Rebecca Thornton (1857-1940), daughter of Thomas Thornton, carries the name of her grandmother, Rebecca Larue. We know little of Rebecca at this time other than that she was a musician and in 1889 she was taking university courses at Charles Ruse School of Music in Rochester, NY. I can find nothing on this school but have found a Joseph and Charles Ruse of Bowmanville who went on to become Professors of Music. She returned from there is 1909 to live with her father. Rebecca appear to have not married and when her sisters wrote to Helen they often added the note: “Becca says hello”.
Is the photo below of Rebecca? To me it looks a little like one of the sisters in the family photo. We have two copies of this photo: one which must have been the original, but with notes on the back saying to the printer that the eyebrows were too strong, etc. A second photo is then printed which looks amazingly different. This suggests the photo may have had more significance than being of a sister. So could this have been a mother? Indeed, why are there no photos of both Thomas and Susanna in the family box? Could this be Susanna (Powers) Thornton? Or perhaps it is Rebecca LaRue, wife of Nathaniel Hart Powers. Would love to know.
Two versions of the same photo. The retouched on has some
colour added suggesting to me it was done in the early 20th
century. But why were both versions in Helen’s file?
Had she ordered the retouch? If so why?