Cow Cart with Nuns
Date & Place:
in USA
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Cow Cart with Nuns
Updated Jun 26, 2025
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Charles Smith
11 favorites
01/22/2012
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AncientFaces
382k+ followers 411 favorites
09/16/2022
Nothing is really known about this "lost and found" photo, yet every time I see it I'm so intrigued...
Member Charles S. shared this photo about 10 years ago, and if he hadn't shared it, this bit of American history would have been lost. Does anyone have any ideas about the nature of the photo? Have you seen others like it?
Charles (and I tend to agree) think that this is a group of Catholic School children because of the nuns and the lady in the hat in the background. There's something about nuns in a cart pulled by a cow that has always stuck in my mind. Remembering pieces of lost United States history,
Member Charles S. shared this photo about 10 years ago, and if he hadn't shared it, this bit of American history would have been lost. Does anyone have any ideas about the nature of the photo? Have you seen others like it?
Charles (and I tend to agree) think that this is a group of Catholic School children because of the nuns and the lady in the hat in the background. There's something about nuns in a cart pulled by a cow that has always stuck in my mind. Remembering pieces of lost United States history,
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I don’t know anything about this picture. I do have my own opinion. The females with hats on might not be ladies but young girls going to school or catechism.
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Amelia Bond It appears all the children are young girls. As Catholics, females were obligated to wear head coverings in church. (Their dress appears to be about circa 1880s but probably were second hand so the photo may date later.) I suspect that is where they were being taken. Perhaps they were orphans. I am wondering if the young boy is driving the cart but I can't really tell. It appears to be rather crudely put together of sticks except for the yoke.
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I’ve never seen a cow pulling anything much less a cart. Poor cow and just think about how slow you went anywhere.
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Suzanne Berglund-Edwards Apparently not that uncommon in other countries.
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Laurie Graham Tiffany Thank you for sharing. Learn something new every day. Most, not all, look like Brahma’s.
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Suzanne Berglund-EdwardsHave you never heard of an oxcart? That is most likely an ox (a castrated bull.) Oxen were common in America at one time.
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It could also be children from an orphanage. Many orphanages were run by nuns. As for the girls (other than the nuns) in the photo, they just look like young teens. The boy in the back row seems to be wearing a mortarboard. Odd.
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Pat Burden I don’t think that is a boy in the back row.
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This animal is not a cow but a bull and is capable of hauling the cart.
I googled the nuns habits. As they have a small collar as opposed to the large disc collar that some nuns wear I would say these are Loreto nuns.
Googled them
Although education was its primary work, today the congregation is engaged in a wide variety of ministries: literacy programmes, spiritual direction, counseling, managing shelters for homeless women as well as several aspects of the movement for greater justice and peace in the world. The Loreto Sisters operate some 150 schools worldwide, educating over 70,000 pupils.
I googled the nuns habits. As they have a small collar as opposed to the large disc collar that some nuns wear I would say these are Loreto nuns.
Googled them
Although education was its primary work, today the congregation is engaged in a wide variety of ministries: literacy programmes, spiritual direction, counseling, managing shelters for homeless women as well as several aspects of the movement for greater justice and peace in the world. The Loreto Sisters operate some 150 schools worldwide, educating over 70,000 pupils.
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Laurie Graham Tiffany Yes, of course and also used in many countries. Just not cow carts. 😊
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My father's side is full blood Sicilian and my mother's side is a combination of Welsh, Scottish, German and a few other European cultures. One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) family members came over on the Mayflower. He was among the first to be hanged in the New World for a criminal offense he made while onboard the ship.
My father's side is full blood Sicilian and my mother's side is a combination of Welsh, Scottish, German and a few other European cultures. One of my more colorful (ahem black sheep) family members came over on the Mayflower. He was among the first to be hanged in the New World for a criminal offense he made while onboard the ship.
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