Three photos were among the papers that may have belonged to Birdie WINCHESTER.
Two of the photos had nothing written on the back. On the back of the above photo was some writing, almost as if Birdie (I assume) was using the photo to write herself reminders.
On one edge of the photo there are some numbers: “ 1870, 1841,” etc., as if she were trying to figure out someone’s age.
On the opposite edge of the photo there is the phrase “2 picture frames” and below that: “1 – 12 x 15” and “1 – 10 x 12.” It appears that she wanted to purchase two picture frames of those dimensions.
On another edge of the photo it says: “Mark Twains works.” Under that is says something that I originally thought illegible and then “Head Wilson.” On the third line is another word that I can’t read.
My first thought was that “Head Wilson” might be the identity of the woman in the photo, but then I decided to run a search on Google for “Mark Twain works” and “head wilson” to see if there were any interesting returns.
Indeed there were.
It turns out Mark Twain wrote a story titled “Pudd’n’head Wilson.”
Now when I look at the illegible word on the second line it does look like it could be “Puddn.” Is this a reference to the Mark Twain story? And why? Especially jotted on the back of a photo?
The final notes on the photo are three lines located in the center. Each appear to be a first name, a number, and another name. Perhaps they are addresses of friends? I believe they are as follows:
“Kits 1017 Oakland
“Maude 221 Barnes
“Esther (?) 218 Smith”
These three lines partially cover the notes about Mark Twain, as if they were written after the Mark Twain jottings.
None of these notes, however, appear to give any clues to the identity of the woman in the photo.
Perhaps reading the Twain story or searching city directories and census records for the possible identity of Kits, Maude, and Esther may shed some more light on this mystery.
