Wedding Wednesday - 1890's Higginsville, MO Couple

This attractive young couple from Higginsville, Missouri posed for their wedding photograph for photographer R. Alex Wells in the 1890's.  The unidentified couple seem happy and relaxed, and are both wearing wedding rings.  I'm not sure why the photographer posed them the way he did, separated by a small table with a plant,  but it certainly showcased the bride's lovely figure and beautiful white wedding gown and headdress.  She is truly made a serene, lovely bride.

I had no luck finding any information on the photographer, R. Alex Wells, although there are a few of his photographs to be found on Google.

Fashionable Friday - 1890's Trio of Ladies from Bradford, Ohio

For this week's Fashionable Friday I am featuring this cabinet card of three women from Bradford, Ohio, who posed for photographer,  W. H. F. Heath, sometime in the 1890's.  I knew this right off the bat by looking the sleeves of their dresses, in fact, I would guess early 1890's.   I would go so far as to guess this is a mother and two grown daughters. What drew me to this photograph in the first place was the clashing of all the patterns in the picture.  Even though somewhat faded, you can see that the carpet has a busy pattern and the mother and one daughter to her right have on dresses with very busy patterns.  In today's world, a good photographer would warn you ahead of time against this very thing. These dresses and their busy patterns may have been quite the rage at the time, although I have my doubts, and leave me with the difficulty of knowing where to look first.  Also, note the one woman has on dark-colored gloves that match the bodice of her polka-dot dress; the older woman has on finger-mitts.

The photographer, W. H. F. Heath (William), was born in May of 1846 in Ohio to Austin and Eliza Heath, the oldest child in a large farming family. Never married, sometime between 1870 and 1880 he left the family farm in Shelby County, OH to pursue a career in photography.  In the 1900, Adams, Darke County, OH census he is found living with his younger brother John, also a photographer.  In the book Ohio Photographers 1839 - 1900 by Diane VanSkiver Gagel found on Google eBooks, he is listed working as a photographer 1881-82 and 1895-96. Heath evidently suffered no shortage of ego as the back of his cabinet card states, "From the Well Known Photo Gallery of W. H. F. Heath."  However, note that the word, "Gallery" is misspelled as "Glalery."  I'm assuming since he used them, he must have ordered and been stuck with a large order of these incorrect cards and used them anyway.  

Wedding Wednesday - One More by Photographer G. G. Oyloe, Ossian, IA

One more by G. G. Oyloe who I have mentioned in four previous wedding posts. This week's photograph is yet another style cabinet card for Oyloe - notice the back imprint on the card. It is rather unusual with a scalloped border, several birds, flowers, butterflies, and a spider web complete with spider!

The unidentified bride and groom on the front are both wearing dark clothing, the groom in this case is wearing a longer coat, but still has only the top button buttoned.  The bride's dress has an unusual detail with darker triangular patches along the bottom of the skirt.  Instead of a headdress she is wearing a white flower band on her head and has a long white scarf tied around her neck.  I've seen this style before and want to believe this was some kind of ethnic adornment.  I'm dating this late 1880's about 1889 +- one year.

Tintype Tuesday - Handsome Young 1870's Man

Unidentified 1870's Man

Today's tintype is an example of a tintype packaged in a sleeve simulating a picture frame. The subject is a very handsome, unidentified  young man with blonde hair.  He appears to be well-dressed and  in the photo his cheeks are slightly tinted pink.  I daresay he was quite popular with the ladies and the lucky recipients of this photograph were very happy to have it.  I estimate this photo to have been taken in the early 1870's, perhaps 1872 give or take a year.

Mystery Monday - Unknown Civil War Era Philadelphia Woman

This attractive young woman posed for this CDV between 1864 and 1866 as evidenced by the revenue stamp seen below on the back of the photograph. Her hairstyle, parted in the middle and drawn at the nape in most likely a bun, was quite typical of the times and reminds me of Melanie Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind." Her dark hoop dress is quite lovely and appears to be made of satin.  She has a small white collar and white cuffs.

The photographer was H. C. Phillips located at the N.W. cor. of Ninth and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia.  Phillips was Henry Chapman Phillips born in Chester, Pennsylvania 8 Sep 1833 to John J. and Mary Phillips. Philllips is found in Philadelphia City Directories almost every year between 1864 - 1903 at several address on and around Chestnut Street in his profession as photographer.  Married wife Catherine J. Magill 19 Apr 1860 they were the parent of four children, Carolyn H. (born 1861) Geo. C. (born 1862), Ryland. (born 1866) W. and Howard M. (born 1868).

