Birdie Sharp Sends Her Picture to Jennie Moore - circa 1910

neat

What, no bold comments, Peter J?

As I read your post, the name Birdie Sharp formed an image in my mind of a sharp-faced small female. When I scrolled down to the picture on the postcard the expression of the real Birdie Sharp is sort of a response. She looks as if she is saying " See, I amount to more than you thought, and I'm pretty, too! It seems to be a slightly defiant look.

I agree with you.

Birdie looks as though she posesses some inner strength, Ruth.

Tionesta is not far from me, but I've never been there. It's sufficiently far from I-79 or I-80 that though I've driven within about 40 miles of it many times, I've never even heard of it before today.

I like Ruth's comments on Birdie. The name suggests somebody flighty (not just in a punning sense), but the picture does not. However, "this is not very good" may indicate she was not satisfied with the photo.

Lots of people to speculate about here--Birdie, Jennie, plus Mr./Mrs. Hammond, Chris and Rob too.

From the Wiki article, Tionesta seemed like a very rural place.

Thaks for noting the other names that appear on the card.

They are written in a lighter hand, with pencil, and I did not know how thaey related to Birdie.

There was a W S Hammond living in Philadelphia city, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania according to the 1900 census but no Birdie was listed with the family. They were in their mid/late 40s so perhaps they hired Birdie as a servant to assist once they were in their 50's.

There is one Birdie Sharpe listed as living in Troy Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania in the 1900 census. This particular Birdie would have only been 13 or 14 years old in 1910 but with the absence of child labor laws, it would not be unheard of for her to be working as a servant at this age. This could account for the distant and almost sad look in her eyes. She looks too grown up for her youthful appearance. Birdie's clothing is simple but clean. She's also wearing a heart shaped pendant which could be a locket given to remind her of her family while she was away. This leads one to believe that she was a little better off than some people of the day. Her lovely dark features, thick hair which appears slightly wiry, her small mouth and her linear nose that widens slightly could be the features of a mulatto or American Indian/African American background. Many people of this background were still listed as white on documents to avoid race difficulties. Then again she could be Spanish or Italian, however, her surname does not suggest this. All of this speculation being based on the supposition that she is still unmarried at this time.

My first thought is that Jennie was recently married and has one child but a brief browse did not supply any evidence to this theory. There are several Jennie Moore's. I don't have time to sort though them all but I did see one family with children named John C (Chris perhaps), a young Jennie and a Robert living in Ligonier Township, South District, Laughlinstown District, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania listed in the 1900 census. There were other children listed and it would seem odd to me that she only acknowledged these three. I’m not sure how close this family is living in relation to the other families.

Most of my prelim searching was done on the new familysearch.org pilot search engine. I don’t have time to investigate further but it would be fun. I’ll leave it for someone else to check out and look forward to some excellent sleuthing deductions.:-)

"There is one Birdie Sharpe listed as living in Troy Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania in the 1900 census. This particular Birdie would have only been 13 or 14 years old in 1910..."

I believe that you have found "our" Birdie Sharpe, Talea!

Congratulations!

There is no date for this card; it is equally likely to have been made in 1915 or 1918 than it is to be dated 1910.

The photo cards began to fade in popularity as personal cameras became more accessible in the 1920's, but it is not a stretch for this photo card to have been made in 1920.

I am not at all confident of my reading of "W.S. Hammond."

I would be glad to have folks who are good at deciphering hand-writing to make their attempts to identify this name.

It is exciting to me to see your references to the census rolls and to other genealogical research.

My erstwhile collaborator, the genealogist Kate C., is not returning to Gather.

"I believe that you have found "our" Birdie Sharpe, Talea! Congratulations!"

Thank you very much Peter! It was a pleasurable challenge!

"There is no date for this card; it is equally likely to have been made in 1915 or 1918 than it is to be dated 1910"

I believe that you are correctwith the later date. I neglected to mention an observation in my earlier post. Birdie would have been "of age" when this picture was done as it was customary for ladies to wear their hair up only then. If she was still in childhood, her hair would have been down. It appears to me that she must not have been putting her hair up for very long as it does not look like a practiced effort. I doubt that she was wealthy enough to have a personal maid for the same reason of an unpracticed look.

" believe that you have found "our" Birdie Sharpe, Talea!

Congratulations!

There is no date for this card; it is equally likely to have been made in 1915 or 1918 than it is to be dated 1910"

I believe you are also correct on the name. This is not such a common name and there was an exact match within a reasonable demographic area.

"My erstwhile collaborator, the genealogist Kate C., is not returning to Gather. "

I'm sorry to hear that Kate C. will not be returning. She must have been great fun to work with and I'm sure that she will be missed.