Why I Love Historic Photos of Houses

As I said in my last post, I have been working on a paper on houses owned by Jews in the American colonies.  I am mainly interested in what houses can tell me about the families that lived in them and the kind of lives they led.  Hence, when I investigate houses, I usually look at a variety of resources, including land evidence, estate inventories, floor plans, as well as actual images of the house. I discuss some of these resources in the Houses Assignment handout, but in this post I will mainly talk about how I use historical photographs to better understand houses.

When I am studying a house, I like to visit it (if it is still standing) and if possible photograph it to get a sense how the house is laid out and how space functions within it.  Yet, I also often rely on insights gained from historical photographs.  Are there aspects of a house newer than I might have thought?  Is my experience of the house today deceptive in important ways?

Historical photographs can help be get a better sense of how the houses themselves and how the space surrounding the houses have changed over time.

This post gives three examples of what kinds of evidence historical photos can provide:

1. Changes in the landscape due to ecology
2. Changes in the landscape due to built environment
3. Changes in the house itself

To illustrate the first two types of changes, I use historic photos of landhuizen (country estates) in Curaçao.  To illustrate the third type of change, I turn to a merchant house in the island's main port of Willemstad.

Landhuizen

When I was in Curaçao in May, I was struck by how different not only the landhuizen (plantation houses) looked from earlier photographs, but also how different the landscape looked around them.  Here are two examples.  The first--Landhuis Ascencion--illustrates ecological changes and the second--Landhuis San Juan--illustrates changes in the built environment.

1. Landhuis Ascencion

When I visited Landhuis Ascencion, I was struck by the historical photos displayed inside the house and how greatly the landscape had changed.  Here is one of the historic photos of Landhuis Ascencion that is displayed inside the landhuis today:

Historic Photo Landhuis Ascencion, Curaçao © http://www.landhuisascencion-curacao.com

 And a second one (you'll notice the house has changed too--a big section is missing from the roof!):

Historic Photo Landhuis Ascencion, Curaçao © http://www.landhuisascencion-curacao.com

Compare this to the view looking up the road to the house today:

Photo Road to Landhuis Ascencion, Curaçao by Laura Leibman (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

And of the house itself:

Landhuis Ascencion, Curaçao by Stevan J. Arnold (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

Although many early landhuizen were used for growing produce and raising livestock, over time the estates often became country houses used primarily for recreation.  For me, the differences in the quality of the soil and the amount of vegetation in the different eras was an important reminder that these changes may have been due to ecological shifts on the island (or overgrazing by goats!).

Goats on Curaçao by Stevan J. Arnold (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

Although some landhuizen had hundreds of goats on them in the colonial era, today  the general lack of goats around certain estates has allowed plants to grow back.  Here for example is a view of Ascencion from nearby Dokterstuin showing the lushness of the relatively goat-free landscape.

View of Landhuis Ascencion from Dokterstuin, Curaçao by Laura Leibman (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

As I study the records of the landhuizen on the island, I have become increasingly interested in the changes in the number of animals sold with a particular estate, as changes in livestock populations might indicate changes in the land itself.  Changes in the land impact how the house was used.

Click here for a gallery of more photos of Ascencion from various eras and angles.

2. Landhuis San Juan

Historical photos can also point to changes in the build environment around a house.  For example, historical photos are a good reminder the the number of people who lived near a house or worked on the estates may have changed over time.

Here is a satellite view of Landhuis San Juan today, courtesy of Google Earth. Note the lack of other structures around the main house, though the outline of the walls of the former corrals is visible:

Landhuis San Juan and Environs today in Curaçao, courtesy of Google Earth

The term landhuis itself refers both to the “great house” (kas di shon or kas grandi) and the estate itself, “including the magasinas, or warehouses, a cistern for water,” stables, corrals, guard stations and cells for punishing slaves, the stone huts of slaves (later servants), and kin plots (familial burial grounds). The people (and livestock) that worked the estate were considered so much a part of the landhuis that most sales of landhuizen included not only the land and buildings, but also the slaves, livestock, and possessions associated with the buildings (Gravette 162). For example, when this particular plantation (Landhuis San Juan) was bought in by Elias Pereira in 1712 for 12,000 pesos, it included among other things the 82 slaves who lived there, a sugar mill, 467 cows, 302 sheep, and 374 goats (Emmanuel and Emmanuel 65, 663).

This historic photo of San Juan (ca. 1913) illustrates the way in which the empty landscapes of the landhuizen today is misleading.  How many smaller houses can you count near the great house?

"156. Plantage op Curaçao" (ca. 1913) © Tropenmuseum (Zoomable version)

Each of the small structures around the house is a small slave house (or in the case of the 1913 photo a former slave house) associated with the estate. Here is an example of a historical photo of what one of these houses would have looked like:

Historical photo of "Kas di pal'i maishi Curaçao" from Anthony Loos's Album

Historic photos are an important reminder not to forget the people who literally built and sustained older houses. What role did these extended members of the household play in the life of the great house?

Click here to see a more extensive gallery of images of Landhuis San Juan including a floor plan.

