Who Were They?

Lost and forgotten photos from the past

Looking a bit yellowed, here is a nice portrait of three children, labeled “The Farrell Infants” by someone, in pencil. I read it as tongue-in-cheek, as though the recipient of the photo thought of these kids as quite young, only to find they had grown in the blink of an eye. It could also be …

Continue reading

My great grandparents owned a dairy farm, which ties in neatly with this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt of a man on horseback, entitled “Off to the Creamery.” Granted, the fellow in the picture was carrying only one vat of milk with him. Perhaps he was going to buy milk rather than drop it off. It …

Continue reading

The back of this photograph was inscribed W. R. Austin in pencil, presumably identifying our subject as said person. The mustache featured here today is in the style of George Armstrong Custer, famous Civil War general and infamous Indian fighter. The photographers were Taylor & Preston, known to be in business between 1879-1883 at least. …

Continue reading

Today we look at a portrait of the McElhinney family, location unknown. They are identified on the back as: Uncle Frank McElhinney Aunt Meta Montgomery McElhinney Rae McElhinney Reid John Harold McElhinney About 1920 My assumption is that the older two are Uncle Frank and Aunt Meta, and the younger two are Rae and John. …

Continue reading

Two photographs from the early 20th century, identified as Gerald Coe. In 1906, there were numerous boys named Gerald Coe born in America, so this is tricky. The only hint I have is a photographer named Gascon from London & Paris. The rubber stamp indicates “High Class Photographer” at 936 Main Street, but no city. …

Continue reading