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.