BACK WHERE IT BELONGS

Family takes possession of long-lost portrait.

A century-old family portrait found in the attic of a Cape Breton house is now in the hands of the subjects’ descendants.

Sydney resident Chris Abbass, who owns the north end home where the photograph was discovered tucked away under the roofing, handed the 103-year-old portrait over to Mike MacNeil, who had earlier identified the man in the picture as his late grandfather, Joseph E. MacNeil.

“I’m glad it’s going back to the family — it’s a great topic of conversation and it was cool that the mystery was solved so fast,” said Abbass.

The recipient of the image was also glad to have it back in the possession of family members.

“It’s nice to have the portrait — I had seen another copy of it years ago, but we didn’t even know this one existed,” said MacNeil, a Trenton, Ont. resident who was recently home on holiday visiting relatives.

“I’m also very pleased that it became a story in its own right and that so many people were interested in it.”

To recap, it was a mystery that was solved almost immediately once unveiled to the public. On July 9, the Cape Breton Post ran a story and picture about the mysterious photograph. By the next morning the riddle had been solved.

The Westmount-raised MacNeil said he reads his hometown newspaper every day online and was shocked when he came across the story and recognized the portrait. He contacted the Post, which ran a followup story the next day identifying all five subjects in the photograph that was determined to have been taken by a professional in 1915.

What made the long-lost portrait all the more intriguing

was the absence of an adult woman, leading to speculation the mother of the four pictured children, including a baby, may have died in childbirth. However, according to MacNeil, the mother, who he identified as his grandfather’s first wife, Catherine (nee MacKinnon) of Grand Mira, passed away that same year from complications after a flareup of appendicitis.

The story took another interesting twist after MacNeil disclosed that his grandfather, who originally hailed from Big Beach near Christmas Island, married again and had an additional 11 children, including his own father. The family moved from the north end Sydney dwelling in 1935 for Westmount, leaving behind the portrait that wouldn’t be found for more than 75 years.

MacNeil, who has been researching his family’s genealogy, also knows the fate of the photograph’s five subjects.

His grandfather passed away in 1943 at the age of 66. The eldest daughter, Mary, died in 2003 at the age of 99, middle daughter Sarah (Sadie) lived to be 100 years old, son John contracted tuberculosis as a child and died at the age of 61, while the baby, Catherine, passed away six years ago at the age of 97 years.

But, thanks to the discovery of the portrait and its reunification with Joseph MacNeil’s grandson, the family history lives on.

DAVID JALA/CAPE BRETON POST Sydney homeowner Chris Abbass recently handed over a 103-year-old portrait to Mike MacNeil, the grandson of the man in the photograph, as MacNeil’s wife Anne Marie looks on. The photograph is of Joseph E. MacNeil and the four children from his first marriage. The portrait was found tucked away in the ceiling of Abbass’ north end Sydney house.