Studio photo in cardboard frame with oval setting. Circa 1891 – 1910. Photographer: Peter Tschirhart. Studio location: Sand Beach, Michigan.
Price: $15.00 Size including frame: About 6 x 4 and 1/4″
Ha, what to name this one? There are already mother and daughter type titles for other posts on this website, if memory serves, but what strikes the viewer about this one is probably the wonderful casual pose of the child with the elbow resting on the mom’s shoulder. The child looks into the camera while the mom gazes a little off into the distance. It’s a beauty of a photo. Unfortunately, the two subjects were not named, but we do at least have the photographer’s stamp on the back which is barely readable.
The photographer’s name and location is P. Tschirha ..?. – Sand Beach, Michigan. Sand Beach Township is located in Huron County, at almost the tip of the thumb, and this photo was found in an antique store in Dearborn, MI, this year, 2014.
Since the last couple of letters were so hard to read for the photographer’s name, I googled it and found a German family name under this spelling ending in “rt” – so the likely last name would be Tschirhart. The 1891 Polk’s City Directory for Sand Beach showed a Peter Tschirhart under this profession, voila! From there it was easy to locate Peter on the 1900 Federal Census record taken in Sand Beach. This record shows him born in Canada April 1843, married to Annie E., born Canada, December 1857, and daughter Katherine M., born Canada, April 1884. Peter’s profession is photographer, the couple has been married about ten years, and although Katherine is named as a daughter, the census indicates Annie had two children and none living, so this may indicate that Katherine is a stepdaughter and Peter was previously married, or possibly just be an error on the census. Year of immigration to the U.S. for the family is given as 1890.
The 1910 shows Peter and Annie boarding in Sand Beach, Peter is about 66 years old and retired at this point. (Annie’s information re children shows mother of five, three living.) Well, there are more census records and more to look up for this photographer and his family, but I’ll leave that for another post, under the photographer heading (quite behind on these but will get to them.)
Sources: Polk’s Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1891. p. 1422 (Google Books snippet view.) Accessed 18 Aug 2014.
Year: 1900; Census Place: Sand Beach, Huron, Michigan; Roll: 715; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm: 1240715. (Ancestry.com)
Year: 1910; Census Place: Sand Beach, Huron, Michigan; Roll: T624_649; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm: 1374662. (Ancestry.com).