According to www.ancientfaces.com Phillips started his career with daguerreotypes in 1856.  He worked with a number of other photographers over the years including his own brother R. R. Phillips, Curtis Taylor and S. Broadbent.

Sentimental Sunday - Two 1890's Women with Hats - Tintype

This week's Women with Hats features a tintype of two 1890's women posing behind what appears to be a gate of some sort and a chair - a very odd posing set up.  The one on the right is wearing a white dress with large ruffles on the bodice and typical 1890's style hat.  She is also wearing fingerless mitts.  The woman on the left is wearing a dark straight skirt with striped ruffled blouse.  Her hat is  plain, dark and unadorned, I'm not sure what this style of hat is called, I need to do some research.

Of course, as is usual with tintypes, both the subjects and the photographer are unidentified.

Sepia Saturday #160 - 1890's Wagon Team

This is my entry for this week's Sepia Saturday theme dealing with wagons.  I know very little about this photograph, it measures about 10" x 12" and at the bottom in ink is written "Harvey Thomas - Team + wagons.  There is not photographer or location.  Dating is hard, if I had to give a date I would guess maybe 1890's.

It appears the wagons may be carrying bags of flour but that is only a guess.  See close up below:

For more wagon rides, wheel on over to Sepia Saturday!

Wedding Wednesday - 1890 Newly Married Iowa Couple

This week I bring you yet another young couple photographed by G. G. Oyloe of Ossian, IA.  In fact, this is the fourth cabinet card by this photographer I have posted.  This week's unidentified couple are posed in two different types of chairs, which frankly from my point of view, is a little odd.  Both are leaning their elbows on the bride's fringed, velvet posing chair.  The bride, all in white, appears to be leaning slightly forward and the groom is sitting back with legs crossed; both are expressionless.  Looking closely I see that the bride is wearing her wedding ring on the middle finger of her right hand.  The groom is wearing his on the pinkie finger of his right hand which I have seen on a prior groom from Ossian, perhaps this was the style or local tradition.

In dating this photograph at about 1890, I knew that the photographer had a studio in Ossian between 1880- 1910.  I narrowed it down further by using  the beveled edges of the card (1885 - 1895), the groom's suit with only the top button buttoned (1885 - 1890), the trailing flower vine on the bride's headdress (1890-1900) and finally the foil stamped imprint which was introduced around 1890.  I find it interesting that out of the four cabinet cards I have posted by Oyloe, which are all in a five year period, all were printed on different style cards.  I have yet another photo of his that I will share next week that is printed on yet another type of card.

Sepia Saturday #159 - Proud Victorian Papa & Children at the Seashore

The Sepia Saturday theme for this week refers to bathing costumes and seaside beaches.   Now living in sunny South Florida for over forty years one would think I would have photo albums full of pictures of the family frolicking at the beach.  Well sure, I do have a number of pictures of us in past years in bathing suits enjoying the warm tropical beaches of Florida, but let me assure you that you will not be seeing any photographs of me in a bathing suit in this forum or anywhere else!

However, I did do a post some time ago about Victorian bathing costumes that I feel is perfect for this theme and I am going to re-post part of it and add to it as well. Although you can't really see the beach in the tintypes below, you can get the feel for the excitement of the day as the proud father poses  with his children for the photographer before their day at the seaside.  These photographs were taken most likely taken in mid-1880's to about 1890.

Both of these tintypes were purchased in the same group of photos.  As I mentioned in my previous post I find it interesting that the man is wearing a suit and the kids are all wearing bathing costumes.  However in the second photo he is wearing his beach attire.  Additionally in the first photo he is posing with five children, in the second with three. I have to assume all these children are his, but why the difference between the two?

If you look closely you will notice that the boy on the bottom right is the same boy on the bottom right in the second photo and he is wearing two different costumes. I am assuming from this that these photos were taken on different days. Also, I believe at least that the oldest girl is the same in both pictures.  

Here I have found some examples of children's bathing costumes in my copy of the 1884 Peterson's Magazine, July and August editions:

Young Lady's costume Aug1884

 

Boy's costume July 1884

Young boy's costume Aug 1884

And finally, I will leave you with this photograph of a proud father, my own husband Jim, at a local beach with our three year-old son David in 1977.  Remarkably I remember the day quite well and they were having a lot of fun playing in the sand!

