George’s Wedding Photo Part 6 – Jennie

I think I know where George’s mother is in the wedding photograph.

On the back of the picture below, my grandmother wrote:
Eleanor Coates
– daughter and grandchildren

Eleanor Coates, daughter and grandchildren copy

Eleanor Coates, daughter and grandchildren

That would make the older woman on the right Eleanor (Richardson) Coates and the younger woman one of her two daughters – Jennie (Jane Ann) or Nellie (Mary Ellen). The children lead me to believe that the woman is Jennie as they seem to fit the birth order of Jennie’s children.

The 1901 Census for England and Wales lists the following children for Jane A. and Frederick Elgey:
Jane P. age 9
John age 6
Ethel age 3
George age 1
Elizabeth age 1 month

If the baby in the picture is George, that would date the photograph above around 1900 – Jane P. standing between Jennie and Eleanor, John on the left, and Ethel in white standing in front. Records indicate that Jane P. died in 1905, so she would not have been in the wedding photograph.

Elgey, George.Wedding

That looks like Mom – Jennie Coates Elgey – peeking from behind her sons John and George.

Elgey, George.wedding.possibly Jennie cropJennie Coates Elgey crop

They look like a match to me. Eyes, nose, mouth, and the shape of face look the same. The tilt of the head even seems to match.

Elgey, George.wedding.maybe Frederick cropI do not have any other pictures to help me identify the rest of the Elgey family who might be in the wedding picture.

Perhaps the man with the mustache is George’s father, Frederick Elgey, who made his living as a barber. I think the shape of his face matches both George and John and he has the same deep-set eyes and eyebrows as George, John and Ethel.

But then again, maybe he is the father of the bride…..

Elgey, George.wedding.man far right

Jennie and Frederick had two additional sons who appear in the 1911 census – Edward, born about 1905, and Thomas, born about 1910. The young man standing on the right looks enough like the others to be part of the Elgey family. Edward would have been about 15 at the time of the wedding and Thomas only 10. I think he looks older than 15 – he’s so tall.

Maybe he is a friend. Or a cousin.

Or maybe he is a brother of the bride. I think they look enough alike to be siblings.

Who knows? I hope someone can identify him!

If you’d like to catch up with who’s who in the wedding photograph, here are the links:
Isabella Lidmore
George Elgey
Ethel Elgey
John Elgey
Nellie – Mrs. John Elgey
Lizzie?

_________________________________________________________________________

Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911.

Ancestry.com. 1901 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901.

FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sepia Saturday – George’s Wedding Photo Part 4

The question I am asking myself: How many times can I use this wedding image as my contribution to Sepia Saturday before being asked to STOP!!? This is the 4th (5th – if you count the clue on the wedding cake) part of a continuing series on how I identified the people in a photograph of a wedding party and those I still need to identify.

I have an idea about how to tie in to the prompt picture. We’ll see if I can manage it by the time I get to the end of this post.

Here is the wedding photograph in question:

Elgey, George.Wedding

In previous entries, I recounted how I identified a few of the people using other photographs in my grandmother’s collection. The groom is George Elgey and the bride is Bella (her surname revealed to me only a couple of weeks ago). John Elgey stands to the left of the groom. Ethel Elgey stands second from the right behind the seated girl.

After identifying these three Elgeys and the bride known only as Bella, I was stumped. I thought I might be able to identify the girls seated in front, but I wasn’t sure. The other men – nothing. And I still didn’t know exactly how these people were related to my grandmother, Eveline Coates.

Then my mom sent me copies of a few letters my grandmother had received from her English relatives. The undated letter below provided several clues.

Coates, Jennie. letter to Eveline

Coates, Jennie. letter to Eveline.pg2

There is a wealth of information here, but today’s task is identifying people in the wedding photograph.

