Wednesday, February 3, 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 89: Carlie Brown-Smith

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

I managed to scan about 100 family photographs in the Scanfest last Sunday, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can.

Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:


On the back of this thin-paper photograph pasted onto card stock is the notation: "Carlie Brown-Smith, Caribou, Colorado" The rough edges on the left and right edges indicate that someone cut this image out of some other publication - perhaps a larger photograph.

I don't have any idea who Carlie Brown-Smith is, but since it was in Caribou then she is probably associated with my Carringer family. The David Jackson Carringer (my second great-grandfather) family lived in Caribou, Boulder County, Colorado (note: Caribou was a silver-mining town in the 1870s, and is now a ghost town - see the Wikipedia article) after 1873 until they moved to Boulder (enumerated there in the 1880 census) - perhaps after the town burned down in 1879. Therefore, it is probable that this picture was taken in the years 1870 to 1880.

I have not searched for Carlie in the census records yet, or in online family trees, but I will soon. The hyphenated name is curious too - it is very definite on the back of the photograph. Was her maiden name Brown and she married a Smith? Or perhaps her parents were named Brown and her mother married a Smith? How old does Carlie look in this photograph? I think that she is in the 5 to 10 year range.

Another research challenge. It might be interesting!

3 comments:

kinfolknews said...

She is absolutely beautiful!
~Regina

Cyndi Beane Henry said...

It's a lovely portrait! And yes... I'd guess her to be about 5 or 6. - Cyndi

Sharondipity Designs said...

That is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. What a treasure. Hope you find her!