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.

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.

Syrina E Bennett with Fort Dodge Iowa imprint

When the photographs of Syrina E Bennett and Horace J Bennett were added to the ClassyArts.com database, I speculated that they might be husband and wife, despite the fact that one card has no photographer’s imprint, but the other does (W A Culver, Fort Dodge, IA). Both photos are inscribed with the names of the subjects and the date May 27, 1873. It only took a few minutes research to find that yes, indeed they were married. With a bit of scouring the records, we found quite a bit of information on this couple.

But what about this photographer, W A Culver, listed on Syrina’s carte-de-visite (or Syrena, as she is usually listed in the records), but not on that of her husband? What’s up with that? Cards with no photographer’s imprint are often copies of earlier images — but there is no reason to think that is the case here.

The ClassyArts database shows several W Culver’s. W A Culver born about 1841 in New York seems the closest match, though he was living in Chicago in 1880. Craig’s Daguerrean Register shows a William Culver in Attica NY 1850-51, and Niagara Falls in 1859, but if the Iowa photographer is the same as the Chicago one, then he is too young to have been working in 1850. There is also William H Culver listed in the 1880 census living in Fort Benton MT, born 1854 in Michigan; and W W Culver in Lebanon NH about 1870 — but those two seem less likely matches — but not impossible, middle initials are notorious for being listed wrong in the records.

The Chicago photographer, William A Culver, is probably the same W A Culver as the Ft Dodge, Iowa photographer who took these photos in May 1873. He first appears in the Chicago city directories in the 1874-75 edition, partnered with Weible. After a short time as Culver and Weible, he appears on his own, and is listed in various directories from 1875 to 1885.

The William H Culver in Montana became a well known photographer in Lewistown, when he established his studio there from 1888 onward. His middle initial was indeed correctly listed as H.

Horace J Bennett

Researching Syrina E Bennett and Horace J Bennett was no problem, the fairly uncommon first names make it easy. The most informative single record, is perhaps the 1900 census, since that gives the month and year of birth, rather than just the year. I also found them in the 1880 and 1910 censuses. They are also listed in the 1920 census, though no longer living in Iowa — by that time they had moved to Seattle, Washington.

Horace J Bennett was a Civil War veteran, so I found both war records and pension claims for him. Horace enlisted from Okoboji, Iowa on 12 Jul 1863 as a private, but apparently was not actually called to service until 7 Dec 1863, when he was enlisted as a private in Company I, Iowa 2nd Cavalry Regiment. He was promoted to ‘Full Bugler’ on 01 Jan 1865, which kind of suggests he was some sort of apprentice or under-bugler prior to that. He was mustered out the service on 19 Sep 1865 at Selma, AL.

On 4 Oct 1890 he made an invalid pension claim from his home in Iowa. Then on 7 Jul 1928 his widow, Syrena, made a widows pension claim. By that time she was living in Washington, as we saw in the 1920 census.

Syrena and Horace had three children, all of whom lived to adulthood: Harlan A was the eldest, born Nov 1873 (which means that at the time of this photograph, Syrena was about three months pregnant); Linton P was second, born Sep 1875, and the only daughter Jessie E was born Jun 1880. In 1900, Horace’s mother, 81 year old Sally Bennett was living with them — widow, mother of four children only one (Horace) still living.

I also found some compiled genealogies online for this family, which state they were married 18 Dec 1872 in Dickinson, IA, and showing Syrena’s maiden name was Syrena Eliza Pillsbury. Horace’s death is listed as 22 Jun 1928 in Seattle. Their son Harlan married Jane Mary Brookover, and had three children: Esther J, Elton Harlan, and Margaret. I didn’t bother to verify any of these details, they fit with what I found and I have no motive to follow the matter further — but when doing your own genealogy, always remember to verify the claims of others with original records.