Huntress

This unusual portrait is of Annie Cooney, born in Williamsburg, Mass. as the last child of an Irish immigrant saloon keeper who had done fairly well for himself and could afford to indulge her. It casts her in the quite extraordinary (for a woman of the 1880s) role of huntress, posed in a plaster simulacrum of the outdoors, outfitted with a shotgun and a large supply of shells. It displays her prowess in the form of a couple of well-worn stuffed rabbits and a quail or grouse. One wonders whose idea this was: was it a gag?--and what her friends (and the lawyer she married a few years later) thought when they saw it.[1]

A search of the 1880 U.S. federal census turns up a likely candidate: Annie Cooney, 12 year old daughter of Michael Cooney, living in Williamsburg, MA. [2] Michael is listed as a saloon keeper.[3] Both Michael, and his wife, Rosina, are listed as born in Ireland.[4] Annie was probably born on 7 July 1867 in Williamsburg (see below).[5]

Probable birth record for Annie Cooney

It would be great to find out if Annie's modern-day descendants are aware of their ancestor being captured in such an unusual photograph. Any readers from Williamsburg, MA?

Picture Source: Williamsburg Historical Society, MA. Many thanks to this organization for allowing me to publish this picture.

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[1] Williamsburg Historical Society. Annie Cooney Cabinet Card c. 1885. Year Unknown. Online at http://dlib.cwmars.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/williamsbrg&CISOPTR=35: accessed 4 March 2014.

[2] "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH6G-TBG : accessed 04 Mar 2014), Annie Cooney in household of Michael Cooney, Williamsburg, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing sheet 240C, family 3, NARA microfilm publication T9-0537

[3] "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH6G-TBK : accessed 04 Mar 2014), Michael Cooney, Williamsburg, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing sheet 240C, family 0, NARA microfilm publication T9-0537

[4] "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH6G-TB2 : accessed 04 Mar 2014), Rosina Cooney in household of Michael Cooney, Williamsburg, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing sheet 240C, family 1, NARA microfilm publication T9-0537

[5] "Massachusetts, Births, 1841-1915," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11047-20255-94?cc=1536925&wc=11695133: accessed 04 Mar 2014), Births registered in the town of Williamsburg for the year of 1867, p. 94, line no. 15, Annie Cooney, 1867.