Unknown Mead and Blileys

Mead-Bliley Identification Project Gallery

This page contains photos fromthe archives of Patty Mead in Cedar Falls, Iowa that I received in the fall of 2009. They have not been edited and contain Post-It Notes with her questions and comments. My comments appear as text above the images. Both sides of the photos are shown and if the back is blank it is indicated by "Blank Page, No Cpations".

If you can answer the questions or identify the people or places, please make note of the image number in the circles and e-mail you notes to me at K3NAU@AOL.com. Thank you.

Chuck Bliley

April 28, 2010

Unknown to me.

Stunning good looking couple but unknown to me.

Unknown to me.

Unknown to me. (Left)
Mary Jane Mead Bliley (Right)

Unknown to me.

Catherine Eich BlileyWife of Andreas Bleile, mother of Charles A. BlileyB: 1794 (Germany)  D: 1891 (Erie, PA)(Undated Photo)

http://www.bliley.net/family/CA-MJM_Bliley/Part_2.html

Elizabeth Bonnell-Mead
B: Oct. 28, 1802
D: March 8, 1880

Photo from Sam Wagner Photo Album with captions by Inez Bliley.

Source;

Album Preview:
http://www.bliley.net/family/temp/gallery_preview/Webpages/

http://www.bliley.net/family/temp/gallery_preview/Webpages/originals/280.gif

Confirm Jehu.

Unknown to me.

Unknown to me.

Note that both women have the same pendant.

I am sure this is Mary Jane Mead Bliley. Look at the comparison image in this file that follows showing her at three different ages.

IDENTIFICATION POINTS:

1. The geometry of the key facial features, such as the pupil distance, the nose tip, the mouth center, the center of the cleft in the chin and the bottom of the chin virtually line lip in all three images and perfectly align in two of them.

2. She appears to have some scaring on her chin. There is a small scar immediately below the lower lip and a thin horizontal line midway to the chin.

3. She is wearing similar dangling earrings in the two photos of her to the right.

4. She has deep-set eyes and very short eyebrows. I think the photographer penciled in the outside ends of the center and right-hand one. In the undated old/middle-age photo, she appears to have no eyebrows on the outside of her eyes.

AGE

I have surveyed a dozen people to guess at the age of the woman in this photo. Estimates range from 18 to late 30s, but most say in the early to mid 20s. I would place the age of this person at the age of 28 and 30. Mary Jane was born in July, 1827.

DATING INFORMATION

I have a book on dating old photos, "Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs" by Maurueen Taylor. On page 66 is the beginning of a table that provides descriptions of woman's fashions in the period 1853 to 1860. It says of the neckline, "Broad collar; narrower collars at the end of the period." If the guess of her age and the fashion description is accurate, the photo was taken in the mid-1850s.

The 1862 photo shows the narrower collar also described in the Taylor book.

ISSUES

The only issue is the eye color. In this scan, they look dark and not like her blue/gray eyes of later photos. Still, other features are definitely hers and a new scan my lighten the eyes up.

CONCLUSION

The analysis suggest the photo was taken approximately 10 years after her marriage to Charles A. Bliley on June 8th, 1847, or 1857/59 period.

Perhaps, the photo was taken to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.

PHOTO TYPE

I am almost sure this is not on a daguerreotype photograph. The cracking and paper-like pealing are what I would expect of a metal-based photograph.

Unknown to me.

Note the plaid fabric of the dress could be a tartan indicated family heritage.

This is Mary Jane Mead Bliley.

Compare it to her photo in a Sam Wagner album at:

http://www.bliley.net/family/temp/gallery_preview/Webpages/originals/284.gif

Unknown to me.

Photo seen in one of Sam Wagner albums. Cannot find reference at this time. I am sure the man on the left is Jehu Mead.

Unknown to me.

Looking at the beard on the man, I would guess it is Jehu Mead.

I have seen Jehu Mead enough to recognize him, but the woman is unfamiliar to me.

Unknown to me.

Unknown to me, but she sure does look like a Bliley. Nellie was a daughter of Charles and Mary Jane Bliley. She died young from some unknown reason.

Ellen Lousina (.K.A. "Nellie")
B: 02-21-1863
D: 12-05-1889 (Age 26)

Two references one :

http://www.bliley.net/family/CA-MJM_Bliley/Part_3.html

Unknown to me, but the woman in the middle seated looks a bit familiar.

The young girl is Mary Jane Bliley, daughter of David Charles Bliley, son of Charles and Mary Jane Mead Bliley.

Photo taken by Sam Wagner July 31, 1906.

From a Sam Wagner Album.

I agree. It is Jehu Mead.

If this is a tintype (metal), the image is in the reverse. Flip left to right and increase the contrast.

The props are identical. I would guess this is Jehu's wife.

I would question the identification of these two children. I think they are boys. I was the practice to dress boys and girls very much alike until they were six or seven.

Does the caption appear to be as old as the photo?

Unknown to me.

End of Photos