps give it a go.
Peter
-
My best estimate is late 1920s-mid 1930s.
Gadget
-
My best estimate is late 1920s-mid 1930s.
Gadget
Me too.
Carol
-
Those date guesses are what I was afraid of. I also think the photo has a 1920s/30s look, but therin lies the difficulty.
This photo has an inscription on the back, saying it is "Dad's Mom" written by a daughter, so that would make the woman in the photo her grandmother.
Now issues are:
- The most likely grandmother died late 1929, registered as 70, actually older as in late 70s early 80s. Older than the woman in the photo.
- The other grandmother died 1917, registered as aged 66, actually 71. Not from the side of the family where the photos is supposed to have been taken.
- Can't be the a mistake for the dad's wife, as that was the writer's mother - she would surely have recognized her own mother.
- The dad was alive and around to identify who was in the photo. He did not die until 1978.
-
A couple of observations from me -
It looks like a heather roof is on the house in the photo, and I first wondered if this could help to date it.
https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/causeway_house_preserving_art_of_heather_thatching/
However further Google search shows this type of roof, and people to repair them, can still be found in Ireland so not conclusive dating evidence.
https://www.wicklow.ie/Portals/0/Documents/Planning/Conservation%20Built%20Heritage/Traditional%20Buildings/3.ROOFS.pdf
Second, very much a personal view, I would not be surprised if the woman was in her seventies when the photo was taken.
Look forward to seeing other’s thoughts.
-
It looks like a heather roof is on the house in the photo, and I first wondered if this could help to date it.
....
Second, very much a personal view, I would not be surprised if the woman was in her seventies when the photo was taken.
No, not heather, reed is pretty universal (sometimes straw) in Ireland. Thatched cottages are a tourist attraction in Wexford.
Trouble with the woman being in her 70s and being my great-grandmother is that we have a photo of her in her latter years where she looks very different - noticeably old and broken down, whereas the woman in the photo is spry. I can only imagine it is my great-grandmother if the photo is early to mid 1910s, or even earlier. Is that possible?
-
The problem with "dad's mum" is whose dad. I have some photos in my mother's handwriting which note "dad's sister" and I know the photo is of my aunt (my father's sister). So the note on your photo could mean someone different to her grandmother. Hope that makes sense.
-
The problem with "dad's mum" is whose dad. I have some photos in my mother's handwriting which note "dad's sister" and I know the photo is of my aunt (my father's sister). So the note on your photo could mean someone different to her grandmother. Hope that makes sense.
Yes. Carol and I have seen this very often over the years of dating.
The lady Looks much younger than the description suggests (see hair style in particular)
Gadget
-
P.S
I think that the clothing would not be of 'high fashion' in rural Co Wexford at that time. Her hair looks more modern.
-
Been out of the loop with the Labor Day holiday. Will consider latest responses (thanks!) and get back later in the week.
-
A couple of points,
If she was recorded as being 70 at her death, she presumably looked 70, or not much older, I had a great aunt who died in her 90’s who looked not much older than her 70’s.
As others have said, Dad’s Mom can be confusing, was the writer married with children? The writing could be from the children’s perspective, not the writer.
Does the other photograph look at all like this? People can change in looks very fast, there could just be a year between the photographs?
-
[quote Calleva)
I would not be surprised if the woman was in her seventies when the photo was taken.
[/quote]
Realising my attempt to date the thatched roof was clutching at straws (ouch.. 😊) thank you - EDIT name change Wexflyer - for correcting me!
In terms of age of the woman in photo, wondering if the experts could narrow things down based on her shoes i.e. could early to mid 1910s be possible?
-
Calleva,
Apologies, I should not post when half asleep, I thought I had put in a line about other people’s thoughts.
What I was trying to get at was that if she was registered as being 70 when she was close to eighty, she may well have been young looking, which might skew our thoughts.
David
-
I may be wrong here, but a reed roof would only display the ends of the reeds. Likewise Straw ?(unsure)
The lady could easily be over 70.