12 Year old Merle Penry of Iowa in 1909

This portrait shows a young girl in a pensive pose, seated in a chair and gazing downward. She wears a white blouse and colored skirt with H shaped halter straps over her shoulders. Her hair is parted off-center, and held in back by a bow. The back of the card is marked ‘Merle Penry, 1909, Blockton Ia’. Our research shows she would have been about 12 years old when the photo was taken.

Merle E Penry is listed in the 1900 census, aged 3, daughter of James and Annie Penry, farmers. For a farm family they seem to have moved around a lot — that census shows them in Le Claire City, Scott county, Iowa. The 1905 Iowa state census shows them in Clinton, Ringgold county, Iowa. This photo indicates Blockton, which is in Taylor county, Iowa. And the 1910 census lists them in Jefferson, Taylor county, Iowa. In fact, the last two are the same location, Blockton is a town in Jefferson township. Clinton is a township in Ringgold county that is adjacent to Jefferson township — so it is possible that their farm spanned the border between the two (or else their move between 1905 and 1910 was only a few miles), so they probably didn’t really move as much as the placenames make it appear.

This style of photograph was introduced in the 1890s and continued to be popular into the 1920s. It is smaller than a carte de visite, roughly two inches wide and three long — with a very small photo attached. The black card with white borders and white floral motif with a bottom banner dates from about 1905 to 1915.

This attractively colored CDV of little Ada May Josselyn was taken in the mid-1860s at the studio of famous photographer William Shew. A little research reveals that Ada grew up to be a spinster school teacher.

The Photograph

Ada May Josselyn ca 1864

The photograph is a typical carte-de-visite from the early or mid-1860s, with square corners, white cardstock, a double line around the front edge in violet (gilt is more common), and a simple three line photographer’s imprint on back.

Little Ada is posed seated on a cloth-draped table, with a plain dark background. She wears an off-the-shoulder dress of lightweight wool cloth called delaine, with short sleeves and three lines of dark horizontal trim near the hem, complemented by two similar trim lines at on the sleeves. The bodice is gathered into a flat sash at the waist. She has on black square toed slipper style shoes held with a strap at the ankle, over white short(?) socks. The left sock looks long, but that is probably just over-exposed so the top edge is not visible, and the colorist has left the leg and sock white, while the other leg was colorized.

The colorization, other than the sock-discrepancy mentioned, is finely done, with green for the table cloth, purple for Ada’s dress, and flesh color on her face, arms and one leg. A thin necklace has been highlighted in gilt.

The Subject

Genealogical research reveals that Ada May was born May 18, 1862. She looks to be about 1-1/2 or 2 years old here, so we can suppose the photograph was taken about 1864, which is consistent with the style. There is no tax stamp on the card, which may suggest that it was taken before August 1st of 1864, but that is suggestive rather than firm evidence, since the stamps sometimes came off without a trace, or were not placed on every card.

The California deaths index shows she died 3 September 1940 in San Francisco, and her mother’s maiden name was Lacey. It does not list her father’s full name. The 1900 and subsequent censuses show her living in the household of her cousin Albert E Lacey, with no occupation. Census listings consistently show her father was born in Massachusetts and her mother in Canada.

The 1889 San Francisco city directory, and Ada’s 1912 voters registration both list her as a school teacher. The directory even lists the school — Bartlett Primary School.

We find her listed in the 1880 census, aged 17, living with her mother 35 year old Maria Josselyn, and a 13 year old brother, William Josselyn. I could not find the family in the 1870 census, and so did not find the father’s full name.

The Photographer

William Shew was born in 1820 on a farm near Watertown, Jefferson county, New York. He and his brothers learned the daguerreotype process from Samuel F B Morse in 1840 or 1841, just a year or two after the technique was first made public.

After building a successful business as a daguerreotypist and case maker in Boston, Shew sold his interests there and sailed for California, arriving in March, 1851. Shew opened a photographic business in San Francisco, where he remained until after the turn of the 20th century and his death in 1903.

