Photo of Britta Ann and Mary Drucilla

This is the second image of Britta Ann Green McGuire Flynn that Cousin Jane kindly shared with me. The woman to the right of Britta is Mary Drucilla McGuire Edins/Eddins. The children are unknown at this point. Once we can date the picture accurately, we can probably identify the kids.

The picture could have been taken anywhere from about 1890 to 1910.

Here's Britta, thanks to Jane #2

I finally figured out how to upload the image of Britta Ann to this blog.

This is Britta Ann Green McGuire Flynn, known as Granny Flynn. This is the image described in my previous entry, which I will repeat here:

In the first tinted picture of Britta Ann, she sits alone in a chair, probably a rocker, in front of a tree or bush.

The scene:

The trees and ground are green, the chair and dress and Britta's skin are sepia. Britta wears a belt with tooling, either metal or leather. The tooling is tinted yellow, as is the small round piece of jewelry at her neck. There is a splash of yellow on the book she holds in her lap. There is a placeholder (probably cloth) in the book, which may or may not be a bible. There is a title on the book, but it looks to be one word, rather than the two as in "Holy BIble." Her arms are resting on the arms of the chair. The back of the chair is carved.

The tree looks to be quite well established and next to a pile of wood chips or small stones. Could this be the "'famous' largest pear tree in Pelham" that the McGuires were known for? Or is it an azalea or rhodie?

Her clothing:

Probably her Sunday good dress.

Her dress appears to be a shiny dark color--black, brown, or navy. More a smooth sheen like satin or silk than shiny like rayon. The skirt is long and full, covering her legs completely. Almost no wrinkles. It looks put together in sections, and evenly sewn, as though it were manufactured and store bought, not homemade. It falls in waves around her chair; not as full as the "Southern belle" type of skirt one thinks about, but the full amount of fabric of the turn of century clothing. It does not look repaired or patched at all.

There is a belt with tooling at the waist.

The blouse is the same color as the skirt. The sleeves are full with apparently a one-button cuff. There is an under sleeve or light-colored lining of some kind in the sleeve. The sleeves are full generous with material, pleated at the bottom and top where they meet the cuffs and armhole. Not leg-o-mutton sleeves. The blouse seems to be a shirt waist without being tapered at the bottom. There are either appliqués or large buttons on the right side of her dress. I'm inclined to think they are flower appliqués as they don't look to be equidistant from the edge of the blouse, and they are patterned. Britta is wearing a dark scarf tied around her neck--it's tied without being arranged. Which may mean that this picture was less posed than another picture of Mary Drucilla and her.

Moving up the body, we notice that the scarf covers almost her entire neck. Her face is old and unsmiling. Probably she had bad teeth or no teeth at this point as evidenced by the sunken cheekbones. Her nose is long and hooked from age; in addition, her ears seem larger than those of a middle-aged woman. She looks tired. She gazes out at us from under hooded eyes; not squinting into the sun, just not gazing directly at the camera. Her hair is thin and gray, parted in the middle and pulled back behind her ears, probably into a bun.

The fashion of the dress and hair seem to follow women's fashions of the 1860's, despite the likelihood that this picture was taken between 1890 and 1910. The full sleeves, silhouettes, and hair parted in the middle are typical for the period. See:

http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/clothing_and_hair/1860s_clothing_women.php

and

http://www.ajmorris.com/roots/photo/datep18.php

The woman in this picture from 1895 wears clothes that are similar to Britta's.

http://www.classyarts.com/photos.htm?p=1&i=101

Another photo of Britta was taken by Boyett Studios in Birmingham. AL. I've just found a website that may help me date this photo a little more exactly:

http://www.classyarts.com/search.htm

There you go, Britta cousins!

Britta's here, thanks to Jane

There's a new cousin in my life, for which I am grateful. I am lucky to have lots and lots of cousins, most of whom are smart and kind and generous. (Runs in the family)

For privacy issues, I do not want to list the details of Cousin Jane's line; but she is my second (maybe third) cousin once removed. We share Britta and Mary Drucilla McGuire as many-greated grandmothers. She has graciously given me permission to publish her photos of Britta and Mary Drucilla. I'd like to share them with my readers. All four of them. As soon as I can figure out how to post an image to Blogspot.com. ;-)

Haven't figured that out yet. Grrr.....

Still, it often helps me to make discoveries if I describe exactly what I see. Here goes:

In the first tinted picture of Britta Ann, she sits alone in a chair, probably a rocker, in front of a tree or bush.

The scene:

The trees and ground are green, the chair and dress and Britta's skin are sepia. Britta wears a belt with tooling, either metal or leather. The tooling is tinted yellow, as is the small round piece of jewelry at her neck. There is a splash of yellow on the book she holds in her lap. There is a placeholder (probably cloth) in the book, which may or may not be a bible. There is a title on the book, but it looks to be one word, rather than the two as in "Holy BIble." Her arms are resting on the arms of the chair. The back of the chair is carved.

The tree looks to be quite well established and next to a pile of wood chips or small stones. Could this be the "'famous' largest pear tree in Pelham" that the McGuires were known for? Or is it an azalea or rhodie?

