The photographs appeared to be from the same family. Many looked like they were taken in Arkansas or Oklahoma around 100 years ago. There were even a few tintypes.
I thought how sad that all that family history was being lost.
I ended up buying the whole basket and taking them home to see what they could tell me.
The tin types fascinated me. One was of a man in his late 20’s, sitting in a chair that had been draped with a cloth, one arm rests on the back of the chair as he stares straight into the camera. The other 2 tin types were of children but as I looked at the children I got the feeling something was off about the photos. In the first the child was about 18 months old & wearing a dress, but it looks like it could be a boy , a toddler. His head rests tilted against the back of the chair, his legs stick straight out, his hands are placed carefully in his lap.
The next tintype is of a young girl, she sits in the same chair, in the exact same position … even the placement of her hands is exactly the same & she has the same lax, vacant expression.
The children are too still … I wondered if they could be dead.
I did a little research ... seems in the 19th century post mortem photography was fairly common. So it is a possibility.
I started to go through the other photos … I hadn’t seen any writing when I first looked through them but a closer look at a portrait of 4 children showed that written on the back, very faintly was …
Bruce Salsberys kids
Nola, Luther, Earl
Ludie
...
I went searching and here’s what I learned ...
The girl on the left is Ludie Bell Saulsbury. Ludie was born July, 1898 in Indian Territory. The boy standing behind the chair is her younger brother Luther born Jan. 1900, the child on the right in the dress is their brother Earl and the infant is Nola … at least I think it’s Nola … the writing is difficult to read and I haven’t found any trace of her.
Ludie married Leonard Goss in Oklahoma on 08-14-1914 … Leonard said he was 21 … Ludie said she was 18 … she was 16 … just barely.
Their marriage lasted 63 years. Leonard Goss died Dec. 23, 1977 in Wilburton, OK. … Ludie followed 7 months later.
Earl, the little boy in a dress was born Oct. 28, 1901 and died in Pittsburg Co., Oklahoma on Jan. 2, 1972.
Their father was Tyre Bruce Saulsbury (1870 - 1934), a young farmer with a mortgage & a family in 1900. Bruce was born in Missouri. Their mother, Maggie Hamilton, was born 1878 in Tennessee. They married in early 1898. Their first child Ludie was soon followed by Luther, Earl, Nola, Flora, Effie, Woodrow & Filbert.
In June, 1900 Bruce Saulsbury’s widowed mother Lucinda, age 63 was also living with them. The census states she'd had 7 children, 5 were living ... could the 2 that did not survive be the children in the tin types?
Maybe some day I’ll know.
But what of Nola? The infant in the photograph… well I tried another search and this time I found what I thought might be her but the name wasn’t Nola, it was Ola and it said she was born Jan. 31, 1904 and died March 10, 1904 ... only this child looked older than 5 weeks.
I dated the photo …
Ludie, Luther, Earl and (N)ola Saulsbury
Indian Territory
circa 1904
It made me wonder about another photo that I found in the group. A boy is holding what looks like a lunch bucket … the photograph is posed, in the background you can see that the backdrop has not been pulled all the way down … in fact the broken cord is lying at his feet … but what I found curious was the presence of the empty high chair ... it seemed a rather strange prop for an older boy.
The Saulsbury’s did lose a son. By the spring of 1906 the family was living in Kern Co., California. Flora, Effie, Woodrow and Filbert were all born in Bakersfield. Filbert, the youngest was born July 1919 and died a few months before his 3rd birthday ... on March 10, 1922. I found it strange that March 10 was the date given as Ola's death too. .
And I still wasn't satisfied with what I'd found on Ola / Nola ... the more I looked at the photograph the more sure I was that the child couldn't possibly be a 5 week old infant. In fact she looks more like a very healthy 5 month old ...
I'll just have to keep searching.
