Category Archives: Old Photos

antique and vintage photos and snapshots

A Very Unusual Front Porch Entrance

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1910s – 1920s.

Price:  $15.00          Size:  5 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

What was the inspiration for the front porch entryway on this wooden shingle-sided house or cottage? Some gingerbread porches have similarly shaped designs, albeit hugely different in their airi- and elaborateness…..But, we’ve never seen one like this. The location is unknown. How nice would it be (this seems to be a common refrain with old photographs) to be able to pop in and wander around (if we went around the house to our left, we’d probably see another cutout looking into the porch – note the long curve next to the corner) first to see if any other homes in the area share this architectural feature, and secondly to look for street signs and at the surrounding terrain…..as ideas for our whereabouts start filtering through……and then, putting us out of our suspense, finding a passerby to ask what city we’re in, and if we’re brave enough, what year!

Handsome Scot In Full Dress Attire

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1920s.

Price:  $7.00        Size:  About 2 and 5/8 x 4 and 7/16″

I’m guessing this photo is from the 1920s, or maybe late 1910s, due to the look of the gentlemen in non-traditional wear. Where was the photo taken? That’s a mystery, though if we could focus in on the big sign above the fence that could be a colossal clue (even if it’s advertisement). And what was the occasion? Unknown, but maybe part of a Highland games festival. That’s a sporran (purse in Gaelic) that the man wears below the belt, essential since kilts have no pockets.

Source:  Sporran. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporran (accessed August 5, 2018).

Detroit Woman By Marratt

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Cabinet Card, circa 1880s. Photographer:  William Marratt. 131, 133 and 135 Woodward Ave, Detroit, Michigan.

Price:  $7.00

Here’s another Cabinet Card with no writing on the back, but at least we have the location and photographer or studio on this one. See our post on William Marratt. But the subject is a beautiful young lady, a Detroiter, we presume, posing with hands resting on the back of a wooden chair with brocade fabric (I’m guessing brocade). Note the wedding ring on her left hand. She bears a strong resemblance to a friend, which is neither here nor there, but it’s funny how closely someone can resemble someone else….The time frame is probably the 1880s due to the dress style, the type of sleeves (close-fitting) but this is a semi-educated guess from me, after consulting a lovely book from my shelf, Dressed for the Photographer, Ordinary Americans & Fashion, 1840 – 1900, by author Joan Severa, (a great reference, and I hope I’ve applied the correct interpretation for this photo.)

Anna Flottman’s Cousin Ed

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1910 – 1918.

Price:  $10.00

” Cnell Ill.  Dear Cousin, how are you I am fine and dandy. From your Cousin Ed Aleves.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Anna Flottman. Burden, Kans.”

This one’s a bit of a puzzle. I had sworn during research for the last post (in Burden KS via internet) that I’d come across the correct surname for this handsome gentleman. (A subcategory, that will hopefully be adhered to 😉 is being filed away somewhere “up top” entitled, “The Importance of Writing Things Down”.) His last name is hard to read in the signature. Alives, Alves, Aleves, Aluves, Alires were searched and how very odd now to be not finding the reference just previously come across. And the location he has written appears to be an abbreviation, possibly for Cornell, Illinois.

If Ancestry.com trees are correct for the marriage of Anna Flottman to Reason Leslie Moore on July 7, 1918, that narrows down the postcard time frame a little, since she was single when the card was sent to her. And for more about the recipient of this card, see the prior post.

A Family Man

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 2 and 13/16 x 2″

Sometimes we look at a photo of someone and we totally forget that they were not alone at the time, since, well duh! the person holding the camera was also there. This is one such for me. I think of this guy as a dad, having a few moments alone, but as always, engaged in the welfare of his family, the upkeep of which is often not easy…..

Girl in Wicker Chair, Reading PA

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Old photo on cardboard frame. Circa 1900 – 1901. Photographer:  Ammon M. Lease.

Size including cardboard frame:  3 and 7/16 x 4 and 11/16″

Price:  $10.00

Here’s a portrait of someone about teenager age, a young girl right at the turn of the last century, in skirt and blouse and wonderful hat, posing in a beautifully ornate, but common for the time-period, wicker photographer’s chair.

Lease is Ammon M. Lease, photographer, who was listed at the address of 742 Penn Street in 1900 and 1901. Below, from the 1901 Reading city directory, and this seems a little unusual, there are eight photographers on Penn St., who all must have been fairly close to one another, per the street numbers.

Sources:  W. H. Boyd & Co.’s Directory of Reading, 1900. p. 58. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)

W. H. Boyd & Co.’s Directory of Reading, 1901. p. 60. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)

He Takes A Great Picture

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Old photo, cropped. Circa 1910s – 1920s.

Price:  $5.00      Size:  about 2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

There is no tie-in to this photo and the last (that we know of – as mentioned on a number of prior posts, at LCG we like the segue thing) unless by serendipity, the very photogenic young man’s name is William. (Yes, probably not, what would be the odds? But these things do seem to happen more often in the world of old postcards and photos and the like, than outside that realm, so to speak. No data to back that statement up with, but just lots of instances that I could recount. Anyway, what a nice-looking young man, self-confident and with that arresting look for the camera. Someone you could rely on, who already knew what he was about.

Mildred Simpson’s Home, Beverly, Mass.

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Old photo, white border, circa 1910s – 1920s. Beverly, Massachusetts.