This CDV has the address 423 Montgomery Street on the back. He seems to have used that address between 1861 and 1869, though his earlier address is also on Montgomery Street, so it is possible the street was renumbered, rather than his studio moved, in 1861. His later 1860s imprints have additional addresses in the same block, along with 423, such as the 1867 imprint that shows: Nos. 417, 421, 423 & 425 Montgomery St.

Miss Bettie Baldwin of Cherryvale KS 1879

In this photograph we have a portrait of an attractive young woman, identified on the back as Miss Bettie Baldwin of Cherryvale Kansas, and dated April 1879. The photographer is G H Dresser, at Benders Gallery, Independence, Kansas. Both Cherryvale and Independence are in Montgomery County, Kansas.

Independence is the Montgomery county seat, and probably the nearest photo studio to Cherryvale at that time. Cherryvale had only been platted in 1871, though there were many settlers in the area in the preceding decade. In 1880 the census showed 620 residents for the town.

The name ‘Bettie’ is of course a nick-name for Elizabeth. In the 1880 census we discovered that Elizabeth was no longer Elizabeth Baldwin, but had married William Graham, so she was listed as Elizabeth Graham. We know it was the former Elizabeth Baldwin however, because the couple are living in her parent’s household, headed by John Baldwin. William is listed as son-in-law and Elizabeth as his daughter. Both John Baldwin and William Graham were hardware merchants. Elizabeth’s mother’s name was Lucinda. Elizabeth was 18 in 1880, and so 17 when this photo was taken.

We also found the photographer, George H Dresser, listed in the 1880 census for Independence, Kansas. Sometime before 1900 George moved to Winfield, Kansas and continued his photographic career there, where he is also listed in the 1910 census. He was born in October, 1854 in Missouri, of German parentage. Elizabeth’s parents were also born in Missouri, so there may have been some recommendation from a common acquaintance that lead the Baldwin’s to use that photographer, rather than John Huey, the only other photographer in Independence at that time.

The reference to Bender’s Studio makes us think that George Dresser, who was only 25 when this 1879 photo was taken, was probably running the studio owned by Bender. In Darrah’s list of CDV imprints we find H A Bender listed for Independence Kansas. That would presumably be Henry Bender, born about 1848, who was listed in Independence as a farmer in the 1870 census and a dentist in the 1880 census. We hope he was no relation to the ‘Bloody Benders‘ a family from the adjacent county — quite near Cherryvale — who are said to have murdered as many as two dozen guests at their inn.

Minnie Bean of Binghamton NY

Here we have a carte de visite (CDV) of a young girl (I estimated age 10 to 12) shown in a vignetted bust view. Her hair is curly at top, and parted down the center, and long enough that it is drawn back behind the ears and disappears behind her shoulders. It is not tied up the way adult women wore their hair in that time. The card has a single line around the print, and a photographer’s imprint on back. A light pencil inscription informs us that this is “Minnie Beane, June 28. 1872.”

Everything about this CDV is consistent with the inscribed date. The vignette style photo was very popular in the 1860s, but continued well into the 1870s. The 1860s vignettes generally have smaller bust views, leaving wider margins around the vignette — but this image has the larger size typical of the 1870s. The girl’s dress is a light plaid, typical of the late 1860s and early 1870s. The photographer’s imprint is a simple four line text, but unlike the 1860s imprints of that type, this has the photographer’s name in much larger type and a fancy ornate typeface. Such imprints were more typically turned horizontally by the mid-1870s, but in 1872 regular vertical imprints still outnumbered the horizontal ones.

Minnie Bean

So if we accept the date, can we also accept the identification? Searching the 1870 census I found only one Minnie Beane listed, and her information did not match what we know of this photo. I searched again, however, for the name without the terminal ‘e’ — and found there were over 20 Minnie Bean listings — including one in Binghamton New York, the location of the photographer. Add to that the fact that the Minnie Bean listed in Binghamton was ten years old in 1870 (so she would have been 12 in the 1872 photo) and I think we can be fairly sure this is the correct identification.

Minnie is first listed in the 1860 census, aged three months, the youngest of four children of Jeremiah and Clementine Bean, living in Cincinnatus, Cortland county, New York. Jeremiah has no occupation listed, he is shown as a ‘Gentleman’ with $10,000 worth of real estate, and $20,000 in personal property. The older children are Mary, age 14; Emma, age 6; and Frank, age 4.

