Friday's Photo: The Biggs Family + One in Erath County, Texas

This photo has always been a puzzle. I looked at it just last week. The three girls didn't appear to match approximate known ages in the family. One family member decided that one of the girls was actually a boy. Nothing made sense until I saw Maureen Taylor's (The Photo Detective) Instagram post today - Not Only Family Members Posed for a Photo.  Immediately, I thought of the older girl in the photo.  Was she a Biggs child? Probably not. 

Short hair? Hair was cut to help cool off
a fever. Hair was shaved and treated with
kerosene when head lice was a problem.
Others cut their hair short as they might
have deemed it fashionable. 

Terrell Little "Bunch" Bryan and James D. Biggs were married in 1880. This photo was taken between 1891 and 1898 when W. B. Praytor had a studio in Stephenville. Looking at the children's sizes and knowing their birthdays, it makes sense that this photo was taken in 1891 or 1892. The first two Biggs children were girls born about 16 months apart in 1881 and 1882. The two younger girls in the photo are both about the same size and look close in age so these girls are probably sisters, Willie and Maggie. The boy to the far right would be Terrel Bryan Biggs (born 1884) and the baby, James Ely Biggs who was born in 1890. 

Who was the older girl? She looked much older and so much more mature than the other girls in the photo. Terrell Little Bryan had two unmarried sisters at this time. James D. Biggs had many siblings. She could be a family member or even a boarder or neighbor. Do you have this photo? What do you think? 

Update - The older girl was Belle Hanley Cameron (aka Belle Latta). Read more about her at From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: Belle Hanley Cameron (AKA Belle Latta).

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Diana

© 2019

Sources

Family photograph from the collection of  Sue Pierce and Pat Waas. Accessed January 2006.

“Cabinet Card Photographers: William B Praytor.” http://cabinetcardphotographers.blogspot.com/2017/09/william-b-praytor.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2019.

“Short hair. Who Were They?"https://whowerethey.photos/2015/02/08/short-hair-2/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2019.