Dating the picture of Britta and Mary Drucilla

I have tried to date the picture of Britta and Mary Drucilla, but the best I can do is say the picture is between 1890 and 1910. Dating it accurately depends on four factors:

1. Learning more about the work of the photographer, R.T. Boyett.

2. Their clothing

3. Guessing the ages of Britta and Mary Drucilla

4. Identifying the children in the picture

About #1:

There is a website called ClassyArts.com which has the photographer, Richard T. Boyett, in its database. Though I paid the fee, the website won't let me access the database. So we'll have to see how good their customer service is.

In checking out other sites about Mr. Boyett, I found this:

Enumeration District 138, Sheet 16 B, Precinct 37, City of Birmingham, 11 June, #271

BOYETT, Richard T. head W M Sep 1864 35 M-7 GA GA GA Photographer, owns mort. home Susie wife W F Aug 1865 34 M-7 AL TN AL mother of 2, 2 living
James W. son W M Nov 1894 5 S AL GA AL
Eva S. dau W F Apr 1898* 1 S AL GA AL *If born in 1898, should be 2 yrs

I found it here:

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~boyett/92_3.htm

So Mr. Boyett had TWO jobs: one as a photographer and one as a mortician. And at this site:

http://www.birminghamarchives.org/SportsHistory1.htm

we find that Boyett was "{one of}...Birmingham’s best known early photographers." He was born about 1866 and died in 1938. So the picture could have been taken anytime from when he began (no younger than age 10, or 1888) till 1919 (Britta's death).

Learning about Mr. Boyett has not helped much help so far. I'll report back.

About #2 & #3:

Their clothing dates the picture to before the flapper era, and that's about all I can say. The clothes have characteristics of women's clothes of many eras, starting about the 1860's. They're good clothes but not fine clothes. On top of which neither Britta nor MD were wealthy. The dresses are probably good Sunday dresses. If the dresses are black because the ladies were widows, then the photo was taken between 1914 and 1919. Britta would have been about 80 and MD about 60 (plus or minus a few years for both). I just don't see that. Britta looks 70ish, and MD 40 - 50. That would put the time frame where I described it: 1890 - 1910.

About #4:

The children in the picture have to be Britta's grandchildren. Britta was done with childbearing by 1874, when Maggie Flynn Reinier was born. As that would have made R.T. Boyett a photographer at age 11, "I dun thin so, Lucy." Plus at that point, MD would have been around 20, which she certainly isn't.

It is possible that the children are MD's last two children, Carrie Edins, born March 1896 and Joseph T., born April 1897. Possible. The child on the right looks no more than two. Closer to 1.5 really. The child on the left is no more than four, and probably closer to three.

Using 1890 as a start date and 1910 as an end date, there are several children who could fit the bill:

Carl Eddins, b. 1902

Simmon Eddins, b. about 1903

Myrtle Dddins, b. about 1905

Horace Eddins, b. about 1910

A. T. Pinson, b. 1896

B. B. Pinson, b. 1897

J.D. Pinson, b. 1899

F.O. Pinson, b. 1901

P.M. Pinson, b. 1903

E. Pinson, b. 1905

A.L. Pinson, b. 1909

H. H. Pinson, b. 1910

Jessie D. Eddins, b. 1881

B.B. Eddins, b. 1890

And maybe even some more.

At one point, I thought that the children might be A.T. and B.B. Pinson. If so, the photo is about 1898, as BB looks to be one-ish and two-three-ish. 1899 would be too late--B.B. would be two and A.T. would be bigger. A good guess would be Fall 1898 (B.B. almost one, A.T. two and a half) to Spring 1899 (B. B. one and a half, A. T. three). A. T. died in September 1899.

More as I dig deeper.

Any comments??????