Interesting Family Photograph

Anna Elizabeth Henry

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Found this photograph on Pinterest of a family with their slave (I assume she's a slave). Was it unusual to include a slave in the family portrait? I think it's pre-Civil War.

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Here is the title from the LOC - Group portrait, possibly a family, with an African American woman.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010647808/

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The verso of the CDV shows a Connecticut photographer. Maybe it's a Northern family with a servant. We've seen photos of Custer with Eliza his cook.

Thanks! I had wondered if the African American was a servant as opposed to a slave. I recall seeing the pictures of Custer's cook, often taken with him and his wife Libby.
 
There's another few somewhere, the only danger posting these is by the time they get to Pinterest someone will assume a black person included in a family portrait is enslaved. Maybe it's not a problem on Pinterest? It is on Ebay, Guessing someone like a nanny who has been with this family so long they're become part of it. Pre war also, rats, LoC or NYPL? Been so long I can't remember!

family w servant.jpg
 
You never can be sure what the story is behind photos found on Pinterest. It's a great site, but does lack credibility when it comes to the origins of pictures as you can caption it any way you like. I saw one of Libby Custer that was titled 'sassy Victorian Era model' :roflmao: While I got a good chuckle over it, I knew it was incorrectly labeled.
 
Found this photograph on Pinterest of a family with their slave (I assume she's a slave). Was it unusual to include a slave in the family portrait? I think it's pre-Civil War.

View attachment 112556

I am familiar with this photograph. It's taken in Connecticut (or at least a Connecticut photographer). Interesting concept that one would consider the black person is a slave. My mind thinks otherwise. It could be a group of abolitionists. It could be a group of friends -- point blank -- who decided to memorialize themselves in an image. There could be any possibilities and stories can run rampart. The actual story is long forgotten and with the angels.

-Yulie
 
I am familiar with this photograph. It's taken in Connecticut (or at least a Connecticut photographer). Interesting concept that one would consider the black person is a slave. My mind thinks otherwise. It could be a group of abolitionists. It could be a group of friends -- point blank -- who decided to memorialize themselves in an image. There could be any possibilities and stories can run rampart. The actual story is long forgotten and with the angels.

-Yulie

Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone by my assumption. :redface: I drew my conclusion from other photographs of the era that were similar in nature that were of a families with their slaves taken in the South pre-war.
 
Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone by my assumption. :redface: I drew my conclusion from other photographs of the era that were similar in nature that were of a families with their slaves taken in the South pre-war.

My comment didn't mean to make you blush. It was just my perspective and comparing my observation with others. It is a delicate issue when viewing ethnically mixed photographs. Trying to guess at their relationships can be broad -- from straight forward to more complicated. It's too bad that the actual story is lost. I knew the photograph had a Connecticut connection and given that state's abolitionist history conjured another story. So... we're cool!

-Yulie
 
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It could be a group of abolitionists.
There was a lot of that going around in New Milford -- there are three houses still standing today that are confirmed as Underground Railroad sites:

http://www.newmilford.org/content/3090/3100/3820.aspx

I don't think this is a family grouping, because the three men and three white women (apart from the girl in front in the light checked dress) all appear to be roughly the same age.

ETA Thursday morning: This post originally had an incorrect link included -- my apologies for any offense or confusion that resulted from that.
 
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According to the Connecticut Historical Society there were nine different photographers operating in New Milford during the Civil War era, one of whom was SETH C. LANDON. The CHS claims Landon photographed in Milford between the years 1865 - 1875.
 
There's another few somewhere, the only danger posting these is by the time they get to Pinterest someone will assume a black person included in a family portrait is enslaved. Maybe it's not a problem on Pinterest? It is on Ebay, Guessing someone like a nanny who has been with this family so long they're become part of it. Pre war also, rats, LoC or NYPL? Been so long I can't remember!

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https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Ustick_Walter_&_family_c1850.jpg

"Half Plate Daguerreotype of Ustick [Walter?] Family, Including Black Servant. The young child on Walter's lap is probably Irene Walter, the first child he had with Amanda Walter. Irene was born in 1849. What is unusual about this photograph and which makes it extremely rare is the presence of a black servant, perhaps a nursemaid. She reportedly came to the family with Walter's second wife Amanda. One assumes that since both Walter and his second wife were from the free state of Pennsylvania, the black servant was a free woman."

The man in the photo is this guy: Link to Wikipedia.

I tried to find them in the census, but couldn't. That would give the black woman's name, I hope, if she lived with them.
 
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