Annie Amelia Kinney and her Little Sister Lula Alma Kinney

Lesson #1: Turn the picture over; maybe someone wrote on the back.

Lesson #2: Just because you call her "Mama," doesn't mean anyone 100 years from now will know you wrote it on the back of the photo. Use her name. Her other name.

Lesson #3: Handwriting is tricky.

The back of this photo says, "Mama 15 and Lula aged 2 years."

I know that the photo was handed down from someone whose mother Annie Amelia Kinney was born in 1876 and had a little sister born in 1889. In the second half of 1891, after both girls had celebrated their birthdays, Annie was 15 and Lula was 2.

Now it's February 2016 and I have had some time to look into things a bit.

So, I feel strongly this is Annie Amelia Kinney (Guy and Helen's mother) as a teen with her youngest sister Lula Alma Kinney. In 1891 Anne Amelia would have been 15 and Lula would have been 2. They lived in Eglon, Preston County, West Virginia.

For the ages on the back of the picture to match Annie and Lula Kinney, this picture would have been taken in the latter half of 1891. The older sister's sleeves offer some help.

One line from "Dressed for the Photographer," by Joan Severa (Kent Stare University Press 1995) in the summary for the 1890's decade supports my suspicion:

"Sleeves for this decade were especially expressive; they began with the extremely tight, short-wristed styles of the first year or two. . . ." (p. 474)

1891 was a big year for the Kinney family. In June 1891 Thomas and Salome had a baby -- Albert. In August their 11 year old son John died. In September Saloma died.

Might be enough to make Thomas want photos taken of his surviving family. I wonder if there are other photos taken that day of the children. One more occasion to mourn the loss of the 1890 census.

Here's a link to the family entry on Find A Grave:
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Kinney...&

Do you have a copy of this photo in your attic?

My uncle shared this photo with the family recently. His big brother gave it to him. That's all I know.

You're right. That's a pretty lame blog post. But hear me out.

I'm wondering if you have a photo that looks like this in your collection. Maybe you got a link to my blog because you show up as a DNA match and I'm grasping at straws to figure out our connection.

We have whole bunches of love in our family but mostly half relationships. So this photo may be a common ancestor of my mother's half brothers and her father's half brothers (but no relation to my half brothers, wonderful as they are).

My suspicions:
#1  Tom Kinney 17 February 1853 – 9 August 1938  (FamilySearch ID LCJQ-4DV) or a close family member.

#2 The Mystery Father of Guy Earl Habercom Chubb (that's where you come in).
Guy's dates are 18 January 1895 – 28 February 1988 (FamilySearch ID K4F9-R9N)

Questions for those of you who wonder if you might also be related to this fine fellow:

#1 Are there Husks in your family line? (I seem to remember someone mentioning that name as a possibility if Mr. Chubb didn't pan out at Guy's father).

#2 Who in your family tree lived near Eglon, West Virginia (in Preston, County) in 1895? Any males of the right age to be a daddy (15-80?)


Here's a photo of Guy Sr. taken around 1918 when he was about 23 years old. You decide what resemblance you see.

And for good measure, here's a photo of Guy as a little boy with his mother Ann Amelia and his sister (half sister?) Helen.