Two Portraits - Week 3 & 4 #52 Ancestors

Having been on holidays last week I missed the writing for the 52 Ancestors challenge. Week 3 was to look at a favourite photograph. Week 4's theme is "curious". Instead of trying to catch up I've decided to combine the two weeks.

It's hard to pick a favourite photograph. I do love the two that you will see in this post. I only was made aware of their presence when I was around 40 years of age. It upset me to know that they had been hanging around our family farm for years, stacked against the wall in a dusty storeroom. I would have loved to have known more about the photographs from the man who owned them and maybe clarified the information given to me about them from my father.

We don't have many family photographs. One of the main reasons is that I mostly come from a long line of poor farming families or low paid working class people and photography was probably outside their usual means. We also have had in the past big families and my ancestors were never the eldest so I assume we didn't inherit the family albums.

We do have some though from our Lang line as the farm and it's contents were passed down to my father. In this post I explore the two photographs that we have hanging on the wall. Both are a decent size at least 30 x 40cm. I have scanned copies and my father has noted who they are. Except, I think he has it wrong.

This portrait he wrote was of Ann Lang. Ann was his great-grandmother who had passed away in 1912, 26 year before he was born. 

This portrait is marked as Charlie (Charles) and Agnes Lang. Agnes passed away in 1914 and was my father's grandmother. Charlie, dad's great grand uncle, had played a part in raising him after his father (a married man) abandoned his mother before he was born. He was the man who owned the photographs for my whole lifetime. I had a close relationship with Charlie but he never shared his family stories with me. Perhaps the secrets of his unmarried sisters and their illegitimate children were hidden from him. Perhaps as a staunch Catholic he thought those things should never be discussed.

Apart from the curiosity around family secrets, I am curious about who these photos really are of.

I have posted them on several Facebook groups where the members have a good insight into dating photographs. While the dates of the photographs have never been clarified, one thing everyone agrees on is that the person with Charles is an older woman, and not a young adult. The person in the second photograph is a younger woman, perhaps in her twenties.

I can imagine my father looked at the sepia photograph and the columns and assumed it was a much older photograph. It's possible he was told one was a photograph of Agnes and one of Ann and things were muddled up after that. 

Charlie was born in 1902. Agnes was 16 years old at the time so if we take it that the ribboned child is Charlie then this photo is probably from around 1905 and Agnes would have been 19 at the time. 

If this photograph was taken in 1905 we can look at where the daughters of Ann Ross were at the time.

The eldest Catherine was around 28 in 1905. One thing we know is she lost her eye to a bullock's whip and I believe this was when she was very young.

Mary, the second eldest daughter was married and in 1905 had had her second daughter.

Sarah was also married and had a daughter in 1904. It would seem less likely Charlie would be posing with a married sister. 

Mabel died a spinster in 1931. She would have been around 21 when this photograph was taken. I haven't been able to pinpoint a date but she and her sister Rose were living in Sydney in 1913. 

The other two daughters Hessie and Rose would have been 12 and 14 respectfully. I don't think either of the women in the photos look this young.

Ann though would have been 47. 

I think one reason that second portrait is claimed to be Agnes is the strong resemblance with her only child, May Lang. This family resemblance is strong though and I remember Dolly Pobjie, who was Agnes' niece looking very much like the woman with Charlie. Agnes' grand nieces also have similar facial features.

May Josephine Lang - possibly late 1930s.

So from the photo I think that the woman in the photo is more likely Ann based on age (47) and relationship to Charles. Some may think that the child is a girl but fashion for some boys at that time included hair ribbons, sailor suits and held toys connected to boys (I need a better look at the original but I think Charlie is holding a small boat, gun or harmonica).

For reference, this is a photograph of a young boy taken in c.1905 and we can see many similarities to Charlie's photograph. 

Image Source: Historical Boys' Clothing

I still remain curious about the individual female portrait. There were many Lang girls and it may have been anyone of them. It is something I will work on and post my thoughts another time.