Good morning all - it feels like Christmas! I woke up this morning (Sydney time) to find so many of you had taken the time and immense trouble to help me identify an ancestor.
Andy, Jim1, Treetotal, Yvonne, Carol (both versions), Judy and eglejok - my thanks. I'm so thrilled with your work and the time you've put in. To be honest, until I saw your work, didn't realise how much effort it takes, like removing creases etc.
I certainly hadn't identified the dummy/soother and thought what I now know to be string, was a crease!
Andy, agree that 'losing the detail actually improves it as a portrait'.
I'm so appreciative of your expertise not just with the restoration but identifying a potential time frame.
The great thing is that, from you've all said, it is more likely to be a boy and most likely to be of the time period 1900-WWI. That means it is unlikely to be my grandmother - which is good to know - and possibly one of her brothers. There were three in that time frame born in 1905; 1907 and 1910. It's too early to be a grandchild. One thought is that the boy born in 1907, died at 14 months in a 'Convalescent Home' south of Sydney. I wonder if my G Grandmother had this as a memento. It was obviously a sad time for the family and they relocated from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. Anyway, pure speculation
and not a good approach.
Again I am indebted to you for your expertise, but most of all, your interest, in solving a family mystery.
Jane
