Brasher-Williams Mystery Photo, c1910
This is one of my favorite photos in my family collection, although I know very little about it.
First, the only person I can identify in it is Pearl Lillian Brasher, my husband’s paternal grandmother. Pearl is the girl, second from right with the hat on.
She was born in 1898 and looks quite young, so I’d say this picture was taken about 1910-1912.
I love that all the “womenfolk” are posed for a photographer who perhaps was just passing through. Even the two little children were allowed to be in the photo and there appears to be a baby in the carriage in front of Pearl. Notice that the two children are barefoot!
What I find odd is that I can’t identify Pearl’s mother, Minnie Mae Williams (Brasher) Horne in the picture.
Pearl’s parents, Joseph and Minnie Brasher divorced shortly after 1900 and each remarried. Pearl was their only child. Minnie married (2) Charles Horne and in 1910, Pearl lived with them in Plainview, Hale, Texas. Joe Brasher married (2) Della Benton and they moved to Noble, Oklahoma.
The Brasher family was small. Joe lost his parents at a young age and he only had two brothers who did not live close by.
Minnie’s father, John C. Williams, had a large family by two marriages and lived in Dike, Hopkins, Texas. Pearl was born in Sulphur Springs in the same county.
However, this house is not John Williams’, as I have a photo of his home:
Even with no fence, it is easy to see that these are two different houses.
Because none of the ladies in the photo look familiar and the figures to the right of Pearl and the far left on the porch look like they might be close in age to Pearl, I wonder if she was visiting her grandfather in Texas, but was on a social visit to a neighbor’s to visit with the girls?
The fact that Pearl isn’t sitting on the porch also makes me think she was on a social call.
I have no proof of where the photo was taken, either, but I’ve been to Hopkins County and, for whatever reason, this house looks like it could be there.
Here is an earlier photo of John Williams’ house, probably when he first moved in:
His children with his second wife were born between 1884 and 1906. Perhaps the girl at the baby carriage is one of Pearl’s aunts, even though they are about the same age?
I probably won’t ever know who all these other ladies are or exactly where this photo was taken, but it is still a favorite, as photos with only the females of the home were not super common.