Carte-de-Visite. 1872 or 1873. Photographer:  L. J. Trumbull, Albion, Michigan.

Price:  $15.00            Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/8″

A cutie in an 1870’s-style plaid dress, reclining (well, posed of course, but with that kicked back look 😉 ). Check out the animal-design on that very cool blanket with the face of what is probably a bear, at the bottom-right.

Clara Matilda Boyce was born November 22, 1871 in Albion, Calhoun County, Michigan, and is the daughter of C.W. Boyce and Mary (Holloway) Boyce. Clara married Frank Thomas Tindle in June 1893 in Buffalo, New York. They had four children, Harriet, Mildred, Clara and Frank. Clara (Boyce) Tindle died in 1911, at about age forty.

Photographer, L. J. Trumbull is Lyman J. Trumbull. He married Amy Austin in 1866 and they had two daughters, Rose May and Grace. His occupation on the 1870 Federal Census for Albion, Michigan is listed as “Dagguerian,” meaning he was taking images using the daguerreotype process. Of course, our image of Clara is an actual photo, of the carte-de-visite variety.

By the 1880 census, taken in Middleville, Barry County, Michigan, Lyman’s occupation is minister. From this, and lack of records for him as a photographer, we infer he may not have been in the photo business for very long. He died in 1913 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Sources:  Ancestry.com. Michigan, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1867-1911.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Buffalo, Erie, New York; Roll: 831; Page: 149D; Enumeration District: 163. (Ancestry.com).

“Boyce-Tindle.” The Buffalo Enquirer, June 29, 1893. Thursday, p. 4. (Newspapers.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Buffalo Ward 20, Erie, New York; Roll: T624_947; Page: 12a; Enumeration District: 0197; FHL microfilm: 1374960. (Ancestry.com).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111579767/clara-tindle: accessed 22 June 2023), memorial page for Clara Boyce Tindle (1871–1911), Find a Grave Memorial ID 111579767, citing Forest Lawn, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, USA; Maintained by Jay Boone (contributor 46889203).

“United States Census, 1870”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHH6-LPQ : 29 May 2021), Lyman Trumbull, 1870.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Middleville, Barry, Michigan; Roll: 570; Page: 68A; Enumeration District: 036. (Ancestry.com).

Daguerreotype. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype (accessed June 10, 2023).

Carte de visite. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_de_visite (accessed June 22, 2023)

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12060275/lyman-j-trumbull: accessed 22 June 2023), memorial page for Rev Lyman J. Trumbull (1841–28 Mar 1913), Find a Grave Memorial ID 12060275, citing Tempe Double Butte Cemetery, Tempe, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA; Maintained by PhoenixAz (contributor 46628483).