21st edition of Smile for the Camera

Give Their Face a Place

Sallie or Sarah Robinson or Robertson

From the personal collection of L. Evans

I have a name and my aunt’s interpretation of who she was. The faint handwritten of no doubt my grandmother Mary can be seen in several places on the board of this picture card. I’ve blown it up several times and from what I can make out, the name appears to be Sallie Robinson. On the back of the card, the infamous Aunt Lucille has written Sallie / Sarah Robinson / Robertson, mom’s great aunt, ex-slave.

I have checked the 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 censuses and so far come up empty when using the name Sallie Robinson. But I do find a Sarah Robertson, age 56, and a widower on the 1900 census for Walton County, GA. Sarah is listed as head of household and has a niece, Mollie Hearnord (Ancestry interpretation) living with her, who I’ve always suspected was the older half sister, Mattie Henyard Martin, that my grandmother passed along to us. On the 1910 census, there is a Sarah Robertson, age 70, living with grand Aunt Mattie Henyard Martin and her husband Tom Martin and their family. However, the enumerator listed the seventy year old Sarah as the twenty-eight year old Tom’s daughter. What was he smoking? The problem is that due to the spelling / interpretation of the Mollie / Mattie on the 1900 census, do I dare say that that these two Sarah’s are one in the same. I think they are but proving it may be an altogether different story.

My gut tells me that Sallie / Sarah is great grandma Fannie’s, of the many surnames, aunt. And of course my untrained eyes see a certain similarity (the high cheek bones) between Sallie / Sarah and Grandma Fannie.

Great Grandma Fannie

From the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

What do you think?

I'm thankful for the picture of Aunt Sallie / Sarah as it's the only picture I have of any ancestor (direct or collateral) past my great grandparents generation.