Aaron Olmstead JR Family Photos

By Doreen Dolleman

This past year I made contact with two more descendants of Aaron Olmstead, son of Jabez and Miriam Husse Olmstead. Both have so generously shared their information with me, including pages and photos from the Silas Baldwin/ Miriam Olmstead family Bible – so much more than I ever expected to find. There are many photos in the Bible, not all Olmstead’s and not all identified. The clearly identified Olmstead photos are of Aaron Olmstead Jr. and his daughter Caroline, daughter Lucy Olmstead and husband John Keller, and daughter Ann Olmstead and husband Hervey King. The Aaron/ Caroline portrait was taken sometime between1844 – 1848, during the very first years of photography! Not many pictures are in existence from that time period, so this is an incredible find! I read that it cost $5 for these first portraits in the 1840’s and that was considered to be very expensive. Notice Caroline’s cropped hair – made me wonder if she had been ill (sometime hair was cut when a child had scarlet fever or other serious childhood disease) or had a problem with lice. Ann King’s large sleeves and part in her hair date her photo to the 1860’s. Hope you enjoy seeing these wonderful glimpses of our ancestors!