Tag Archives: Addie May Hammel

Addie McClain, c. 1909, Inside 1027 E. Seventh

I am not entirely sure what is going on with this photo. The print is somewhat faded, but not terribly so. It is clearly Grandma Addie McClain in the photo. But where is she? And what is causing the strange artifacts, especially in the upper part of the photo?

It appears as though the upper half of the photo was taken through a lace curtain in the foreground, though that seems unlikely. Something caused the upper half of the photo to be lighter and somewhat distorted, though.

Although the photo is not clear enough to be certain, Grandma appears to have a ring on the ring finger of her left hand. It is mostly covered by a finger of her right hand, though. If that is correct, it would indicate that Grandma is engaged, at least, if not married. But I’m guessing she is married.

The room has some interesting similarities to the room of 122 N Sherman St, shown in a photo of this previous post. The lamp on the table at right resembles the lamp on the piano in the other photo. The photo on top of the piano in this photo appears to be the same as the unidentified photo on top of the piano in the other photo. The room layout is similar, with a window in the back wall, a table on the right, and the piano on the left. But I think that is merely superficial.

My guess is that this photo was taken inside the 1027 E Seventh house after Grandma married Grandpa Arthur. But I’d love to read your comments if you see it differently.

My further guess is that this photo was taken by Great Grandpa John Hammell, like the photos of the interior of 122 N Sherman. Possibly it was taken about the same time, and possibly they all were experiments in low light photography.

Regardless of some of the details, it is a reasonably clear photo of Grandma, at least, and she appears to be similar in age to her wedding photo.