Fashionable Friday - 1860s New York City Woman

This lovely young woman had her photograph taken by renowned photographer Fernando Dessaur in the  early to mid 1860's.  She is wearing the very common 1860's hooped skirt and very tight cinched waist.  I particularly like the button detail on her upper sleeves.  She also has the typical hairstyle of the period; parted in the middle and pulled back to the nape and secured in a snood.  Click here to see a similar dress of the era along with a Petersen's Magazine plate.

Fernando Dessaur had a photography studio at 145 Eighth  Avenue in New York City from 1850 to 1870 according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission of Manhattan.  I don't believe the earlier date is correct as his birth date is reported to be around 1840 - 1842 on Ancestry.com.  He was born in Amsterdam, Holland to Morris and Cecilia Dessaur.   According to census records the family immigrated to the US around 1860. 

Trow's NYC Directory 1872, Google eBooks

About 1870 Dessaur relocated his business to 551 Eighth Avenue in New York.  In the 1900 census of Manhattan, New York he was married to Delia with one daughter Fern aged 13.    However, according to the New York Times he also had a son named Fernando who was born about 1886 who created a bit of a scandal in 1909 when he kidnapped his daughter from his estranged wife Delia May Klock Dessaur.

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.

Fashionable Friday - Civil War Era Vergennes, VT Woman

Unidentified 1860's Vergennes, VT woman

Today's Fashionable Friday is a little bit of a head-scratcher for me.  At first glance I was sure this CDV was taken in the early to mid 1860's.  Her dress and hair both pointed to this conclusion.  The style is very reminiscent of what was popular around 1863 as is evidenced in photograph number 2 below. Both have the low shoulder seam that was so common in that era.  It is difficult to tell from this scan that the card has slightly rounded corners that suggest a later date, perhaps 1869 or 1870.  I can only surmise one of two things; either this woman was still wearing the earlier 1860's style at the end of the decade perhaps due to the economic hardships of the aftereffects of the Civil War, or the photographer remounted an earlier photo on a newer card for the customer.  

The photographer as evidenced on the back was J. H. Stearns of Vergennes, VT.  After a little research I determined this was Joseph H. Stearns born ca 1819 in Vermont.  He is found in both the 1860 and 1880 Addison County, VT censuses married to wife Amanda.  In 1860 he listed his occupation as "artist" and in 1880 as "photographer."  Waltons Vermont Register & Farmers Almanac, 1877 listed him as one of two of the city of Vergennes' photographers.  According to this very interesting article at www.oldmaps.com he participated in mapping Vermont between 1854-1859 in "extraordinary detail" with other mapmakers.  "The results of this work were eleven large wall maps which pictured the state of Vermont in remarkable detail."  He is credited on the surface of the Addison County map as "Daguerrean Artist" J. H. Stearns and thirteen views of his photographs of local homes and businesses with names of property owners adorn the map.  I found a mention of his wife's death in 1882 in the Vermont Chronicle but nothing more of Mr. Stearns after that.

Unidentifed early 1860's woman

October 1862 Peterson's Magazine

Fashionable Friday - 1860's Trenton, NJ Woman

Another CDV photo from my Trenton, NJ photo album - this one shows a lovely 1860's woman posing with her hand on a chair.  She is wearing a lovely dress that appears to possibly be made of satin or a similar material.  Once again there is no identification or exact date on this subject.   It's hard to tell from this view, but her cheeks are tinted red in this photograph.

Her dress is quite lovely, simple yet the small details make it exquisite.  Note the dark trim that defines her small waist.  This trim is continued on her upper sleeves.  The lower sleeves are quite interesting and are pulled back with some type of decoration and showcase elaborate lace underneath.  Her hair is dressed in the very typical 1860's style, parted in the middle and pulled back in what I would guess is a snood.  she is not wearing any jewelry that I can see.  As I stated before, simple but lovely as is the lady.

The photographer is C. Duval, Photographic Chemist, 29 1/2 East State Street.  According to Gary Saretzky at http://gary.saretzky.com/photohistory/njphotographers.html Duval had his studio in Trenton around 1863.  Due to the border around the photo I suspect this to have been taken around 1863- 1864.

The hand-colored steel fashion plate below is from the 1862 April issue of Peterson's Magazine and although not an exact match to our subject's dress, gives you a sense of the style of her dress.

Fashionable Friday - 1880's Bainbridge, NY Woman

This young woman from Bainbridge, NY is leaning on an 1870's prop chair, but I believe this Cabinet Card to be dated probably around 1883 give or take a year.    She is wearing a bustled dress with fitted bodice made out of a gingham fabric of some sort, but look at all the lovely soutache trim down the front of the bodice, the sides of the skirt and around her neck and cuffs. The dress is also adorned with lace at the cuffs and on the bodice.  The image below is from the 1883 Peterson's Magazine May edition, it is one of the two-page hand-colored steel fashion plates that were in each monthly edition.  While these dresses are in no way the same dress our subject is wearing you can see some similarities in the first dress on the left in the high cut of the neckline, in the checkered gingham material of the fourth dress as well the cut of the bottom of the overcoat which tapers around the hips to pointed corners.  (Forgive me if I am not using correct terminology - I am not a seamstress or fashionista).

