All posts by Dona

Portrait of a man wearing clothes from possibly the 1700s

The Mysterious Small Portrait

Genealogy research, Photographs, Things, ,

This framed portrait of a man in old-fashioned clothes was in the china cabinet my parents inherited from my dad’s mother. I think, however, the small portrait was from my mom’s side of the family — I vaguely remember it being at my Grandma Green’s house somewhere.

Portrait of a man wearing clothes from early 1800s

It’s been sitting on an antique secretary in our guest room for years and for years I have wondered who he was. At some point I accidently scratched a small hole in the backing and numbers appeared which intrigued me even further — maybe someone had written information about the man on the back of the photo. I planned, some day, to remove the backing to see what was written there, but doing that involved pulling back dozens of sharp bits of metal so I put it off indefinitely.

The other day I decided to get to the bottom of the mystery of the man in the portrait so I disassembled the frame by prying back the metal bits holding the photo and backing in place. What I assumed was a date written on the back of the photo was instead a series of calculations on (both sides of) an oval piece of card behind the photo. There was also another piece of card before that. Only then did I get to the photo which turned out to not be a photo at all, but an intricate drawing.

Nowhere in the writing on the paper behind the photo indicated who the man was but based on what I know about my mother’s side of the family I was able to make an educated guess that the image is not of any of my grandmother’s family. My grandmother’s family were all from a poorer part of Germany (now Poland) and they became farmers and wood workers when they moved to Northern Wisconsin. My grandfather’s family, on the other hand, were mostly college educated and from Scotland and England. In addition, the man in the portrait has a nose that resembles my grandfather’s — long and narrow with a bit of a ball on the end.

The style of clothing in the portrait, according to Google AI, could be from the regency period — 1830s. The man in the portrait looks like he is maybe in his thirties or forties so based on my family trees it could be a Tyler or a McCornack.

One other clue that I had not noticed until this morning is the decoration on the frame hanger. It seems to be of a thistle, rose, and three leaf clover. Since the Tylers came from England, I’m going to make a guess that the portrait of of a Tyler (or DeWolf) but after that I have no idea. After all, it could have simply been something someone thought nice enough to hang on their wall.

This old shirt

Memories, Things, ,

The first time we went to Seattle it was for a conference Dean was attending. It was in early August and the kids were still living with us. Clare was 15 and Andrew was 13. We must have gone to Pike Place Market as a family because at one point I noticed Andrew whispering to Dean. Later I noticed that Andrew had something hidden in his shirt.

Later in August, on my birthday, Andrew presented me with the tee shirt — one that I had remarked upon in our jaunts around the city. He also surprised me with a large, red Seattle’s Best coffee mug.

I write this today because I’m getting rid of the tee shirt. It is fraying at the neck and has two largeish holes in front (at just about nipple height). I know where to find another shirt like this because I bought Andrew a red sweatshirt with the same illustration a few years ago, but it would not be the same. I’ve worn this to bed for years, but the location of those holes on front are just plain immodest. Goodbye When it rains we pour tee shirt! You always made me smile!

Blue tee shirt with two coffee cups and the words "when it rains, we pour: Seattle

The old car that belonged to the woman next door

Emotions, Memories, Things,

I found two photos of an old car among photographs from our earlier days. I immediately assumed it was the car that belonged to our neighbor in Pittsburgh but Dean didn’t remember taking a photo of it. I just showed him the photos and he said that’s what it must be. This story is less about the car and more about the guilt I still carry about not doing something when I saw mail piling up on the neighbor’s front porch.

Dean and I lived in Pittsburgh from September 1982 through June 1985 while Dean earned a PhD in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University. We lived on the 3rd floor of a 3-flat on College Street in the Shadyside area. The home next door was occupied by a woman who’d lived there for decades. We spoke to her occasionally and I even gave her our phone number to call if she needed anything. Dean probably spoke to her even more, because one day she told him that she still had her old car in the small garage in her backyard but since her husband died no one drove it. I don’t know if she showed it to him or if he peeked in through the windows, but he must have taken photos of it because I found them among our photographs from our Pittsburgh days.

Old rusted car
Old rusted car with tools on running board

Dean thought it was a Model T, but I see now that it was a Chevrolet, so probably a 490 touring series, according to The National Museum of Transportation.

Our houses were very close to each other, and about the same height. Our living room window looked into a window of her house that might have been a bedroom at one time, or perhaps it was an attic. I don’t know if the woman ever went up to that room because the view we had never changed. It was always of a box of cat food. Purina, if I recall correctly.

One day when I returned from work I noticed that mail was sticking out of the mailbox. For the next few days that mail piled up. I knew I should probably call the police or something, but I thought that should be up to the mail carrier. I don’t know how long this went on, but one day emergency vehicles were in front of her house, police, fire trucks, ambulance. I didn’t stick around to see what happened, but went to my apartment and tried to not think about it. Not long afterward the house was sold and remodeled. It is now a duplex.

I should have called the police as soon as I noticed the mail piling up. It’s as simple as that.

On another note, I have gone down a rabbit hole looking at street views of our old apartment building. That’ll have to wait for another post.