By 1870 the family has moved to Binghamton, and Jeremiah’s occupation is listed as merchant. His personal property has grown to $50,000 — a very large sum for those days. Such a prosperous family includes a resident household servant girl, of course. The household is similar in 1880, except Mary is not included, probably married and moved into her own home. By 1900 Clementine is a widow.

Minnie apparently never married, as she continues to be listed right up to the 1930 census, when she was 70, still living in Binghamton, now with her widowed sister Emma. She never has an occupation listed in the census, apparently her inheritance was sufficient to support her — but she also never owned her home, but was always a tenant of some other household — one year it was a preacher and his wife.

George N Cobb, The Photographer

George N Cobb was born in New York state in March 1847 to Ziphron and Sarah (Crane) Cobb. The family moved to Pennsylvania soon afterward, and are listed in New Milford, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania in the 1850 census, and Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania in 1860. When he was 20 (1867), George married 17 year old Augusta. Apparently George opened his first photographic studio about 1866, in Montrose, according to a dated CDV listed by Darrah. He employed Asa Warner, according to the 1870 census, who was later a photographer in Greene, New York.

George and Augusta (’Gussie’) are listed in Montrose in the 1870 census, with five month old daughter Nina. George is listed as photographer, but obviously rents his studio space, since he lists no real estate in the census, but has a personal estate value of $2,000. Asa Warner is boarding with them, and listed as a photographic studio employee.

Our CDV is evidence that George moved to Binghamton New York very early in the 1870s. Darrah also lists an 1872 dated CDV for George N Cobb, as well as another dated 1875 where his description refers to him as ‘Artist’. The existence of several dated images suggests that Cobb himself added the identification and date to these CDVs, which helps explain the misspelling of Minnie Bean’s last name. Misspelling it not unusual in genealogical research, George Cobb’s census records, for example, variously list him as George N, George M, or George W Cobb. Indeed, the CDV we have shows George’s location as ‘Binghampton’ New York, but the town name has no ‘p’ in the correct spelling.

The 1880 census shows Charles J Howe, photographer, boarding in the Cobb household, no doubt working as an employee in George’s studio. By the late 1880s Charles J Howe had his own studio in Elmira (Chemung county) New York.

George and Augusta Cobb continue to be listed in Binghamton New York in the 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses. In 1880 and 1900 he is listed as ‘Photographer.’ The 1910 census listing shows him as Commercial Photographer. By 1920, at 73 years of age, he is listed as Studio Proprietor, suggesting that his role in the business was less active by then. He probably died between 1920 and 1930 since he does not seem to be listed in the 1930 census.

This carte-de-visite purports to show Isaac Harper, and is conveniently dated for us, with a Civil War era tax stamp, canceled with the photographer’s initials (N & J) and the date June 11, 1866. Was there any such person, and if so what can learn about him?

Isaac Norton in Kewanee IL 1866

Looking at the photograph, everything is completely consistent with the supposed 1866 date. This is important, as some photograph dealers on sites like eBay have taken to adding spurious tax-stamps to improve the saleability of their cards. No doubt those unscrupulous characters are also adding false identifying information. That seems unlikely in this case since this CDV has been in my possession over 25 years, and so was purchased back when these cards were little valued (I think I paid 20 cents for it). If you were purchasing a card like this today, it might sell for a couple dollars, or it might fetch $20 or $30 if it caught the attention of descendants of the subject or photographers, whose special interest may cause them to get caught up in the bidding frenzy.

Finding Isaac Harper

As it happens, we had no trouble finding evidence on the life of Isaac Harper. Based on census data we know he was born in England in 1810 or 1811, so he was about 55 years old when this photo was taken. The 1850 census shows him living in Ridgefield (Huron county) Ohio, with four children – 17 year old Isabell, 15 year old John, 4 year old Mary and four month old Linda. All four children were born in Ohio, and Isaac’s occupation was Brewer.

