Women with Hats - Two 1890's Edwardian) St. Cloud Women

I've been away a very long time.  I have excuses....work, my spouse's health issues, my own laziness, etc.  I've missed looking at old photos and more importantly doing the research to find what I can to determine the who, what, when, and where they occurred.  My first foray back into the mix will be simple with this photo of two 1894 St. Cloud, MN women wearing hats and coats.  I always find it interesting that people wore coats in their formal photographs.  In this particular photo on the back it says, " Dec 21th, 1894, Jane Whitelsy Mitchel & Mary."I could not find any trace of  Jane Whitelsy.

The photographer was Fritz who had an address on Germain Street.  If you look closely you can see embossed on the right side, "Fritz, St, Cloud.  This is most likely John J. Fritz, born in July 1868 to Andrew and Mary Fritz. Both parents emigrated from Germany.  He married Anna Hammerell whose parents also came from Germany.  They are seen in the 1902 St. Cloud census with children Willfred, Hugo, Robert and Margaret. He died on 28 Jul, 1918 at the age of 50.

Photographers were experimenting with different types of photo presentation in this period.  This particular one is about the size of a CDV and has saw-tooth edges on each side.    The back side shows the names of the subjects.

Tintype Tuesday - Late 1860's/Early 1870's (Victorian) Young Woman with Flowers in Her Hair

Today's Tintype Tuesday is a lovely young, unidentified young  woman wearing a belted, gingham dress with flowered headband.  This tintype photograph was most likely taken in the late 1860's to early 1870's, but since there is no photographer's mark or identification of the subject it is not possible to positively narrow down the date or location.

Sepia Saturday #257 - Children Sitting on Steps - Century Old Photo Op

It's Sunday, but here is my Sepia Saturday entry for the theme based on the father, son and dog on the front porch steps.  I'm late getting this in, but this week at work some kind person shared their germs and I've been down and out with a terrible cold.  I just crawled out of my bed to publish this post so I'll keep it short and sweet.

This first photograph is a copy of the original and was poorly developed so I tried to darken it up a little to make it easier to view.  It shows three little boys and one girl sitting on the front porch steps of a Victorian style house.  None of these children are identified.  I am estimating this was taken in the 1890's.  I wish I could narrow down the time frame, but I am not good at dating children's clothing.

This second photograph again shows four unidentified children, and I am guessing two girls and two boys sitting on the front porch steps.  They are all dressed in white, but the two on the right have on black shoes and the two on the left have on white.  Note, the little girl second from the left is holding her dolly.  I believe this to have been taken between 1910- 1920.

Well, that's all for me.  To see more fabulous photographs step on over to Sepia Saturday!

Fashionable Friday -1860's Civil War Era (Victorian) Philadelphia Woman in Checkered Hoop Dress

This 1860's CDV of an unidentified Philadelphia, PA woman in a checkered, hoop dress is simple, but interesting. I'm not an expert at deciphering fabrics, but this dress has a very striking checkered fabric with dark waistband. There is also a dark piece of matching trim running down the length of the pagoda sleeves. In addition, she has the typical 1860's small white collar.  Her hair is worn in the style of the times; parted in the middle and pulled back in a bun and note her decorative headdress. This young woman was quite lovely and demure in her pose.

It is very hard to tell from the scan, but it appears the photographer lightly tinted her cheeks.  This photograph appears to have been taken between 1862 to early 1864.  The back of the photo is almost more interesting than the front.  The photographer is listed as "Rehn & Sons' New & commodious Ground floor Galleries.  510 Arch Street Philadelphia. 

 I found a number of similar time frame photos on Google by Rehn & Sons, but little information on the photographer.  I found this information on Ancestry.com in the 1864 Philadelphia City Directory, but due to the large amount of Rehns in Philadelphia was not able to pin down the exact name of which was the father and/or the sons.

Wedding Wednesday - Elegant 1930's (Art Deco Era) Wedding Party

For today's Wedding Wednesday here is a great photograph of a very fashionable and sophisticated 1930's wedding party.  The bride and groom are in the middle; not sure which couple are the maid of honor and best man.  The bridal bouquet is made of Calla Lilly's which were very popular in the 1930's.  Her veil and the long train are a work of art!

The photographer was Damoff Studio of 37 Monroe St., Passaic, N.J.  I was unable to find much information on this photographer.  This appears to be Herman Damoff  born on  15 Sep 1891 and died in October of 1978 in New Jersey as per this 1930 Passaic, NJ City Directory entry: