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The Spencers had a good-sized family. There were seven children--two boys (Mark and Charles) and
five daughters (Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth). Several images exist of the children showing them in a variety of outfits over several years. We do not have a complete set of portraits on the children, but have a few portraits. The available prtraits provide a wonderful look at turn of the century children's clothes. The children in the photographs were rather stiffly posed, thus we do not get a lot of clues about their relations. One woukd assume that twins Charles and Elizabeth were very close.
Mark was born in 1892, the Spencer's first boy. We do not have any early photographs of him, but assume that he wore white dresses as a younger boy like his yunger brother Charles did. The white dresses seem identical to those the girls wore. After being breached, Mark and Charles both wore mostly sailor suits. Presumably their mother liked the sailor suit fashion--at least for the boys. The girls did not wear sailor dresses. Mark seens a serious little boy, probably rather studious.
Charles was the youngest of the two boys. The photo here shows him with Elizabeth (histwins). They were 5 years old. The photograph was taken in September, 1900. Note that they are sitting on a wooden fence, probably in the area of their suburban house on Amberson Avenue in the Shadyside district of Pittsburgh. Charles wears a sailor suit with a white dickey, knee pants, and long black stockings. His hose supporters are visible underneath his kneepants.
Elizabeth was the youngest daughter and Charles' twin. Here she wears a white, long-sleeved dress with an interesting high collar and a cape-like decoration around her shoulders (figure 1). We know that many of the Spencer girls' clothing were sewn by their industrious mother, Mary Acheson Spencer. Like her brother, Elizabeth wears the standard black long
stockings and hightop leather shoes. Her and Charles were often photographed together. There different expressions are interesting. One snapshot shows them wearing rubbers, something not often seen. Elizabeth seems the happier iof the two.
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