Figure 1.-This 6th plate cased Daguerreotype shows two siblings holding hands. Affixed to the back of the case is a period note, "Mother + Uncle Albert", and written on the inside of the back of the case is, "Maggie Culbert / Blooming Grove / Orange Co NY", a bit hard to read. Margaret Charlotte Culbert Gerow was born on June 4, 1844 and died on January 25, 1925. Albert, her only sibling, was born in 1846. They look to be about 8-10 years old.

This 6th plate cased Daguerreotype shows two siblings holding hands. Affixed to the back of the case is a period note, "Mother + Uncle Albert", and written on the inside of the back of the case is, "Maggie Culbert / Blooming Grove / Orange Co NY", a bit hard to read. Margaret Charlotte Culbert Gerow was born on June 4, 1844 Albert, her only sibling, was born in 1846. Her father Johm E. Culbert (abt 1815-50s?) had emigrated from Ireland a few years before the children were born. This of course was during the dreadful Potato Famine when large numbetrs of Irish immigrants gflooded into America. Their mother was Charlotte Jaques (abt 1815-60s), a French sounding name. Unlike Ireland, French immigration to America was limited, in part because the Revolution (1789) resulted in the peasantry gaining ownership of the land. The children look to be about 7-9 years old. The portrait would have been taken about 1852, based on our asessment of the children's ages. Margaret wears a low-cut print dress with abreviated sleeves and shoulder bows with a necklass. Albert wears a front-buttoning tunis with a white collar and wide black belt with oud light-colored checked pants He wears his hair long, partoally covering his ears. Albert died by drowning a few years after this dag was made. He fell though the ice of a pond while skating a little too early in the autumn (November 23, 1857). We do not have a lot of information on Maggie. Her prpper name was Margaret. The1870s Census has her occupation as domestic. She may have married or lived as a domestic in the household of James Richmand in Fulton County during the 1870s. This is unclear because she married Charles Cooley Gerow (1866) and the they had 10 children, some of which died at an early age. These were counties in upstate New York. Maggie died in Orange County, New York (January 25, 1925). This is a county close to New York City.

Created: 12:59 AM 1/9/2023
Last edited: 12:11 AM 1/31/2023