During the past week I've had time to revisit family trees and do more research about great-grandparents and their siblings. Years ago we found a portrait in the attic of my husband's boyhood  home. We guessed the woman pictured was my husband's great-grandmother, Julia Ryan Hickey. The life-size likeness had been completed in pastels or chalk. Since we've never seen other photos of Julia, we couldn't be certain it was she who was pictured. However, the style was similar to a portrait we knew to be Julia's son Patrick.   We re-framed both portraits, and they hang side-by side in our home.

We don't know very much about Julia's family history. Ryan is a common Irish surname, which has complicated my research. However, from various records we've concluded Julia was born in County Limerick in about 1824 and probably emigrated to the U.S. as a young adult.

This weekend, while browsing records on Ancestry.com, I looked at the family tree of a distant Hickey relative. I was excited to find a photo with partial identification which included the names "Aunt Julia" and "Sadie Kehoe."

Look at "Aunt Julia"! The same face, the same hairstyle,

the same dress, even the same locket!  Our portrait was probably reproduced from this old photograph or another taking at the same sitting.

"Sadie" was the nickname of Sarah Mary Kehoe, born 17 January 1889 to George and Margaret "Maggie" Hickey Kehoe. (Minnesota birth records show the baby's name as "Mary.") Margaret Hickey was Julia's daughter. Sadie was Julia's (oldest) grand-daughter. Based on Sadie's appearance, this photo was probably taken in the early 1900s. 

The photographer's name appears to be A.P. Opsahl. Records maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society indicate the Opsahl Studio operated in Minneapolis during the 1890s and 1900s. In addition to photography, he "offered crayon, pastel and watercolor portraits."

I suspect the photograph shows three generations: Julia Hickey, her daughter Margaret Kehoe, and her granddaughter Sadie Kehoe. Always wanting to know "the rest of the story," I will continue to search, but so far I've found no marriage record for Sarah Mary "Sadie" Kehoe and no census record for her after 1920. A Minnesota death record exists for a Sarah Kehoe dated 15 May 1926. In any case, I now feel more confident in identifying our portrait as Julia Ryan Hickey. Thanks to Ancestry.com and the relative we don't know for posting the family photograph!