We previously looked at photos of Vincent and Ellen Joy and a “sunken eyed” relative of unknown name. This couple looks a lot like Vincent and Ellen to me, although Vincent died in 1886 so it could not be him. Ellen lived until 1935 so this could be her though she is looking pretty good for a woman pushing 80 years old! Could this man be a Wachtel? She had three brothers, after all. He has that prodigious beard that Vincent cultivated.
I believe this photo is from the 1920s. It is a 4.5×7 matte print. Also note the siding on the house behind them…do you think that is the backdrop for our “street urchins” and the baby in a chair? It looks like it would be a lovely old farmhouse in the Craftsman style.
This is a proud Sepia Saturday post, though not to theme – which is New York this weekend. Please click through for great sepia images from around the world.
Who Were They? 
Well, whoever they are they have interesting faces; although that is quite beard! They seem a little stiff, not very relaxed with the situation.
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A man would be proud of a beard like that. I wonder what his wife thought..
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If I were his wife, I’d make him shave!
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Well she could be in her 80’s some age better than others and I know from my own old family photos that the people looked great when they aged even sans makeup and touching up as we do today…..but the beard again, seems would have been so uncomfortable and hot in the warmer weather and likely in the way when eating…Lots of thoughts generated by this photo
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Wonderful photo with her embroidered dress. I like that her feet don’t reach the ground!
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I hadn’t noticed that! Good eye. :-)
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They don’t look like Ellen and Vincent to me. Her lips look fuller than Ellen’s and not sure if the ear lobes are the same. Vincent has such noticible blue eyes and his beard is no way near this guys.
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Ellen Wachtel Joy appears to have remarried. I’ve found a record of her being with: Kirtley, Benjamin L., Nov ?, 1847 in Kentucky – Dec 21, 1928 age 80y 11m Maryville, Missouri: buried Bennett Lane Cemetry, Savannah, Missouri. Ellen’s name is given has Elizabeth E. Wachtel Kirtley.
Source – http://www.mogenweb.org/nodaway/tombphoto/ki-names.html
Ellen is buried in a diffierent cemetery (Miriam Cemetery with Vincent S. Joy) – but looking at her gravestone – her last name is not engraved on the marker which says “Elizabeth E. Died Jul 8, 1935.”
The 1920 US census misspells the gentleman’s name as “Benjamin L Kertley”. They appear to have has no children together.
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“There is always a period when a man with a beard shaves it off. This period does not last. He returns headlong to his beard.”
Jean Cocteau
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What a grand couple on what appears to be a cold wintery day.
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I just love the way they used to grab chairs and drag them outside for a photo. This photo has a sidewalk..so if it was a farmhouse it was not in the country. It certainly looks like a beautiful house, and I bet that porch was a shady place to sit in the summer will all those vines:)
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