Mennonite Ancestors

[Jess77]

So I am on a group on facebook that looks to date antique photos, particularly to help family historians identify ancestors. One lady posted a picture. I am thinking she is Mennonite from early 1900s, but I don't know if this style is accurate. Any of you history buffs? Did Mennonites pose for photos in the early 1900s? Any help would be appreciated.

[Ken]

I'm Mennonite on both sides of the family. Our family photo albums are filled with similar photos from the early 1900s. Many of them less plain than that. My impression is that the early 1900s was not a particularly plain and conservative time in the Mennonite Church. Much of that came later.

This is a picture of my great great grandparents from the very early 1900s. Maybe around 1910. I expect her dress is typical of Mennonites of that time.

[Neto]

So I am on a group on facebook that looks to date antique photos, particularly to help family historians identify ancestors. One lady posted a picture. I am thinking she is Mennonite from early 1900s, but I don't know if this style is accurate. Any of you history buffs? Did Mennonites pose for photos in the early 1900s? Any help would be appreciated.

Is it the Mennonite Genealogy & History FB group? If so, that one is mostly Dutch Mennonites (my people), but I know there are some Swiss Brethren background people who are also members, and there is also a group more specifically dedicated to that enthicity. It does look like she has a Swiss type covering on - I think I can see the strings.

[PetrChelcicky]

By the way, am I right that Mennonites (and in particular women) wore spectacles more often than the average population?

[Ken]

By the way, am I right that Mennonites (and in particular women) wore spectacles more often than the average population?

I never heard that one before. What would be the reason? That Mennonites tended to have more disposable income than the average population? Or were more literate?

[Ken]

So I am on a group on facebook that looks to date antique photos, particularly to help family historians identify ancestors. One lady posted a picture. I am thinking she is Mennonite from early 1900s, but I don't know if this style is accurate. Any of you history buffs? Did Mennonites pose for photos in the early 1900s? Any help would be appreciated.

Is it the Mennonite Genealogy & History FB group? If so, that one is mostly Dutch Mennonites (my people), but I know there are some Swiss Brethren background people who are also members, and there is also a group more specifically dedicated to that enthicity. It does look like she has a Swiss type covering on - I think I can see the strings.

My people are Swiss Mennonites. You can see the covering strings tied under my great great grandmother's chin in the photo I posted. But I know nothing of covering fashions between different Menno groups ca. 1910 or so.

[Jess77]

Is it the Mennonite Genealogy & History FB group?

No, the group is called Genealogy- Dating Old Photographs

[PetrChelcicky]

By the way, am I right that Mennonites (and in particular women) wore spectacles more often than the average population?

I never heard that one before. What would be the reason? That Mennonites tended to have more disposable income than the average population? Or were more literate?

It is a mere speculation from the photoes/videos I see, for example at Youtube. If it is true, the probable reason would be that myopia runs through the family tree, by genetics (endogamy) or by lifestyle (for example, early reading).

[Neto]

By the way, am I right that Mennonites (and in particular women) wore spectacles more often than the average population?

I never heard that one before. What would be the reason? That Mennonites tended to have more disposable income than the average population? Or were more literate?

It is a mere speculation from the photoes/videos I see, for example at Youtube. If it is true, the probable reason would be that myopia runs through the family tree, by genetics (endogamy) or by lifestyle (for example, early reading).

There IS a fairly high incidence of vision problems in my own family background. One of my older brothers had to have glasses at 5 years old, and I started not long after that age. One of my aunts had cataracts already in her 20s. I also heard already many years ago that the Hutterites tend to have a lot of vision problems as well. Traditionally there were only 8 different family names in the Hutterite colonies, so you are looking at a very limited gene pool. I don't know if that has changed at all since then (the 60s), but there are also various physical disorders that are more common among the Amish than in the general population, like dwarfism, for example.

[Neto]

So I am on a group on facebook that looks to date antique photos, particularly to help family historians identify ancestors. One lady posted a picture. I am thinking she is Mennonite from early 1900s, but I don't know if this style is accurate. Any of you history buffs? Did Mennonites pose for photos in the early 1900s? Any help would be appreciated.

Is it the Mennonite Genealogy & History FB group? If so, that one is mostly Dutch Mennonites (my people), but I know there are some Swiss Brethren background people who are also members, and there is also a group more specifically dedicated to that enthicity. It does look like she has a Swiss type covering on - I think I can see the strings.

My people are Swiss Mennonites. You can see the covering strings tied under my great great grandmother's chin in the photo I posted. But I know nothing of covering fashions between different Menno groups ca. 1910 or so.

Yes, I knew that you are Swiss background - I was looking at the photo Jess posted. But to get back to her actual question, we don't have any photos from Russia (came over in the late 1800s), and I'm not certain of the dates for the photos we do have, from after immigration. But I would say that some could possibly be from fairly early in the last century. But dress styles also varied a fair bit among the different Mennonite groups in Russia already, and Russia herself was "behind" in adopting modern dress. I've read copies of newspaper articles written in Kansas at the time of the immigration, and the "odd dress styles" was mentioned quite a bit. (I am not referring to women's dresses in particular, but both men's and women's dress styles.)