Her clothing:

Probably her Sunday good dress.

Her dress appears to be a shiny dark color--black, brown, or navy. More a smooth sheen like satin or silk than shiny like rayon. The skirt is long and full, covering her legs completely. Almost no wrinkles. It looks put together in sections, and evenly sewn, as though it were manufactured and store bought, not homemade. It falls in waves around her chair; not as full as the "Southern belle" type of skirt one thinks about, but the full amount of fabric of the turn of century clothing. It does not look repaired or patched at all.

There is a belt with tooling at the waist.

The blouse is the same color as the skirt. The sleeves are full with apparently a one-button cuff. There is an under sleeve or light-colored lining of some kind in the sleeve. The sleeves are full generous with material, pleated at the bottom and top where they meet the cuffs and armhole. Not leg-o-mutton sleeves. The blouse seems to be a shirt waist without being tapered at the bottom. There are either appliqués or large buttons on the right side of her dress. I'm inclined to think they are flower appliqués as they don't look to be equidistant from the edge of the blouse, and they are patterned. Britta is wearing a dark scarf tied around her neck--it's tied without being arranged. Which may mean that this picture was less posed than another picture of Mary Drucilla and her.

Moving up the body, we notice that the scarf covers almost her entire neck. Her face is old and unsmiling. Probably she had bad teeth or no teeth at this point as evidenced by the sunken cheekbones. Her nose is long and hooked from age; in addition, her ears seem larger than those of a middle-aged woman. She looks tired. She gazes out at us from under hooded eyes; not squinting into the sun, just not gazing directly at the camera. Her hair is thin and gray, parted in the middle and pulled back behind her ears, probably into a bun.

The fashion of the dress and hair seem to follow women's fashions of the 1860's, despite the likelihood that this picture was taken between 1890 and 1910. The full sleeves, silhouettes, and hair parted in the middle are typical for the period. See:

http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/clothing_and_hair/1860s_clothing_women.php

and

http://www.ajmorris.com/roots/photo/datep18.php

The woman in this picture from 1895 wears clothes that are similar to Britta's.

http://www.classyarts.com/photos.htm?p=1&i=101

Another photo of Britta was taken by Boyett Studios in Birmingham. AL. I've just found a website that may help me date this photo a little more exactly:

http://www.classyarts.com/search.htm

It requires a subscription, so I'll have to save that discussion for next time. Can't wait to see more pix of Britta--hope I can figure out how to post them here!!!!!

People who have helped in my research on Britta

Before this blog goes further, there should be some acknowledgement of people who have helped in my research. I don't want to violate privacy requests, so let me just say thank you to these people:

My grandmother for giving me my first family tree at age 12 and helping me fill in the blanks.

Jeanne for sharing her knowledge of genealogy so freely and pounding "Proof! Proof" into my head.

Jessie J. for figuring out Britta's first appearance in the 1850 Census and sharing her research with me.

Kay for answering background questions and showing me the ins and outs of the BPL.

HillSeeker who shared the info about Ellen Nora Hill.

Jim who shared his information about Maggie Flynn and found Britta's obit.

Karen who shared reams of information about Mary Drusilla McGuire and the Edins/Eddins/Eddings.

Bob who runs the Eddins forum on Genforum.com.

And anyone else who's been generous with time and information. Hope I haven't forgotten anybody!

My new blog about the Green family: Britta Ann, Mary Ann, and all the others I can find

Taking a break from studying for an important upcoming exam, I've decided to create a new blog to share my discoveries about the Green/Greene family. Specifically Britta Ann Green, Mary Ann Green, their parents and descendants.

Britta Ann Green was my great-great-great-grandmother. She is also my brick wall. I can go back to the 1660's with some of my ancestors, but I'm stuck on Britta's parents. I have some well-supported theories that I will share in the blog, but no hard evidence that her parents were XX and XY. Can anyone prove who they were???

The book The Seven Daughters of Eve sparked my interest in Britta many years ago. Brian Sykes, who wrote the book, offers a DNA testing service through Oxford Ancestors.com. Hubby paid for me to take the DNA test for Christmas several years ago. (Thank you, dear.) The results showed that I am descended from Helena, the earliest "daughter of Eve." Makes sense. Early human survivors had to store food and fat efficiently in case of famine. All the women in my mother's family store fat efficiently. Unfortunately, some of us have a hard time getting rid of it, too. But I digress.

Oxford Ancestors tests mitochondrial DNA, which passes unchanged from mother to daughter to granddaughter to great-granddaughter, etc., unless there is a mutation. Each time one of Helena's female descendants had a major mutation, she passed it on unchanged to her female descendants. So there were roughly seven of these mutations in all. No mutations = goes all the way back to Helena. That's the short version.

Britta is as far back in the line as I have gotten. I have a strong urge driving me to find the identity her parents, especially her mother. Because then I will be able to follow the line back even farther. Gotta gotta gotta do it.

So anyway, that's the motivation for my obsession--excuse me, interest--in Britta Ann Green McGuire Flynn and family.

Britta, who's your mommy????????