Emma is my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother. My 2nd great grandma. She is the last generation for which I have a photograph on this maternal line.
This photo was in an envelope with the negative. Super cool. Now I just need to find a local place to have a print made from the negative. I wonder what details will improve in a new print.
The photo and envelope have VERY different dates on them. One says about 1885, the other says about 1900. The funny part is that the handwriting looks remarkably similar as if the same person wrote both dates but on different days. Emma was born in 1882 and married in 1901. Clearly this photo was taken many years after 1885. I zoomed in on her ring finger in photoshop. There is something there but it could be a scratch or speck or a small ring. Either way – 1900 is much closer to accurate.
I’m so glad to have this photo of Emma in her youth. I think the details of her dress are lovely. She seems a bit reserved, maybe even sad. I love her wavy hair. Most of all I love looking into her eyes and thinking that she and I are two links in a long chain of mothers.