Whoever She Was, I Have her Picture

Along with several other photographs I found in an antique store in northern California was one labeled "Annie Goodman Tucker + Sister Dollie Goodman." I already had figured out that this picture, plus many others also found at that same shop, were once in the possession of the Brockman family of Sonora. The wife of this Brockman couple was related to a family with the Tucker surname; Annie Goodman had married Samuel Tucker and they and their family lived, at one time, in Oregon, site of the photography studio where this photograph was taken.

We've already met Annie Goodman Tucker, although it was at the other end of her adult life, just months before her passing in 1925. Comparing her picture at that date with this earlier version, we can guess that, of the two women in today's photograph (shown at the end of this post), Annie was likely the woman seated on the left.

I say "guess" for two reasons: one being a sense that these two faces featured don't exactly look like they represent the same person; the other reason being the discovery of another of this family's photographs mislabeled with the wrong identities. See for yourself whether it is likely that the younger of the two faces could have, years later, morphed into the second version.

There is yet another reason I am doubting myself for identifying photographs. While I've been able to find Annie in her family's records over the years, and while those records include the names of her siblings, there wasn't one single sister who was named Dollie.

Now, I realize that people often used nicknames to refer to family members, but there is a limit on how such terms of endearment are used. For one thing, the name Dolly was indeed often used as a nickname—but it was more likely to be used as a nickname for someone named Dorothy, not Emma or Alice, the names of Annie's two sisters. I tried searching—so far, without any success—for any information on either of these two sisters to see whether I could locate any hint that either Emma or Alice was so doll-like as to merit such a nickname despite such an unsimilar given name.

I'm still hunting for any clue as to the identity of Dollie Goodman. In the process, I may have run across another branch of Annie's family, which might provide some answers...maybe.  

Photograph, top: Side by side comparison of a younger possible Annie Goodman Tucker and her older self from a 1925 photograph. Below: source of that younger version from its original, undated setting, taken in Ontario, Oregon, and labeled, "Annie Goodman Tucker + Sister Dollie Goodman." Side by side comparison courtesy Chris Stevens. Photo currently in possession of author until claimed by a direct descendant.