This portion of the letter….
Coates, Jennie. letter to Eveline crop 1

… refers to the photo I included in my previous post about John (with pipe) and sent me looking for a picture of two women with glasses, one seated in a chair.
Elgey, Bella and Nellie

The back of this picture says “Nellie and Bella Elgey”. Bingo! John’s wife, Nellie, is sitting in the chair. George’s wife, Bella, is standing.

Here is Bella, the young bride in the wedding photo, compared to the later photo above.
Elgey, George.wedding.Bella cropElgey, Bella and Nellie.Bella crop

But what about John’s wife, Nellie? He is presumably an older brother to George. Is his wife – or future wife – in the wedding photo? I’ll sandwich this later picture of Nellie between the two young women in the wedding photo who are the likely candidates.
Elgey, George.wedding.woman left cropElgey, Bella and Nellie. Nellie cropjpgElgey, George.wedding.woman right crop

The woman on the right looks like she could be Nellie, although she isn’t wearing glasses. Maybe she took them off for the picture, or didn’t need glasses at the time the wedding picture was taken. The woman on the left looks a little young to be Nellie, although John could have married a younger woman. Her mouth is smaller and so is her nose, I think. Of course, it’s possible that Nellie isn’t even in the wedding picture.

My vote is that the woman on the right is Nellie, wife of John Elgey. Do you think I am correct?

At the risk of this post becoming too long, I’ll continue the photo identification in future posts. Which, of course, is at the risk of the continuing series being too long. Oh well.

Sepia Sat 09 March 2013And now to find a way to make this all fit with the Sepia Saturday prompt picture which features trees, houses, a pier and a steamer.

My guess is that this letter was written in 1939-1940. Aunt Jennie’s only mention of war is her concern that her youngest son, Alfie could be “called up,” and she writes that it takes longer now for her to receive letters from Eveline and that it will take a few weeks for this letter to reach her. The little internet research I did doesn’t give me any real answers about the route Aunt Jennie’s letter might have taken from Easington Lane in England to the small town of Mystic in Iowa. And so I’ll venture a guess that this letter traveled by ship, making this post on theme for Sepia Saturday.

Cruise on over to Sepia Saturday to see where others have ventured this week.

Wedding Wednesday – The Clue on the Cake

I scanned this picture for a post I want to write.Elgey, George.wedding cake

It looks pretty awesome all blown up like this! The photograph is postcard size – not that small – but I have never seen (or noticed?) the details before.

The doily it is sitting on – is that paper or fabric? I’m thinking paper. A fabric bow….

And … hands?
Elgey, George.wedding cake handsI’ve never seen anything like that on a wedding cake before! What are they made of?

Why are they there?

What else is on this cake?

Elgey, George.wedding cake middle

Looks like leaves and horseshoes – for good luck, I suppose. Do you think the leaves and beadish things are silver or gold? I think silver. Flowers… ribbons… what else do you see?

Here’s the top…
Elgey, George.wedding cake top

Some unusual bells, more flowers and leaves, some cherubs. What are those two cherubs holding in their hands?

The wedding topper doesn’t look that much different than some you might see today. What is the base of that topper made of? Bisque? Plaster? Royal icing? An early plastic?

I need to take another look at that hand on the right – it looks a little wonky.
Elgey, George.Wedding cake closer

I’ve never noticed the letters on that bow before. Looks like “I” and “L” on the left and “G” and “E” on the right.

I know this is the wedding cake for George and his bride, Bella, because it says so on the back.

Elgey, George.wedding cake back

I know it’s George Elgey because I have a letter he wrote to my grandmother in his beautiful handwriting. He was one of my grandmother’s “English cousins.”

So G. E. could be for George Elgey.

“I” could be the initial for Isabella. And her last name must begin with “L”.

I’ve never come across the surname for George’s wife in the years I’ve been puzzling over his family. Now I have a clue!

Off I go to ancestry.com and low and behold – a marriage record for George F. Elgey and Isabella Lidford! Registered in the last quarter of 1920 in the England and Wales Marriage Index.
Elgey, George.marriage index

A new clue. And all because I rescanned this picture and really looked at it.