2025 52 Ancestors: Favorite Photo - Analyzed by Maureen Taylor

At the June 2018 Southern California Genealogical Society's Genealogy Jamboree event in Burbank, California, I had the pleasure of sitting down with The Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor, on the convention floor. She was offering immediate, in-person consultations on two photos for just $20. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get her expertise on a photo of my 3rd great grandmother (actually two of my 3rd great grandmothers!).

I admit I was a little intimidated. Although I had been studying my tree for years, I was still a baby genealogist and was rather green when it came to doing research the right way. Maureen was already well-known and established, so this was kind of like meeting a celebrity in genealogy circles. And I could tell she meant business when we began our session and she broke out her audio-set with a microphone that helped amplify her voice above the buzz of the expo floor.

I asked if it was okay to record our session and her response was, "Absolutely!" Her change in tone for some reason instantly put me more at ease. I could feel her excitement over studying photographs matched my enthusiasm for the field. And just knowing how poor my memory is, especially after all of the knowledge you soak in at a convention, I was relieved to know I'd be able to re-listen to everything she'd told me about the photo when I got back home again. (And considering it actually took me years to go back and listen to it again, this was an excellent idea.)

Here was the first photo I was curious about. The reason why this one carried interest for me was because I'm still in possession of the black dress and apron she's seen wearing in this picture. Unfortunately, the bonnet no longer accompanies the outfit.

My mother had inherited the dress, and as far as she knew, it was thought to have been the wedding gown for her 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth Beatrice (Pitcock) Rockwell. Elizabeth's middle name had been passed down in the family to her granddaughter, Beatrice Bethel Dixon, and then to her granddaughter (my mom), Beatrice Anna Millhouse. And the dress came down the family tree right along with the name, apparently. However, it always struck me as odd that Elizabeth's wedding gown would have been black.

Now, I know the tradition of wearing white was really more of a modern construct, but it still seemed off to be donning such a somber color on your big day. My mom did call out the fact that the dress had clearly been hand-stitched and re-patched several times over its life, especially in the area around the arms, so we have to take into account that our ancestors didn't have illustrious wardrobes like we do today. They'd have a few staple pieces and have to wear them daily until they'd outgrow them. Then, they'd have to either fix them up, or eventually, replace them. So, her wedding gown was likely her nicest "Sunday church dress". And I had to accept that fact at the time, as it was the only information I had to go off of.

It wasn't until after I had inherited this dress that I realized we had photos of her in it, including the one above! Of course, where did my mind go, but to guess that well, this had to be her wedding photo and this was her husband! This is where my amateur genealogy skills were showing! Because, of course, this couldn't have been her wedding photo given her obvious age. But then, if it wasn't her wedding photo, could she really have still been wearing the same exact dress so many years later? This had really puzzled me. Then, to top it off, I had very little information about her husband, my 3rd great grandfather, Joshua Rockwell (at the time I wasn't positive if his name was Joseph or James or John; it was none of those). These questions are what made me want to seek further info from Maureen Taylor. And I'm so glad I did, because she blew my mind!

Here's the audio recording with Maureen Taylor (inclusive of her analysis over the second photo I had her look over, too). Please forgive my obnoxious voice and stammering over my words:

And now you can understand why this sit-down with Maureen really took me aback. Lo and behold, there was no way this was my 3rd great grandfather standing beside Elizabeth in the photo! And of course, since being enlightened by The Photo Detective, I've made sense of a contemporary image to this photograph; one that was likely taken just moments before or after the one above.

This picture featured two women on either side of Elizabeth who I couldn't identify prior to my consult with Maureen. However, since she identified the man with the fedora as likely to be Elizabeth's son, I took that tidbit and ran with it. My hypothesis now is that he indeed was her son Josephus/Joseph, and these two ladies were his daughters (Elizabeth's granddaughters), Eva Rockwell and Goldie Pearl Rockwell (not confirmed in any particular order).

While the analyzed photo had not been dated, I was able to retrieve a date on this photograph: November 13th, 1927. The date would fit perfectly for the roundabout ages of Joseph's daughters! And being that Elizabeth's husband had died in 1909, her black dress made complete sense as having originated as a mourning gown. Of course, I'll never be able to absolutely confirm that story, but putting away the notion that it was her wedding gown is satisfaction enough.

Elizabeth passed away just 4 months after the above photograph was taken. These are a couple of my favorite photos because I can have them as proof as to where and when the gown and plaid apron originated.