Elusive portraits

Looking into my subjects' faces

I’ve written before about finding women in the Archives by researching the men around them, piecing together the passing references and fragments of information about the women to learn their stories. As I research five women for my book, I have found a few images of the men adjacent to my subjects - but nothing of the women. Until today!

I plan to end my book with Adele Finlay nee Shine (also known as Adela). Adela was born in Trinidad in 1833, educated for a time in Ireland, married a Cuban man and lived out her life in Havana. Her husband Carlos was a big deal in Cuba - he was the doctor who first recognised that mosquitoes were the vector for yellow fever. His role in this discovery went unacknowledged for some time, but now there are civic spaces, a hospital, statues and postage stamps commemorating his groundbreaking work. Today I found an image online of this celebrated man with his wife. The photograph was taken in the late 1860s and was originally published in a 1940 biography of Finlay by their son, also called Carlos. I’ve ordered the book from my library, fingers crossed there is more on Adela to be discovered.

Incidentally, do any readers have images of Margaret Black (nee Gordon) of Bordeaux, Jane Simon (nee Black) of Dublin or of Bonne Clothilde Black (nee Fournillier) or Adele Shine (nee Black), both of Trinidad? I know a few descendants of these women read this newsletter - I’d love to hear from you!