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Might Be an Early Photo of Lucy Lambert Hale

READER MAILBAG   
September 2012  
Dear SeacoastNH.com

I'm searching for a Lucy Lambert Hale expert to tell me if this Civil War era photo I recently found in Gettysburg is a likeness of the lady. To my eyes, she looks very much like the woman in the photo carried by John Wilkes Booth and found when he was killed; however, the woman in my photo is facing the opposite way; is wearing a different (although very similar) outfit; and her hair is ever so slightly different (not swept up quite as high, although the ringlets are an exact match).The photo has a Rhode Island photographer's backmark. What do you think? I would very much appreciate any opinion you might care to offer.  Thanks so much! – Michele  (See photo and reply below)

 

READ MUCH MORE about Lucy Hale and John Wilkes Booth

SEACOASTNH.com REPLY:

I’ve often written about Lucy Hale’s “engagement” to John Wilkes Booth on the day of Lincoln’s assassination. But I’m going to defer the photographic identity to Thom Hindle who is the real expert on Lucy who lived at what is now the Hale House Museum in Dover, NH where Thom is the resident expert and a professional photographer and historian. My gut instinct is that this is not Lucy Hale due to too many features that do not match. (Readers of this column will be interested to note that Michele also found a photograph that some experts believe may be a previously unknown image of John Wilkes Booth. She is having that image analyzed now and kindle allowed us to reprint her other image here. )

FROM THOM HINDLE AT THE WOODMAN INSTITUTE

Michele.....During this era men with beards and ladies with their hair done-up all had similarities. While Mr. O Reilly says in his book that Lucy traveled to Newport, R.I. with JWB, that has never been proven and hardly likely since her father kept a tight rein on her. You are correct that the photograph found in Booth's wallet is looking in the opposite direction. I have attached a photograph of Lucy looking in the same direction as your CDV image. Side by side there are differences in the facial features and hair styles.  I have viewed several different portraits including a tintype of Lucy and would at this time say that your portrait is not Lucy Hale.  I will however, do a closer comparison with the other photographs that I am aware of.  I am not sure how many times Lucy sat for a photo.  Her sister Lizzie and mother both sat for Mathew Brady at his Washington, D.C. studio. I have copies of those portraits in my collection.  The Lucy photo attached was taken by Kimball / Concord, N.H. who also photographed Senator Hale / father. Thanks, Thom Hindle

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