My husband won't let me hang this photo.

Well, it looks like it should be in a horror movie, but I guess you can't rent it out as a prop.
What the story, will you tell?

 

?...

 

Lauragarnet, the story is listed several posts earlier in this thread.

 

So have something a little weird to add to this. As I mentioned my husband removed the portrait from my daughters closet the other night. She is only 3 years old and knows nothing about the portrait. We have had a lot of problems getting her to sleep through the night in her own room. When we went to tuck her in last night she ran straight to her closet and said you got rid of all the bad in here. The bad is gone now. She hopped into bed and sleep peacefuly through the night. Also we have had a lot of struggles the last few years yesterday the whole house seemed more peaceful and happy. Several good things happened like lucky things. It was all in all a wonderful day for the whole family. After this I may have to get rid of it. I wish I could find the owner of the other twin. I really think he wants to be united with his twin. I talked to my dad but there is probably very little hope of ever finding who has the other portrait.

 

Thankyou fig. I don't know how I missed that. I saw post #36, but didn't see post #33. Maybe this thread is haunted now and it was invisible to me.

 

You mentioned safe deposit box. It's pretty big 19 x 24 do they make deposit boxes big enough to hold a portrait like this? I don't really want to sell it or part with it. He is family afterall. I really wish there was a way for me to find his twin. Every since my friend suggested that may be the issue it has bothered me. Like he is saying yes that is it. He wants to be with his brother. It makes me sad for him. I know I am being sort of weird but the feeling is really strong.

 

Also my grandmother redid the back at some point. It looks like wall paper on there. I started to try and pull it off but it is glued and I didn't want to hurt it. I am sure there would be some info on the back. Maybe?

 

The picture of my mom in her prom dress got kind of ruined the other picture is of me wearing my mom's prom dress. My cousin did my makeup so it is a bit heavy. Either way notice the portrait is in both of these pictures. My grandmother had it forever. It appears in the background of a lot of family photos. I think I was around 15 in this picture.

 

Yes there are.

 

WOW!!!!

 

Normally I don't advocate letting family photos go. But maybe you could find somebody else who would take it?

 

Where is it now ?
It was on the wall when your Mom was happy, it was on the wall when you were happy ..( & quite the little hottie !!! ) & then you threw it in the closet & it went after the most suggestively vulnerable member of the family!
Now it's out of the closet , & I'd suggest , husband not withstanding...you find a place for it where it would be content ....but out of hubby's way !

 

That makes sense. Like the mask!

 

That's seems to me to be the best course of action.
& yes Fig .....the parallel seems to fit.
The mask is known as an ancestor mask, & the photo....pretty much the same deal !!

 

& just to put this out there.....while my alien encounter can be explained away, I have no factual explanation what-so-ever for my mask story.
No one but me knew of that mask or where I'd hidden it , and it was hidden for years.
But that day those two entered my Gallery.....I know what I saw !

 

Check this out. I am so excited. I finally got brave and decided to pull that back paper off the picture in hopes I would at least find a name. I was scared the paper was glued all over but after feeling around on it a bit I could tell it was only the edges. So I decided to just go for it. Not only was there a name but all the info I needed. I was looking on ancestry to see if I could find these twins but I never saw these names. Of course now I know where to look. You probably can't read it in this image but I am going to transcribe what it says here in just a second. Man I am glad I ripped that backing paper off. It's not as pretty on the back now but I can have it replaced. What was under it was way more important. This has been so much fun I can't wait to research this more. Glad you guys are along for the ride on this.

 

Here is what it says:

Milford Machen
Born: Febuary 18, 1897
Died: June 10, 1901
Or
Earnest Machen
Born: August 2, 1898
Died: June 11, 1901

Asbary (??) Cemetery Marshall Co. Alabama - Albertville Alabama
Children of John Frances Machen - April 8, 1874 Died Feb 21-1955
and
Mary Francis Abney Machen Feb 4-1878 Died July 4th 1954
John and Mary Died in Gilmer, Texas

(Okay so this is a little confusing cause I was always told they were twins and this really contradicts that with the birth dates and years. Also I am not sure what they name of the cemetery is it looks like it says Asbary. Maybe someone here has a better idea I am going to try and look it up. Now I am going back to ancestry to see what I can find.)

 

So according to my tree Mary Francis Abney-Machen would have been my great grandfather's sister, this would have been her son and I am not smart enough right now to figure out how I am related to this little boy. I guess that would make him a great uncle or something. That is too much for my head right now. Still this is pretty cool. I have to be honest I am tempted to look under this piece of backing to see if there is anything else in here.

 

Oh Wow. So I found the graves of these little boys and they weren't twins but I just realized they died with in a day of each other. That must have been devastating to the family. I was always told it was something they ate. Also that cemetery was Asbury. I thought Asbary looked a little odd. The picture has the wrong birthdays but the months are right. Sorry to keep posting on and on like this but man I am excited to be finding this stuff and I just have to share.

 

So now I am just filled with an incredible saddness. It seems after the death of these two little boys the parents moved to East Texas where my great grandfather and other family members were already living. They never had any other children. Which means there was no one to pass these pictures onto expect family like my grandmother who would have been their niece. I so wish I could find the other boy and I also wish I knew if this was Francis or Ernest. I could never let this portrait go now that I have a better understanding of the story.

I can't imagine losing a child. To lose 2 within a day of each other and so young just 2 and 4 my heart just aches. I realize this happened ages ago but gosh it's just so tragic and sad. I am seriously shedding tears just thinking about it. Looking into the eyes of that little baby and imagining the time with him his mother lost. So incredibly sad.

I promise I will never put him in the closet again. I will find him a place that he can feel welcomed. Hubby is just going to have to suck it up.

I did take the other backing off. The only thing written on the back of the photo was some numbers. I put it all back together and corrected the birthdays and added the name Francis to Milford. Milford was his middle name. I also requested a picture of the graves and left a little note on each of the online memorials.

My relatives from that side were extremely poor people. I am surprised that they had such nice portraits done of their children. Most of the pictures I have or have seen of family from these times on that side are not this professional I guess would be the word.