3. Penha House

In my final example of what we can learn from historical photos, I'd like to focus on how historic photos can provide evidence about changes in the house itself, though the photo I'll use is also a reminder of changes in the built environment of houses. In this example, I turn back to the image in the top left corner of the page.

This is one of my favorite early photos from Curaçao.  It was taken around 1890 by Robert Soublette of "De Breedestraat in Punda in westelijke richting" and looks down Breedestraat, one of the central avenues in the older Jewish Punda neighborhood and ends its gaze at the famous Penha house on the right along the waterfront.  As the Tropenmuseum notes, "Robert Soublette (1846-1921) and his son Tito (1870-1938) were at the turn of the most important photographers in Curaçao."  In addition to taking studio shots, they took a fair number of photos out doors, often of the same locale several years apart (Tropenmuseum).  These "retakes" makes the work of the Soublette family particularly useful for studying changes in architecture over time.

Here  is the complete 1890 photo:

R. Soublette, "De Breedestraat in Punda in westelijke richting" ca. 1890, © Tropenmuseum (Zoomable version)

I love this photo in part because we can see a man (on the left) in the street surrounded by goods from the waterfront.  I am also intrigued by the difference from today in the view across the bay.  More importantly for now, though, as we look down the street in the photo above, the house on the right along the waterfront with the arched window facing us on on the second floor is the Penha house. 

Here is a similar view of the street (ca. WWII?) from Anthony Loo's Album with Penha house in the same location, though seemingly farther away.  Notice the view across the bay has changed:

Historic Photo of Breedestraat, Curaçao from Anthony Loos's Album

To situate you, the view of the 1890s photos is marked on the map below of the Punda neighborhood from the Snoa museum with the blue arrow pointing down Breedestraat towards the waterfront.  In this map you can see the relative location of the fort and the Snoa (Mikve Israel Synagogue).  The Penha house is on the corner of Breedestraat at the waterfront.

Here is the view again along Breedestraat, only in 2010.  Again we are looking towards the Penha house:

Kent Coupe, View down Breedestraat (2010), © Jewish Atlantic World Database

 Here is a closeup of the Penha house today looking down Breedestraat: 

Penha House, Curaçao. Photo by Stevan J. Arnold (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

One of the iconic features of the house is the decorative program in white along the sides and front.  You can see these details in the image above, but they are also prominent along the more famous sides facing Fort Amsterdam and the waterfront (below). 

Penha House, Curaçao. Photo by Stevan J. Arnold (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

Decorations along the front of the Penha House, Curaçao. Photo by Stevan J. Arnold (2012) © Jewish Atlantic World Database

What differences do you notice between the 1890s and 2012 in the house itself (see composite below)?

Composite of Penha house from Southeast along Breedestraat, 1890s vs. 2010

I hope this posting will encourage people researching houses for either family histories or for school to keep an eye out for historic photographs of houses they are researching.  Many of the photos I used in this post are from Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen in the Netherlands, but those researching early American houses in the United States would do well to begin their search for historical photographs in local historical societies and at the HABS collection at the Library of Congress.

Are you researching a house?  If so, I would love to hear about and what resources you are using.

Resources

Emmanuel, Isaac S. and Emmanuel, Suzanne A., History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles (Cincinnati, OH: AJA, 1970).

Gravette, Andrew Gerald. Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean: An A-Z of Historic Buildings (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 2000). 

Houses Assignment handout

 

The Magic of Probate Records

Most of us don't just want to know the names of people in the past, we want to know who they were, how they lived, what mattered to them most, who they considered family. Probate records are one important key to unlocking these mysteries. Probate records sound boring: who wants to sit around reading wills or estate inventories? I hope to show that probate records are actually a goldmine waiting to be excavated.

When I was recently in Barbados, I managed to convince my father we NEEDED to go the Department of Archives to look at probate records. I was interested in historical research, and he was interested in family history, and for both of us, probate records provided a lot of answers to our most urgent questions.

My father knew his great-grandfather's name and date of death, but he didn't know anything about how he died, what kind of life he led, or how he felt about the family he left behind. Probate records helped my father answer these questions. By finding his great-grandfather's will, he found out he owned a small plantation, had a small amount of livestock, and a carriage. The size of the plantation and the basic holdings told us their lot was not as glamorous as that of the owners of large plantations, nor as desperate as the poor whites known as "Red Legs." We discovered our ancestor cared about his children, all of whom were mentioned by name in the will, and to whom he chose to leave equal portions to "share and share alike" after his death rather than trying to consolidate wealth with his eldest son. Although we didn't find out what precisely caused his death, we did find out that he knew he was going to die reasonable amount of time before he did, suggesting that he wasn't carried off in a sudden illness. We also found out the name of plantation. With this information in hand, we looked up the deed to the plantation and found out the exact location of the family property, the date the family sold it, and the amount of the sale after debts were paid. This gave us a sense of what our great (great) grandmother had taken as a nest egg to the United States as a young woman.

