Returning Ann Stern McFarlan

Ann Stern McFarlan, c.1861

This story is going to be a little bit different than most I do, and it's one in which I'm going to ask for your help, local history community. It started a little while back when I received a a random-seeming email from a woman, stating that she had an old picture and thought it belonged in "my" area. (She had searched for history in the Wilmington area, and stumbled upon the blog.) She wrote that she had found this old photograph in an antique shop in New York City, and wanted to find it a home. She asked if I knew who it was and if I knew of any descendants or family who might like to have it. I said that I didn't, but that I would look into it.

I want to take a brief detour here and mention that the thoughtful soul who found the photo and contacted me was a NYC-based musician named Cat Popper. She's an amazing singer-songwriter and bassist, who over the years has played with the likes of Grace Potter, Ryan Adams, Nora Jones, Jack White, Bonnie Raitt and many others. You can see and hear more of her on her website. If you're into podcasts, she has one called Anecdope, where she interviews various musicians (some her friends, some friends of friends, all of whom you might know depending on the depth of your musical knowledge) and gets them to tell intimate backstage, behind the scenes stories of the roll and roll lifestyle.

But after that short and well-deserved plug, let's get back to our story. The first thing I did, as anyone who has handled old photos like this knows, was to check the back to see if anyone had written anything on it. Sure enough, they had! There were three pieces of information -- "Ann Stern McFarlan", "great great-grandmother", and "Also Helen Mc F. Cloud's great great-grandmother". (As we'll see later, I'm pretty sure this information is slightly off.) The photo, as you can see, was of an older woman in what appeared to be mid-to-late 19th Century dress. At the bottom was information about the photo studio where it was taken -- "From Wm. H. Curry, 309 Market St., Wilmington, Del.". It was this indication of Wilmington which ultimately led Cat to me.