May 1883 Peterson's Magazine "The Sea-Shore"

Finally concerning our subject, her hairstyle was very common in the early to mid- 1880's with the curly fringed bangs and the length of her hair braided up on top of her hair.  I found this similar illustration of in the same 1883 Peterson's Magazine.  This style, either with short hair or hair in a bun and off the neck and ears, allowed the woman to wear the high necklines that were in style.

1883 Hairstyle Peterson's Magazine

The photographer was most likely Sheldon S. Wheeler of Otsego, New York which was a small town near Bainbridge.  He was born in January 1854, the son of John H. and Lovina Wheeler of Otsego.  His father's occupation was gunsmith.  In the 1880 Otsego Federal census Sheldon age 26 was living with his wife Kate age 23 and he listed his occupation as photographer.  They were married in 1877 according to the 1900 Berkshire, MA census and divorced before 1910. Before 1915 he remarried Belle Strohbeen the mother of three teenage children.

Sepia Saturday #127 - The Kine Recline Deep in Grasses Lush

Coming up with ideas for each week's Sepia Saturday theme is always a challenge and this week's theme of markets, cow, tea, coffee stalls was no exception.  As a child my grandparents had a farm in Bonnie, IL where they raised cows and pigs, but sadly other than their house I do not have any pictures.  I do have memories of playing in the barn with my cousins when we met periodically for family reunions.  We had to go through the barnyard gate past all the cows who, although quite docile and tame, scared me half to death.  My cousins would run laughing right past them for the barn,  but I would see all those big brown eyes looking at me so solemnly and I would be frozen with fear.  Those are my memories of cows!

However I made new cow memories in September of 2009 when my husband and I took two weeks vacation, my dream trip, and went to the Highlands of Scotland where we drove from place to place.  I took many pictures on our trip and one of my prerequisites for some reason was I had to get a picture of a long-haired Highland cow.  We saw plenty of sheep, believe me we saw sheep....everywhere.  The cows however seemed to avoid us.  When we did see them it was not possible to stop or they were too far away.  Finally one day on the Isle of Skye we came across this small band of cows who actually wandered over close to the fence to pose for us.  You know, it's the little things in life - even though I took around 3,000 pictures in Scotland these pictures made me a very happy woman!

Highland Cows, Isle of Skye Sep 2009

These two cows actually walked over to the fence as if they were posing for us.  I wonder if they were trained to do that for all the silly tourists stopping to take pictures?  :-)

This guy looks like he was trying to tell us something - get lost maybe?

My favorite shot - he looks quite bored with the whole thing!

And finally, I bought this wonderful old book of the entire 1884 Peterson's Magazine which was a renowned women's literary and fashion magazine published in Philadelphia, a successful rival of Godey's Ladys Book.  This book is so wonderful - it  is full of hundreds of wood engravings, full-page steel engravings, hand-colored steel fashioned plates, articles, fiction, poetry, crafts, household domestics hints, etc.  I am so giddy about owning this book so expect to see a lot more from this in the future.  Today I am sharing a poem written by Alexander A. Irvine from the May 1884 issue along with a wood engraving (artist unknown).

The poem reads:

Oh, my soul, be glad to-day;
All the air is full of May!
Winter, with its storms, is over;
Bees are humming in the clover;
Lilacs waft us their perfume;
Apple-orchards burst in bloom;
Deep in grasses lush the kine;
Chewing slow the cud, recline;
Through the trees the sunshine gleams;
Birds are singing as in dreams;
Waters laugh; and breezes free
Blow as if from Araby!

Check out more "moo"ving stories at Sepia Saturday.

Fashionable Friday - 1880's Woman from Cazenovia, NY

This photograph of a lovely young woman from Cazenovia, New York is quite interesting to me as I find myself increasingly fascinated with the fashions of prior generations. There is nothing written on this cabinet card to identity this woman or when it was taken but there are a few clues to perhaps help date the photo. The card is a dark maroon color with the backside being grey which was popular starting around 1884. The dress on this young woman is so common to the 1880's woman with the very fitted, bustled dress. Note the ruching surrounded by buttons from neckline to waistline and a very trim waistline it is! The sleeves on her dress have ruched cuffs that match that bodice. Her beautiful dress has a high neckline with lace and is adorned with a pin or brooch of some sort. Her hairstyle was quite common of the 1886-1888 woman and it is with all these clues that I date this photo with this time frame.

The photographer was Marshall Bros. of Cazenovia, N.Y., most likely Charles Marshall, however I could find very little to identify and date Charles Marshall and nothing in Ancestry.com.  Also note his monogram at the bottom center of the card; these started around 1886.  There was a very short mention of him on this page:  

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyccazen/MscLists/Photographers.html

To give you some similar mid-1880 fashions to compare with this photograph I have included the following:

http://pinterest.com/pin/16114511137125915/

Although not an exact match to our subject's dress, this dress is from the 1884 Peterson's Magazine and is in the same era.