Dating Photographs through Social Media - William S. and Mary C. (Cawthon) Chapman

    ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

One strategy for determining the date of old photographs is to join a photograph dating group on Facebook. Be warned that many will make authoritative pronouncements whether they really know and even if their conclusions are illogical. Once someone offers a date, be sure to ask what it is about the photograph that helped them determine a date; otherwise, you haven't learned much.

I was hoping to receive specific information that might help narrow the date on this photograph of my great-grandparents, and I mean really narrow it down, which is always too much to hope for. The few answers I received spread possible dates over three decades. However, I think that turned out to be very helpful because I think that if I combine what I already knew about the photograph with the answers that I received, it adds an interesting new layer to the story.

William Sargent and Mary Charlotte (Cawthon) Chapman

What I knew: The photograph was taken in Titus County, Texas by an itinerant photographer. On the day he arrived on the scene, my great-grandfather was excited to have an opportunity to have their picture taken. He ran to the creek where my great-grandmother was washing clothes and rushed her back to the house. I assume that the photographer was setting up his equipment while my great-grandparents were rushing to change their clothes. My great-grandmother, however, was mad because she did not have time to fix her hair. I think her anger shows in the picture. She must have told this story to my grandfather repeatedly and with maybe a little regret because this was the only photograph ever taken of my great-grandparents together.

They married on Christmas Eve, 1889. She was ten years his senior – she was 32 and he was 22. They were married for a very short time because he was killed in a hunting accident in September of 1893. Their first child was born in late November of 1890, and my grandfather was born in late December 1892. I would think that if the children had been born when this photograph was taken, one or both of them would be in the photograph, too.

The responses I received in a Facebook group dated my great-grandfather’s lapels and pants to the 1880s and his collar to the 1890s. That makes sense and fits within the timeframe of their marriage.

Another response that I received dated my great-grandmother's dress firmly in the 1870s. The poster refused to accept that the photograph could have been taken at a later date while also admitting that his clothes were from a later period. Logically, dating photographs should work in that direction: later styles do not appear in earlier photographs because that's not how time works. Another member seconded the 1870 date for the dress because it was plaid. Several members of that group also insist that women were always fashion-forward regardless of their economic status or age so that no woman would appear in a style that was over ten years old. In fact, their logic is that all women's styles are within a couple of years of a photograph being taken. That's a broad and sweeping statement that is full of pitfalls.

At first blush, it makes little sense that my great-grandmother's dress in a c. 1890 photograph would be from the 1870s. But then maybe, again, it makes perfect sense. In the late 1870s, my great-grandmother would have been in the 19 to 22-year-old range. She was one of two daughters that her father had with his first wife. When the first wife died, he married her younger sister. Together they had a house full of children. My great-grandmother’s beloved stepmother/aunt must have died between 1878 and 1800 because her youngest child was two in 1880. In 1880, my great-grandmother’s father died, leaving her and her sister to raise their younger siblings. The sister married, had three babies who died, and then died herself in 1886. Times might have been easier while the sister was married, but overall things were very bad for this family from 1880 on. My great-grandmother struggled to raise her younger siblings by taking in laundry and by relying on the kindness of her neighbors. As a result, my great-grandmother did not marry until her younger siblings were all almost raised. When she married, she married her sister’s brother-in-law. In other words, my great-grandfather was the brother of my great-grandmother's sister’s husband.

So that problematic dress: I would think that if it had been my great-grandmother’s dress from the late 1870s, it would have been worn out by 1890ish. However, when her stepmother/aunt died, her clothes might have been stored in a chest and left untouched. It’s reasonable to think that there might have been a dress that accommodated her last pregnancy. It’s also possible that the same thing happened when my great-grandmother's sister died in 1886, but for some reason, I think it is less likely to be her sister’s dress. I think her clothes would have been well worn, too, and post-1880.

At this point, I think that on the day this picture was taken, my great-grandmother’s only option for a presentable dress might have been one that belonged to her stepmother and that had been stored in a chest. I also think it is possible that she might have been in the early stages of her first pregnancy although no one in the Facebook jumped to the conclusion that she was pregnant. The waist on the dress seems oddly high. I’m wondering if she had pulled it up and then spread the skirt out to conceal her little baby bump.

My best guess is that the photograph could be narrowed to the late spring or early summer of 1890.