More Bees in Edinburgh

I haven't posted anything on the Bee family of Edinburgh for quite awhile, because there was nothing additional to post. In May we visited Edinburgh and looked at the interesting building where they lived. Then, as I was going through another box of old photographs from my father-in-law, I spied some more Bee family cards and photos.

Until then I had only seen postcards; now there are photos to go with them. Unfortunately, there's no way to know for certain who is who. If you have read the previous Bee posts, you'll know that there were at least three sisters, Chrissie, Nettie and Edith, almost always referred to as wee Edith. They lived with their mother. There may have been other siblings or a father, but they aren't mentioned.  This appears to be a family photo. I would guess that the smallest one is wee Edith and the woman on the right was the mother.  But are these all her daughters or have they included a couple of friends or cousins in the photograph?

 

The bigger question is how these photos came to be grouped with the many hundreds of cards and photos that are almost exclusively from upstate New York. I can only think that one of these Bee girls moved to the United States at some point after World War I.  The date on the back of this photo card is 17/2/19.

This photo may be of one of the sisters.  It is stamped by the Thomson Brothers  of West Maitland Street in Edinburgh. The writing on the back says: To Nettie 30 August 1920.

This card is from the same studio, with handwriting on the back that says, With my Best love Mary 22/10/20.

 And then there's the postcard photograph of the young man in military attire. The photograph was taken by Drummond Shiels of Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, with writing on the back that appears to say:
64410 M. Bee 6DB RO.

 Here we have these two gentlemen wearing Masonic aprons and sashes.

Both cards are from photographer J. Spence of Musslburgh, and both have the same date 17/5/20.

This young man, who bears a family resemblance to the previous two, wears a Mason's tie pin and was photographed in August 1920.

The Wicker Chair

Well, it's not one wicker chair, it's a number of different wicker chairs used as photo props for cabinet cards. Wicker like this was very popular from the 1860s until the turn of the century. By then, tastes had changed, and wicker like this was considered too ornate.

The first one was photographed by Engelbrecht in Towanda, Pennsylvania. 

The second one by Cobb in Binghamton, New York. with a nearly identical chair. Although the chair is interesting, it has a very dominant presence.

This woman's hair appears to have curled to match the wicker chair,which is of the same design as the chairs in the first two photos. The lady was photographed at Colburn's Gallery on 367 Broad Street in Waverly, New York.

 This young fellow  with the big bow was photographed by Stephens in Ithaca, New York.

These two children were also photographed with a settee, but with a very different design than the one in the previous photo. Their portrait was taken by A.J. Fisher of Towanda, Pennsylvania.

Here's a smiling child photographed by Van Buren in Ithaca, New York.

This baby may not have much hair, but the wicker curls make up for it. Photograph by G.R. Wheeler of Greene, New York.

You can hardly see the wicker chair in this last photo from Crocker in Corning, New York, but the lady sitting in it is lovely.

Automobiles and Airplanes

These are from a folder of negatives that belonged to Grace Shapley. Writing on the outside of the folder says: Negatives of Airplane trip, Aunt Bess and myself at 51 Lathrop Apt. and 13 John Street, Oquaga Lake, N.Y. , college negatives, etc. The folder also included some labelled photographs, taken in Syracuse and Binghamton, New York, as well as in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I have been able to identify some of the people in the photos, but not all of them.

Grace Shapley

 

Grace Shapley