Molly Brown

[Omar]

Molly Brown

 

[Encyclopedia Titanica]

I have seen this picture doing the rounds of the internet, it doesn't look much like her. Other sites list this picture as of Jeanette Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill) and it doesn't look like her either. Unless there is more supporting evidence I'm inclined to think this is just more wishful thinking.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I have seen this picture doing the rounds of the internet, it doesn't look much like her.

I agree.

If the one below is really Molly Brown, there are significant differences in the faces. The lady in the OP's sepia photograph has a prominent cleft chin, which I had not noticed in any of the real Margaret Brown's pictures. The one below has an almost receding rounded chin, totally different from the other one.

I don't think Winston Churchill's mother had a cleft chin either.

 

[Steven Christian]

That picture looks like a girl in her late teens early 20's. When Molly Brown was in that age range she was living in a log cabin and was described as poor in various bio's. Pretty nice clothes for someone living in those conditions. Of course could have been her "Sunday Best". Hard for me to tell from the pic. Kind of doubt it but can't rule it out. But Arun is right. The chins defiantly don't match up.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

That picture looks like a girl in her late teens early 20's. When Molly Brown was in that age range she was living in a log cabin and was described as poor in various bio's. Pretty nice clothes for someone living in those conditions. Of course could have been her "Sunday Best".

I also felt that the young lady in the OP picture appeared to be in her early 20s at most. Although Margaret "Molly" Brown was married and had a family by that age, her husband J J Brown did not strike it rich till 1993, by which time 'Molly' was 26 years old.

Yes , the clothes on the OP woman appear too expensive to have belonged to Molly Brown during her "common" days. That hat alone would have been out of her range, even as part of a Sunday Best outfit.

Then there is the chin, of course.........

Other sites list this picture as of Jeanette Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill) and it doesn't look like her either.

I looked up some old pictures of Jeanette Jerome and while in some of them she appears to have a slight cleft chin, it was in no way as pronounced as the one belonging to the young lady in the OP. Also, while the OP picture could have been digitally enhanced in contemporary times, that kind of sepia toning did not become popular till the late 1880s, by wich time Churchill's mother was in her mid 30s.

Above is an authenticated photograph of Jeanette Jerome taken by Jose Maria Mora around 1885, when the lady was 31 years old. As we can see, the features are quite different from the one in the OP.

 

[Steve Dunham]

"J J Brown did not strike it rich till 1993, by which time 'Molly' was 26 years old" Should that be 1893? (In my many years as an editor, I learned that the obvious answer is not always the right one.)

 

[Arun Vajpey]

"J J Brown did not strike it rich till 1993, by which time 'Molly' was 26 years old" Should that be 1893?

My apologies. Indeed it should have been 1893. A typo by a senior citizen who doesn't always remember that he's over the hill.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Young pup! I remember when George VI was Emperor of India.

 

[Steven Christian]

I also felt that the young lady in the OP picture appeared to be in her early 20s at most. Although Margaret "Molly" Brown was married and had a family by that age, her husband J J Brown did not strike it rich till 1993, by which time 'Molly' was 26 years old.

Yes , the clothes on the OP woman appear too expensive to have belonged to Molly Brown during her "common" days. That hat alone would have been out of her range, even as part of a Sunday Best outfit.

Then there is the chin, of course.........


I looked up some old pictures of Jeanette Jerome and while in some of them she appears to have a slight cleft chin, it was in no way as pronounced as the one belonging to the young lady in the OP. Also, while the OP picture could have been digitally enhanced in contemporary times, that kind of sepia toning did not become popular till the late 1880s, by wich time Churchill's mother was in her mid 30s.

View attachment 116765

Above is an authenticated photograph of Jeanette Jerome taken by Jose Maria Mora around 1885, when the lady was 31 years old. As we can see, the features are quite different from the one in the OP.

Yes. The more I looked at these I don't think either women is the same as the one in OP. Either way I like looking at these old pics. Snapshot in time. Cheers.