On the left is my grandmother, Clino Eleanor Gale (1882-1938), with her sisters Helen Louise (ca. 1878-1919) and Marion Georgia (1880-1974). Helen died "in the flu epidemic" and my grandmother died long before I was born. But I remember Georgia, whom we called "Auntie George," late in her life as an artistic, almost deaf, spinster with a squeaky hearing aid. The fourth woman, sitting above the sisters in the dark skirt, is likely their cousin, Mary Gale. (Why are they all holding hankies so prominently?)  

When the sisters were quite young their mother, Jane Lines Finch, died of phthisis (tuberculosis) leaving them to be raised by their father, George Gale. He was a Manx immigrant who worked as a ship carpenter and later as shipyard superintendent for the New York & Hartford Transportation Company. After his wife's death, George joined households with his brother, John Gale. John had one daughter, Mary, so I assume she is in the photo.