This is a fine high-school graduation picture from 1895 of William C Shute of Westfield Massachusetts. I found William listed five years later in the 1900 census, born January 1877, living in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania with his new wife, Bertha (born Oct 1877). William was a draughtsman, and Bertha a china painter. Both list Massachusetts as their birthplaces, and apparently they went back there for a few years, since in the 1910 census, by which time they were living in Denver with three children — the eldest two (Henry and Marian) born in Massachusetts, ca 1902 and 1903. The youngest child then (Margaret), was born about 1907 in Colorado. They had another child about 1917, named William J, according to the 1920 and 1930 censuses. The 1910 through 1930 censuses list William as a school teacher, and by 1930 daughter Margaret was also a teacher.

The photographer is listed on the bottom front of the card as Knowlton Brothers, Westfield, Mass. The Knowlton Brothers were Franklin Smith Knowlton (1836-1920s), and Wilbur F Knowlton (Aug 1839 – ca 1918), both sons of Ammi Knowlton (1806-1888) a Master Mariner, and Maria (Loud) Knowlton (1806-1883). Franklin probably took up photography in 1859, as we first see him listed in the 1860 city directory for Portsmouth NH, where he is mistakenly listed as Frank B Knowlton — we know it is really Franklin S because his home address is the same as his father Ammi and his brother Wilbur. Wilbur was a Provision Dealer, and probably did not join his brother in the photography business until some time after they moved to Northampton Massachusetts in the mid-1860s.

Around early 1858 Franklin married Victoria Matilda Morton, and their first child was born on 13 December of that year. He was named Wilbur after Franklin’s brother.

Craig’s Daguerrian Registry shows that Frank S Knowlton also operated photographic studios in Sanbornton and Rollinsford NH in 1860. The registry of Civil War veterans shows Frank Knowlton enlisting in Company D, New Hampshire 12th Infantry Regiment on 15 Aug 1862 from Sanbornton, New Hampshire. He was promoted to Full Corporal on 17 Mar 1863, and mustered out on 02 Jul 1863 at Gettysburg, PA. Since Franklin S Knowlton was associated with Sanbornton, one might think this was him — but the 1860 census shows another Frank Knowlton, son of Oliver and Lucinda Knowlton, whose age better matches the government record, which showed Frank as 28 at enlistment.

From 1870 through 1920 we find Franklin and Victoria in each decennial census, living in Northampton Massachusetts. The 1900 census shows they had five children, only four of whom were living by that year. We have mentioned the eldest, Wilbur F born in 1858, he was followed by Frederick G 1863, Charles F 1865 and Elizabeth A 1879. Elizabeth married Charles Thompson about 1909, but continues to live with her parents in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. By 1930 she and Charles Thompson are living in Northampton, with her widowed mother (90 years old).

So how did the Knowlton Brothers come to have a studio in Westfield Massachusetts, and when did it operate? Well, from the Westfield city directories we learn that the Knowlton Brothers are first listed there in 1895, the year of this photo. The 1896 directory gives us a clue as to why — Franklin S Knowlton is listed as resident in Westfield — and so is daughter Elizabeth, ’student’. By the 1898 directory we find an ad for N M Austin, Photographer, “Successor to Knowlton Bros” — so the studio was quickly sold, probably when Elizabeth graduated, and they returned to Northampton.

We last see the Knowlton Brothers Northampton studio listed in 1917. Wilbur (Franklin’s brother, not his son) probably died around then, as we can not find him in the 1920 census, so Franklin closed the studio. Franklin is listed in 1920, but retired from business (he turned 84 that year).

E Butler 1880

Today, I thought a little stronger challenge was about due, rather than simply finding people for whom we have lots of clues. So I took a look at the photo of E Butler. It is a cdv on green cardstock, with an inscription on back that reads: “Truly Yours, E. Butler, July 2, 1880″.

There is no photographer’s imprint on back, but there was one on front — however — most of it was trimmed off when somebody decided to shorten the card. So that is where the detective work began. A close look at the name convinced me that it must be Barker or Parker. Only the tips of letters were left on the right, where the location is usually shown, but enough remains of the first letter to be fairly sure it is a W. That is followed by another mark, and some space — so it looks like the location is upper and lower case, with only the longer letters leaving marks. The first letter after the W is one of those long letters, and the possibilities are: Wb, Wh, Wk, or Wl. The Wh is of course the most probable, since town names beginning with the other prefixes are rare.

Next I turned to the ClassyArts.com Database of Photographers, a list of historic photographers approaching 60,000 records and still growing. I looked first at all the Parker listings, but none of the towns for those photographers began with Wh. I checked Barker, which had fewer listings, and there was listed James Barker of Whitehall, New York, who was aged 35 in the 1880 census, and born in Vermont. Well that not only places a photographer Barker in a town beginning with Wh, but it places him there the very year we are interested in — 1880.

Now, to confirm the probable identification of the photographer, I filled in the letters for Whitehall, New York under the marks on the cdv, to see if the tall letters match the marks:

The clipped imprint and proposed restoration.

They match perfectly! There can be little doubt then that James Barker of Whitehall was the photographer for this image.

Now, what about E Butler? Are there any candidates for him in or around Whitehall, New York? Again we turn to the 1880 census, since that is the same year as the photograph. Our photo shows a man in middle-age, his hair is greatly receded, but he doesn’t appear very wrinkled, so my guess is that he is between 35 and 55.

There is only one E Butler in Whitehall, Ebenezer Butler, age 46, a school teacher, born in New York. I searched various online resources, but could find no other photograph of Mr Butler to confirm this identification. I suspect this is Ebenezer, but we do not have enough evidence to say so with a high degree of certainty. It could be Edward Butler, age 27, who also lived in the same county, though not the village of Whitehall. Or it could be any of hundreds of E Butler’s who lived elsewhere in the country, and may have had some reason to visit Whitehall. For this one, we can only say ‘probably’ — until more evidence surfaces.