Name/Title
Emma McPherson (Vandercook) McConnell [1857-1935]Entry/Object ID
2018.1.186Description
Emma McPherson (Vandercook) McConnell [1857-1935] - second wife of William Barnet McConnell.
Handwritten inscription on original album page read, "Emma Vandercook McConnell."
ACQUISITION NOTE: The photograph was purchased in combination with an identified image of Emma's husband, William Barnet McConnell (item # CAND-AN007-0032), and his first wife, Sarah Bonar "Sadie" (Buchanan) McConnell (item # CAND-AN007-0031), via eBay auction in 2024, by Candice Lynn Buchanan. Per correspondence with the eBay vendor, we know that the images were obtained at a large estate sale in Illinois. Several antique albums yielded at least 100 images. The vendor photographed the album pages before removing each image from the album to be sold separately on eBay. Though the images were identified in the album with handwritten inscriptions, the eBay listings did not include those captions. Candice discovered the images while searching eBay for items associated with Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Due to many years of associated research, she recognized Sadie immediately. To help ensure accuracy and prevent bias, Greene Connections volunteer Glenn Toothman also compared the eBay item with Sadie's Waynesburg College, Class of 1868 graduation picture (item # WAYN_AN001_1868_0001). To determine if any additional or related images might be available, Candice looked at the vendor's entire listings and quickly discovered the image of Sadie's husband, identifiable by comparison to a later picture of him published in The Record: Historical, Personal and Other Sketches, Politics, Literature and Education, Social and Fraternal Affairs, Illustrated (Fargo, N.D.: Clement A. Lounsberry, 1895–1905), photograph of William McConnell [WorldCat: https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/12388412]. Though neither image was captioned on eBay, further evidence to support the identifications lay in the fact that the vendor had posted these two CDVs with Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, photographer stamps, in combination with 20 images from Angola, Indiana. William had taken Sadie to live with his family in Angola, Indiana, after their marriage in Waynesburg on 9 September 1869. At this point, Candice contacted the eBay vendor to request any known provenance or ties to additional images. The vendor supplied the details stated here, in combination with images of the album pages bearing the original inscriptions that confirmed the identities of Sadie and William. A younger photo of William that had appeared beside Sadie in the album had already been sold [this picture has since been reunited, see item # CAND-AN007-0033]. The vendor reviewed the entries for additional family members and found this cabinet card identified as William's second wife, Emma (Vandercook) McConnell, which Candice could still acquire. Based on the evidence at hand, it seems most likely that these McConnell images (4 in total, 1 of Sadie, 2 of William, and 1 of Emma) were in a collection that belonged to friends or relatives of the McConnells in Angola, Indiana. Though it would have been ideal to acquire the collection intact with original order and context, we are extremely grateful to the vendor who promptly did all they could to help us document and identify these precious images.
Original, professional photograph from Brand, 210 & 212 Wabash Avenue, Portraits, Chicago.Photograph Details
Type of Photograph
Cabinet CardCollection
Candice Lynn Buchanan CollectionMade/Created
Studio
Brand (Studio)Date made
circa 1880 - circa 1890Place
Location
Illinois / Cook County / ChicagoLexicon
Search Terms
McConnell family, Vandercook familyOther Names and Numbers
Other Number
CAND-AN007-0034Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Vandercook, Emma McPherson [1857-1935]Provenance
Provenance Detail
Miscellaneous Series - Candice Lynn Buchanan CollectionAcquisition Method
DigitalNotes
The photograph was purchased in combination with an identified image of Emma's husband, William Barnet McConnell, and his first wife, Sarah Bonar "Sadie" (Buchanan) McConnell, via eBay auction in 2024, by Candice Lynn Buchanan who owned and shared the photograph with the Greene Connections: Greene County, Pennsylvania Archives Project in 2024. See ACQUISION NOTE above for full details related to identification.
SOURCE CITATION: Emma McPherson (Vandercook) McConnell [1857-1935]; circa 1880-1890, image by Brand, 210 & 212 Wabash Avenue, Portraits, Chicago; item no. CAND-AN007-0034, Candice Lynn Buchanan Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project (GreeneConnections.com).