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.