Photo of Mary Letmon nee O'Connor , Dublin, circa early 1880s

[Gadget]

I'll see if I can get more out of the face. I started working on it yesterday but have been busy -  I thought I'd try an oval but the face, like the rest of the photo, is not in very good condition. I'm on my laptop so don't have all my restoration tools (e.g my drawing tablet) and the screen is quite small.

[Gadget]

Her face looks very young. Usually girls of that age would have their hair down but, maybe,  she  put it up to model the clothes.

The sleeves look more late 1870s than 1880s. The 1880s ones were closer fitting.

[Gadget]

I've just done a quick semi-reconstruction on laptop.  She does look very young.

Please don't see it as a 'proper' restore. I'll see if I can work on it tomorrow.

PS - It might stretch to 1885 

[Gadget]

Runner - have you got a birth date for her from the Irish sites?  I've just looked on irishgenealogy.ie and there are a few contenders in Dublin N & S for 1865 on.

[IgorStrav]

well done with the 'not proper' restore, Gadget - bringing her back to life .....

[Gadget]

This is confusing~

Mary OConnor married Edward Letmon in 1882. She was of full age. Her father was Patrick O'Connor. a Clerk :

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1882/10968/8009001.pdf

 Mary, aged 27, died in April 1895.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1895/05932/4684806.pdf


 Edward Letmon, married again in July 1898. Edward was a widower. His new wife was also called Mary O'Connor. Her father was Thomas O'Connor, a Clerk:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1898/10427/5796378.pdf

Edward died in 1901. The informant was his widow, Mary:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1901/05712/4611333.pdf


Edward is recorded as a Carpenter throughout.

[Gadget]

In case it's relevant:

Edward, Mary2 and children in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Mountjoy/Clonliffe_Avenue/1322004/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003747400/

Mary2 aged 40, so b.c. 1861

[gaffy]

Here's a rather poor quality picture of my great grandmother taken in Dublin.  She was born around 1867 so I reckon this picture would be early 1880s ...

Regarding a year of birth reference point for Mary O'Connor, surely the default presumption has to be that Mary didn't lie about nor miscalculate 'full age' on the day of her marriage in 1882?  Mary's age of 27 in 1895 was reported by her husband Edward the very next day after having witnessed her death, when his head would have been all over the place, so I'm more than a little sceptical about that age.  Mary's parents - Patrick O'Connor and Elizabeth Stack - were married in Clontarf RC parish on 31 August 1856, so plenty of scope for a daughter Mary between then and, say, 1861.

Civil registrations for the children to this couple from 1865 onwards are available (Elizabeth (1865), Richard (1868), Ellen (1871), Patrick (1877)), and not surprisingly, I can't see one for Mary. While I can see Dublin baptisms on the 'irishgenealogy' website for siblings Elizabeth (1865) and Richard (1868) and even what looks like a brother of Mary O'Connor marrying a sister of Edward Letmon in 1891 (3rd entry down)...

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=st.mary%27s-pro-cath_mf_1862-1881_ma_0288

... I can't yet find a baptism online for Mary.  But no matter, I'm guessing birth was at the later end of that 1856-61 period.

[IgorStrav]

Great research, Gadget.

I must say if the photo is within 2 years either side of 1880, I do think the young girl represented looks much more like 19 than the early teens a birth in 1867/8 would indicate.

And would you really have such a young teenager (or 'child' as it would have been then) in such a prominent position as a 'mannequin'?  Behind the scenes, yes, but in front of customers?

Fascinating!  Looking forward to seeing what Runner thinks.