Case Pad of Post Mortem Daguerreotype of a Baby Girl
This is the maroon velvet case pad of the daguerreotype of a beautiful baby girl, pictured in her coffin. A little knot of white ribbon, likely from her white gown and an obituary clipped from a newspaper have been pinned to the pad. The clipping gave me enough information to find her birth dates and to date the image. Helen Maria Spalding was born on March 8th, 1848 and died at 10 months old on January 9, 1849.
The obituary reads:
DIED
In this village, on the 9th instant, Helen Maria, only daughter of Ebenezer and Frances L. Spalding, aged 10 months.
Sleep on, loved one, sleep on.
So early gone;
To Earth, a child is lost,
To Heaven, a cherub won.
I have posted the image as well, linked below.
I noticed that Ebenezer and Frances had a young son at the time that Helen Maria died. Another girl was born the next year and two more boys in later years. I know, based on my only family history, that some families lost many children. Although I could not find death dates for any of Helen Maria siblings I did find marriage dates for all of them so know that they survived to adulthood.
Case Pad of Post Mortem Daguerreotype of a Baby Girl
This is the maroon velvet case pad of the daguerreotype of a beautiful baby girl, pictured in her coffin. A little knot of white ribbon, likely from her white gown and an obituary clipped from a newspaper have been pinned to the pad. The clipping gave me enough information to find her birth dates and to date the image. Helen Maria Spalding was born on March 8th, 1848 and died at 10 months old on January 9, 1849.
The obituary reads:
DIED
In this village, on the 9th instant, Helen Maria, only daughter of Ebenezer and Frances L. Spalding, aged 10 months.
Sleep on, loved one, sleep on.
So early gone;
To Earth, a child is lost,
To Heaven, a cherub won.
I have posted the image as well, linked below.
I noticed that Ebenezer and Frances had a young son at the time that Helen Maria died. Another girl was born the next year and two more boys in later years. I know, based on my only family history, that some families lost many children. Although I could not find death dates for any of Helen Maria siblings I did find marriage dates for all of them so know that they survived to adulthood.