Bringing up a post I did a few months ago for this weeks Sepia Saturday. Since this weeks theme is a photo of a young girl, I thought Id let you all meet Young Stella with her beautiful long hair. I posted this on my blog and later got a response of someone who found my blog while googling stella and they also had a different photo of her.
From all research and census records with what I could come up with I didnt see Stella ever married or with children. She was living with her parents in her late 40s. Such a pretty girl but would have been considered a Spinster eh?
Cabinet Card Photo of a young girl. Says in pencil on back of photo says “Stella Ford”
Photographer H.F. Smith Photo Artist, Peabody, Kansas
From Genealogy research there is a family listed in the 1880 census
Parents Seldon and Mary Ford (Warner) who lived in Peabody, Marion, Kansas
They had a child
Stella Mae Ford born in 1873 in Illinois
Brother Frank Warner Ford born in 1876 in Illinois
(1930s info Frank married Mira / Myra Dodge, and had a child Stoddard Irving Ford born 1909, Pomona, Ca)
Brother Harry Ford born in 1884 in Illinois
The family ended up coming to Pomona, California in 1885
Census records 1920 show her living in Pomona, Ca, Ward 4, La County. 44-47 yrs old and living with her parents.
Please follow and read this link with further info on this family
“In 1885 Mr. Ford came to Pomona and bought twenty acres south of the town, which he planted to deciduous fruits and grapes; but in time he sold the ranch and bought an orange grove of fifteen acres, at the corner of East Holt Street and Central Avenue, and this property he still owns. There he grows both Navel and Valencia oranges, and such has been his good luck as the result of experience and application to the study of the problems involved, that the ten acres has at times produced 8,000 boxes. Through his output, in fact, Mr. Ford has come to be known as one of the successful orange growers of today.
At Odell, Ill., on December 4, 1871, Mr. Ford was married to Mary L. Warner, by whom he has had three children. Besides a daughter, Stella M., there is a son, Frank W., who is manager of the Claremont Citrus Association, and another son, Harry G., who is in charge of his father’s extensive ranch.”
Read all of this and more at
http://www.cagenweb.com/archives/Biography/LosAngelesCounty/FordSeldenI.htm
UPDATE: Another photo of Stella has been added. It appears 2 of us have found photos of her, this CDV came out of a shop in Rosamond, Ca and the buyer googled Stella and found my blog. Enjoy!
savethephotos 
I found a cabinet card of this same girl, at a little older age, in Rosamond, CA. Here’s a link!
Stella Ford
Well 2 pictures her have popped up close to one another! How long have you had yours? Shes a pretty little thing isnt she?
Hi there! I found this picture just this past Friday, and have since realized it is technically a ‘carte de visite’ due to its smaller size. She is adorable, with such wonderful hair! I have enjoyed reading your site, what a wonderful passion you have 🙂
Hey there,
If you want I can post your photo on the blog and put you as a reference if youd like, let me know! 🙂
Please do add the second picture to your blog post. There is no need for a reference however, you did all the foot work in establishing who Stella was! I hadn’t expected to find anything when I entered her name into google but was pleasantly suprised to see she had also been found in Lancaster as well as the small shop in Rosamond I check from time to time. It makes me wonder if her family moved to this area at some point, even a generation or two down the line, and whether more related articles may remain yet undiscovered in the various shops around town…
I have also come to think that these images should be reunited! I would be happy to provide you with the CDV I have as a gift if you were interested. I picked it up for a song so it would be no great loss to me 🙂 If you like, contact me through eBay to work out details. My user name there is brocmitchell. Have a great day!
What a lovely story and how generous of ‘Broc’ to offer to reunite the two pictures. She was certainly a lovely looking child, and like the one in my post, she seems to have remained unmarried. It’s so sad. The name Stella, means ‘star’ and suits her well.
Beautiful little girl and wonderful story about the photos being reunited.
Your exchange of comments with Broc adds value to this post, Between you, you have made this post a fascinating read and I liked the photos too.
What are the odds that you would fin another photo of the same girl! Simply amazing. I love that she’s being remembered by people who never knew her decades later.
Children’s photographs probably have the most power to last over generations. What an amazing magnet is the internet that brings such two back together again!
Nice to see these two lovely photographs of Stella together again. Perhaps one day a relative will stumble across your post in the same manner.
It’s sure is lucky that someone wrote her name on the back. Even luckier is that there was a biography online.
A very interesting travelogue through her genealogy and a way to remember another once beautiful little girl through the ages. Makes me wonder about her later years, as a spinster, did she have lots of memories that were not shared, did she thrive on the poraries of Kansas or was it a hard life. Oh the questions we could ask….interesting that you received another photo from a google contact too.
Pat they ended up coming to California, appears her father did well here. Read the link attached in the listing with the Bio I found on another site 🙂
Stella has such wonderful hair! And it now seems she has found a place in all our hearts.
These pictures have survived for a hundred and forty years! I wonder what she would have made of that
I’m so jealous of Stella’s beautiful hair 🙂 Hopeful that you hear from one of her relations 🙂 Jo
I wonder how often little boys pulled her golden locks hoping to win her heart.