Price:  $10.00

On the back is written,  “This is the Front of her house.”  And by a relative, most likely from a younger generation,  “cousin Mildred Simpsons Home Beverly, Mass.”

Well, we hope this lovely home is still standing, as we couldn’t find it still in existence from satellite photos, that is if cousin Mildred was the Miss Mildred Simpson born January 1, 1905 in Beverly, Massachusetts to Howard Simpson and Christina (Devine) Simpson. Mildred married Donald Benjamin Livingston in 1929. One thing for sure, this Mildred had moved a lot as she was growing up. One would have to check the microfilm with the Library of Congress or maybe local or Boston libraries for all the city directories from 1905 to 1929, but the ones online (with the addition of census records and the WWI Draft Reg) show eight different addresses in that span of time, with most of the directories being missing, so probably more moves than eight….not that that’s a bad thing, all the moving around, that is – just wondering what it had been like for her. Maybe exciting, or maybe sad sometimes, or a little of both.

The house itself, now I’m not really sure what style it’s in:  a little like Craftsman but not –  what with those porch supports (not that I’m an expert). But it’s a two-story with hipped roof (though the photo cuts off much of it) and shingle siding. And note the stairway jutting out from the back of the house, so there must have been a deck or back porch.

Sources:  Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. (Ancestry.com).

Original data: Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. Massachusetts Vital Records Index to Marriages [1916–1970]. Volumes 76–166, 192– 207. Facsimile edition. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. (Ancestry.com).

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts City Directories.

M. A. Sullivan, Sartoria, Nebraska

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Old photo, circa late 1890s.

Price:  $12.00        Size of photo:  1 and 3/4 x 2 and 5/8″

Sartoria, Buffalo County, Nebraska, on the map below:

Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t. One pictures an easy pull-up of census records of maybe a Mary or a Margaret (tracing a middle name to Ann) Sullivan in Buffalo County, near or in Sartoria…..indicating beyond a reasonable doubt, a match for the beautiful young woman, that appears (in striped seersucker) in our photo above, and is of presumably Irish descent. But nope, what was found instead were a few possibilities and a fourth that we had to rule out:

Mary Sullivan, single, born Ireland 1874, sister of T. D. Sullivan, clergyman, born Ireland about 1877. Elm Creek, Buffalo County, Nebraska, 1910 Federal Census.

Or…..Mary Sullivan, born about 1878 IL, residence Gibbon township NE from the 1885 State Census, age 7. Daughter of Timothy, born Ireland, and Christie, born Sweden.

Or….Maggie Sullivan, born Michigan 1864, daughter of John C. and Mary Sullivan. Residence Kearney, Buffalo Co., NE on the 1880 Federal Census.

Not our M. A. Sullivan but interesting nonetheless…..

Mary Sullivan, born about Oct 1870 IL, single, schoolteacher, parents Daniel and Julia Sullivan, born Ireland. Beaver NE 1900 Federal Census. This one led us down a long path with detours for Shakespearean research, masques (not masks) and the University of Nebraska. It was this Mary Sullivan, Ph.D. (as far was we can tell not the one in our photo) that wrote Court Masques of James I:  Their Influence on Shakespeare and the Public Theatres, was mentioned in newspaper articles (alas no photo) and finally traced to Schenley High School, 1921, Pittsburgh, PA (with a photo that appears to rule out a match.)

A nice ring to it

Sartoria was settled by Swedish immigrant John Swenson. See Alice S. Howell’s “Sartoria, A Lovely Ghost Town.” The name of the little village is said to have been coined because it was easy to pronounce. (In Italian the word means “tailoring” but this is just FYI.)

Sources:  Sartoria, Nebraska. Google Maps. (Google.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Elm Creek, Buffalo, Nebraska; Roll: T624_839; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0035; FHL microfilm: 1374852. (Ancestry.com).

National Archives and Records Administration; Nebraska State Census; Year: 1885; Series/Record Group: M352; County: Buffalo; Township: Gibbon; Page: 5. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Beaver, Buffalo, Nebraska; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 0022. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1880; Census Place: Kearney, Buffalo, Nebraska; Roll: 743; Page: 263D; Enumeration District: 154. (Ancestry.com).

Masque. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masque (accessed March 24, 2018).

The Schenley Journal Class Book (1921) p. 6. Pittsburgh:  Schenley High School. (classmates.com)

Howell, Alice Shaneyfelt. “Sartoria, A Lovely Ghost Town.” Buffalo County Historical Society, Vol. 4, number 6. June 1981.

Bertha Jensen And Wendall Wheat, 1928

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Photo dated 1928, probable location:  Superior, Wisconsin.

Price:  $8.00             Size:  About 2 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

An adorable photo of Wendell Wheat, about one year old, bundled up warmly for the cold weather in the likely location of Superior, Wisconsin and with him is his aunt, Mrs. Bertha (Clancy) Jensen. Bertha was born in Minnesota in August 1897 so would have been thirty when this photo was taken.

Sources:  Year: 1930; Census Place: Superior, Douglas, Wisconsin; Roll: 2570; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0029; FHL microfilm: 2342304. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Deer Creek, Otter Tail, Minnesota; Roll: 779; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0155; FHL microfilm: 1240779. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1930; Census Place: Caledonia, Racine, Wisconsin; Roll: 2606; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0006; FHL microfilm: 2342340. (Ancestry.com).