Intrigued? I'd like to offer a few general suggestions on where to find probate records and what to look for when you find them, and then I'll turn to some specific examples from Barbados to talk about the significance of what people say in their wills.

1. Where to find probate records. In order to locate probate records, you will need to know when and where someone died. In the United States, probate records are usually found in the court records of the county in which the person died. Sometimes these records have either been moved to state archives (if they are early and fragile) or are available in state archives in duplicate form. Many state archives have good websites with information about what records they possess and provide research services at a small cost. (See the resources at Mass. Archives as an example.) For more specific tips on how to find the exact document once you have located the correct archive, see these Probate Research Steps. If you don't live near the archive (or even after you get there), don't be afraid to ask someone who works there for help. Some places have printed excerpts of probate records: while these are useful, I'd encourage you to look for (or order) the original document. Although they are better than nothing, synopsis often leave out personal information: precisely the details that will help you understand who the person was and what mattered to them most. If you can't read the handwriting, don't despair: there is often a later (nineteenth century or early twentieth century) transcription. These are different than synopses as they are complete and they are usually much easier to read. If there is no transcription, try my early American handwriting game to get up to speed on reading early American handwriting. You may also find the common name and abbreviation quizzes to be helpful.

2. What you may find. Probate records vary tremendously by location, date, and the wealth of the deceased. The best case scenario is that the estate will be inventoried. This provides you with a complete list of household items owned by the deceased (see image at the top of the page). Other common features are statements about the deceased's religious beliefs, a list of real property and prized personal possessions, suggestions for how they should be commemorated, the executor of the will, and a list of heirs (and their relationship to the deceased). Sometimes what people aren't given is as important as what they are given: for example, in one will I saw, a child who had married against his parents wishes was left a dollar, while other children were given vast quantities of money. Here are some examples of what you might find:

Religious Statements
Sometimes these are stock phrases, so it is worth looking to see what the "norm" is for the era. For example in eighteenth-century Barbados, many wills included some sort of religious aspirations for after death, but in the nineteenth century, religious statements were less common (my great-great-great grandfather's will had none). Here are some examples from those who did:

1. From the will of Abigail Henriques (15 August 1755, Barbados): "First I recommend my Soule unto the hands of Almighty God in hope of his infinite mercy to obtain forgiveness of my sins and a joyfull resurrection with my breathren the Israelites, my body to the Earth to be buryed at the discretion of my Executors here after named." This statement interested me, as resurrection motifs can also be found on the gravestones at the Synagogue.
2. From the will of Rabbi Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal (27 May 1777, Barbados): "First I recommend my soul to the Almighty God of Israel imploring his Divine Goodness to pardon my sins." Notice how similar this is to Abigail's phrasing, suggesting a stock motif.

Prized Personal Possessions

1. From the will of Rabbi Raphael Haim Isaac Carrigal (27 May 1777, Barbados): "I direct all my books and wearing apparel be send to Mr. Abraham Levi Hemenes of London one of my Executors here after mentioned to be remitted by him to my loving wife Hori Carrigal and my loving son David Carrigal of Hebron to be equally divided share and share alike." In order to earn his living in the colonies, Rabbi Carrigal had lived apart from his wife and son for many years. Since he was a hocham (scholar), it isn't surprising that Rabbi Carrigal prized his books, but it is touching that he wanted to make sure that his clothes were sent back to to his family! When Carrigal was in Newport, Ezra Stiles made note of Carrigal's distinctive Turkish dress, which was also featured in the portrait Stiles commissioned from Samuel King after Carrigal's death.

Suggestions for how they should be Commemorated

1. From the Will of Sarah Belifante (4 Nov. 1785, Barbados): " I then direct that my body be interred after the Custom of the Hebrew Nation and that a white marble stone to cost eighteen pounds sterling money of Great Britain be placed over my grave I then give to the poor of the Hebrew Nation in the island the sum of twenty five pounds current money of this island to be divided amongst them at the discretion of my executors." Notice that Sarah is interested in her legacy on a variety of levels: through how she should be buried, the type of gravestone to be used, and by leaving tzedakah for the poor.

Executor of the WillWho the deceased designate to take care of their real and personal property after their death can say a lot about who they trust most. Rabbi Carrigal takes care to mention that he appoints his executors because they are his "loving friends." Likewise when Sarah Henriquez (1774 Barbados) appoints "Rachel Henriquez sole Executrix of this my Will," she does so only after noting that Rachel is her "dearly beloved friend."

Lists of Heirs
My father and I were touched that our great (great) grandmother received an equal share in the will, even though she was one of the youngest children in the family. It is worth comparing a list of descendants with those who are left money. Do the obvious people get the largest amounts of money? If the deceased has no children, who does she see as her closest kin? Sarah Henriquez left her entire estate to "Rachel Henriquez of the same Parish & Island Spinster [and] her heirs." The fact that Sarah and Rachel share the last name suggests that they were related, yet Sarah identifies Rachel as her "dearly beloved friend," not as a relative. More historical research would be useful to determine to whom else Sarah might have left her possessions.

I hope this post helps people see what gems can be found in Probate Records and encourage people to find records from their own ancestors!