Click here to go to Sepia Saturday for more photos and stories about the warm sun, tropical beaches and bathing suits.

Wedding Wednesday - Bored 1880's Couple from Ossian, Iowa

This week I am featuring a third photograph of a married couple from Ossian, IA taken by photographer G. G. Oyloe (Gregory) who I have mentioned twice before. This unidentified couple who appear somewhat bored, although  this is probably just the way the photographer posed them, were seated next to a small table covered by a tapestry and both are leaning their elbows on a book, most likely a bible.  

This cabinet card has seen rough use over the years, is faded and the photo appears to have been over-exposed as evidenced in the whiteness of the rug and background.   I still find it to be of interest and I especially like the bride's dress.  Her dress was very serviceable as were many a bride's dress in the 1800's, but hers has a few embellishments that made it special.  It was most likely brown in color and has lovely white daisy-like trim around the sleeves at the wrists and  near the hem of the skirt.  The trim also is seen around the deep V-shaped insert on the bodice.   The trim at the top of her neck is also very pretty as evidenced by the picture below.  The long headdress was typical of many others I have seen and with the small corsage did not overpower the dress.   

The groom was wearing a matching corsage (boutonniere) and his suit was typical of the period of 1885 - 1890.  The slight puffiness of the shoulders of the bride's dress also look as though they could be dated closer to 1889 - 1890.  Both the bride and groom appear to be wearing rings; the bride on the customary ring finger, the groom on his pinkie finger (see left).  

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Early 1900's Motoring Couple?

I just love this photograph of an unidentified early 1900's  couple from Johnstown, PA!  The woman's attire makes me think that they just drove their sporty new motorcar to the photography studio.  I can just picture them both driving along wearing those goggles you always see in old pictures and movies.  She and her husband look quite proud in this photo.

With the advent of motorcars women's fashion had to change and in the early days of motoring, for practical purposes, women began to wear huge linen dust coats over their dresses, tied down their hats with scarves and hid their faces behind goggles.  Of course, owning a motorcar was the latest thing and the fashionable woman was constantly looking for a way to project this by making her motoring outfit a calling costume of great fashion.  The woman in this photograph appears to be quite concerned with her appearance, note that she has made her hat quite lovely with the white flowers and frothy veil material.   One interesting detail I notice is that her husband's pant legs are rolled up the bottom in a rather haphazard fashion.

The photographer was Leander George Hornick born in Pennsylvania (6 March 1877 - 8 Sep 1952) a son of John and Margaret Hornick.  He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War serving in 1898.  In the 1900 census at age 23 he listed his occupation as photographer.  According to Johnstown city directory records he had a studio on Main Street from 1903 to at least 1920.

Sources:
 History of Costume
Victoriana Magazine

Sepia Saturday #158 - Paying the Piper (Highland, That Is)

Unidentified 1880's Edinburgh Man 

I've been away from my blog for a couple of weeks on a self-imposed sabbatical hoping the rest would recharge and refresh my batteries as I have not been feeling very motivated or creative of  late.  When I saw the theme for this week's Sepia Saturday I knew exactly which photograph I wanted to use, I just had to find it in my huge stash of photographs yet to be categorized, sorted and scanned.  The theme fit into my love of all things Scottish so it was worth the hunt!

This Cartes de Visite features a handsome, young Scottish piper decked out in what appears to be traditional Highland piper's uniform.  He is standing proudly wearing a kilt, jacket, sporran, stockings and ghillies.  I can't tell if he is sporting a sgian dubh in his stockings or not to finish the look, but he is certainly impressive.

The photographer was William K. Munro who operated a studio at several locations in Edinburgh between 1868 - 1907.  According to Peter Stubbs of edinphoto.org.uk Munro was located at 58 Pitt Street between 1885 and 1907.  I am estimating that this photo was taken in the late 1880's.  Also, per Stubbs, Munro numbered his photographs and if you look closely at the second photo below you will see at the bottom it says No. 63526, the actual number having been written in pencil.  Stubbs' research determined that numbers after 57,000 were most likely taken at the 58 Pitt Street address.

Thanks for stopping by and if you enjoyed this photo please click here for more great photos (and stories) at Sepia Saturday!