With a baby in the house, but no wife listed, it was easy to assume that the wife probably died very recently when the census was taken. Luckily for us, the 1850 census include mortality rolls, listing names of every person who died in the preceding 12 months. Sure enough, there we found Maria Harper listed, also in Ridgefield, who died in childbirth in April 1850 at the age of 36.

On 7 Apr 1853 Isaac married again, to Adaline Sutton, born ca 1825 in Peru (Huron county) Ohio, the daughter of Levi Reed Sutton (7 Sep 1794 – 3 Sep 1872) and Catherine Kile (11 Dec 1791 – 1879), according to an online genealogy — I haven’t confirmed these details, but they are consistent with the records I did examine.

Census and Tax Records Tell the Story

The 1860 census shows Isaac and Adeline living in Woodstock (McHenry county) Illinois, with John, Mary and Lydia (Linda) mentioned above, plus a new child Alice, age 6. Isabell probably was married and in her own home by then, as she would be 27 years old. Both Isaac and his son John are listed as grocers, apparently John the more successful since he is listed with $400 in real estate and $500 in personal property, while Isaac has only $100 in personal property.

In the 1870 census we find Isaac and Adeline living in Kewanee (Henry county) Illinois, where our photograph was taken. Isaac’s fortunes have improved, he is shown as a merchant with $1500 in real estate, and $1500 personal property. Another child, six year-old Charles, has been added to the family, the first of the children born in Illinois. Only Linda, Alice and Charles are still at home, though Linda’s name is given as ‘Lynden’.

The 1880 census shows us Adeline was widowed, and only Linda and Charles still live at home, along with five boarders — clearly it was a large home, so Isaac had not squandered his prosperity. By 1900 Adeline was living with Charles and his family in Marshall, Iowa.

A Tale of Two Photographers

Turning to the photographers who took this image, we see it is neatly imprinted ‘Norton & Johnson, Photographers, Kewanee, Ill’ inside a decorative cartouche on the back of the card — very typical for mid-1860s.

Norton is almost certainly N B Norton, whom Craig lists as a daguerreian in Kewanee in 1860. He must have arrived there after the census was taken, however, since I went through each page of the census for Kewanee and found only one photographer listed, daguerreian J E Snow.

I did find N B Norton listed in the Civil War tax records, however. To support the Civil War effort, income taxes were levied on all Americans earning over $600 per year, and most businesses had to buy annual licenses. I found N B Norton paid for photographer licenses in 1862, 1863 and 1864. Each of those years he was operating alone. I don’t know why he was not listed in 1865, the last year for which records are available (some areas have 1866 records, but not the district Kenwanee is in). Maybe he and Johnson were already partners then, and they used Johnson’s name when paying for the license, rather than the partnership name. The 1870 census shows photographer M B Norton, age 38, born New York, living in a boarding house.

The Johnson part of the photographic team is a bit harder to pin down, since there are so many photographers of that name around. There were S E Johnson and W G Johnson listed in Henry county, both in Geneseo. Only one Johnson, however, was listed in Kewanee, so he is most likely the partner in this case: Andrew Johnson, born ca 1835 in Sweden. He is listed as a farm hand in the 1860 census. About 1862 he married Anna Erickson, and their first child (Emma) was born the following year. The next year, 1864, we find in the tax records that Andrew paid for a photographer’s license, and again in 1865. Oddly, Andrew Johnson is listed as ‘Domestic Servant’ in the 1870 census — as were many other young men listed on the same page. It is unusual for a servant to be listed with any real estate, but Andrew is shown with $1000 worth. The 1880 census again lists him as a photographer.

Most likely, then, M B Norton established himself as a photographer in Kewanee late in 1860. Andrew Johnson started operating there late in 1863 or early in 1864. No doubt they found the town too small to support two photographers. Norton may have tried elsewhere in 1865, but in the end they decided to join forces and worked a studio in partnership by 1866, when this card was produced. Both were still living in Kewanee in 1870, though Johnson is not listed as a photographer — that could be an error, or he may have been working two jobs, each part time. In any case, the partnership probably dissolved some time in the 1870s, as Johnson is listed as a photographer there in 1880, but Norton is not.