Lucretia Scripture Shattuck

Lucretia Scripture was the aunt of my 2X great grandmother, Nellie F. (Tarbox) Adams and this photo has come down through the family from her.

Lucretia was born on 25 April 1837 in Glenburn, Penobscot, Maine. Some records, including her death record, state she was born in New Hampshire, but I don’t think that’s true. Her family had lived in Mason, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire for many years and some of her older siblings were born there.

However, two facts make me quite sure that she was born in Maine. First, New Hampshire has vital records for the time period in which she was born and there are birth records for Scriptures in the 1830s, but not for her. Second, her family appears in the 1840 census in Glenburn, Maine. I believe the family removed to Maine sometime between August 1834, when her sister Nancy was born in Mason, and her own birth in 1837.

Take a look at this photo:

Unknown

For many years, I thought this was Mary Elizabeth Scripture Tarbox, sister of Lucretia and mother of Nellie Tarbox Adams. As I learned more about photo dating, I realized that this couldn’t possibly be her since she died at the very young age of 39 in 1866. I’d say the lady in this photo is in style for the 1870s, with her hair curled and a large bow worn around her neck. The sleeves on her dress are also much narrower than what was fashionable during the Civil War years.

She resembles Lucretia, but this lady’s face seems a bit longer and narrower than Lucretia’s face.  What do you think?

Lucretia had two other surviving sisters, Nancy, born in 1834 and Lavina, born in 1840, three years older and three years younger than Lucretia. I am wondering if this photo is of one of them? They, too, would have been Nellie’s aunts, although only Lucretia lived in Calais, where Nellie spent her life. Lavina died in 1882 in Glenburn. Nancy married and soon moved to California. Her husband, William Grover, died in El Dorado County, California in 1866, but Nancy didn’t pass away until 1921.

By the way, I did eventually come across a photo, a tintype, of Mary Elizabeth Scripture:

Mary Elizabeth Scripture Tarbox

Mary doesn’t look a lot like her sister, Lucretia, but I think daughter Nellie resembled her mom:

Nellie Tarbox Adams

I’ve shared photos of Nellie, her mother and her mother’s sister, Lucretia. The question remains, do you think the unknown lady in the second photo could be another Scripture sister, either Nancy or Lavina?