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The HBC biography section is for people or families that have achieved some degree of notariety or fame. HBC readers in many cases have submitted family portraits. HBC has until now not added them to the biography section. We believe now that this is a mistake. Many of the HBC readers contributing family portraits can also provide details about the boy and him family. This background information help us to assess social trends and put the fashions involved in perspective. This is just why the biographical section is an important part of HBC. As a result, HBC has decided to create pages for these relatively unknown people, when some basic family data is available. Incidentally if you find a relative here, please do tell us somehing about him. Here we are listing these biographies alpahabetically to facilitate looking up individual names. The alphabdetical list is the primary data base in this section. While we have not persued geneolgical resreach on these individual, having the names and in many cases the loaction provide the potential to acquire more back ground information in the future which may provide additonal insights into the fashion and life style trends.
This cabinet card portrait shows two boys wearing sailor suits and hats. Note the long pans with stripes. We re unsure about the colors, but you would guess that the suits are basically blue. The boys are identified on the back as, �Lester Earl� age 11 and �Elmo St. Clar�, age 12 � years. Now er think that the boys are brothers and Earl is a middle name, but they could be cousins and Earl is a family name. The portrait was taken by Hoyt in Hillsboro, Oregon. We would guess that it was taken in the 1890s. The dealer estimasted 1899-1901, but that seems a lirrle early to us.
This albumen photograph came from a family albumen. It was not a CDV, but photograph 4.25 inches (108 mm) x 4.75 inches (120 mm). This was rare in America, but apparently more common in England. The wide sleeves help to date the portrait to the 1850s. The sitter's name is Philip Saltmarshe and his age is given as 6 years old. Philip wears a very fashionable kilt suit. There was a boy of this age living in Saltmarshe Hall in Yorkshire around 1859. We are not sure this is our Philip, but it is likely--Saltmarshe is not a common name. The Philip Satmarshe at Salmarshe Hall went on to become a Colonel in the British Army. Saltmarshe Hall is a grade II listed 19th-century country house in Saltmarshe, East Riding, Yorkshire. It is located on the north bank of the River Ouse. It stands in 17 acres of gardens, meaning a wealth family. Looking at Philip and his smart outfit we would guess that he came from awalthy family. It is constructed of brick faced with ashlar with Welsh slate roofs. The Saltmarshe estate has belonged to the Saltmarshe family since the Norman Conquest. The present house was built (1825-28 by Prichett and Watson (James Pigott Pritchett and Charles Watson) for Philip Saltmarshe at a cost of �4,000. Stables were added in 1842. It descended to Colonel Phillip Saltmarshe (1853-1941), who joined the Royal Horse Artillery and fought in the Afghan and Boer Wars. He was also a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant.
This 1899 photograph shows Admiral William T. Sampson's son Ralph on board the USS New York, posing beside the ship's mascot--Pitch the goat. Ralph went on to follow his father in the U.S. Navy. He achieved the rank of Commander. His father became famous for leading a victorious naval battle at Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War (1898). Ralph wears a long pants sailor suit. Notice the saucer cap. He looks to be about 8-9 year old. Sailor suits were very popular at the time, although not as popular as in Europe. Of course the fashion was natural for an admiral's son. Ralph seems to be getting on well with Pitch.
Here we have a pprtrait of an American boy about 6 years old. Hus family name was Sanborn, but we do not know his first name. He was from Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a little difficult to tell how he was dressed because his Fautleroy blouse and bow were so large. The blouse has pleated floces, bith on the lrge collar and the dleeve wrist cuffs. He looks to be wearing a grey flannel cu away jacket and matching kneepants which he wears with black stockings. The kneepants have some decoration at the knee hem. We know the portrait was taken in 1888 or after because the photographer received a prize award in 1888. We would date the portrait about 1890.
We have a portrait Albert Sanborn on his tenth birthday. Unfortunately we know nothing about Albert and his family and where they were from. All we know for sure is that it was his 10th birthday. It looked like a posdtcard back portrait, but that was not common with white border prints. It looksd like it was taken in a modest studio. Albert wears a very traditionally styled middfy blouse. The three-stripe styling is repeated on his dickey and sleeve cuffs. The sailor scarfe is informally tied as was common in America. The portrait is undated. We think it was probably taken about 1910. It could have been taken a little earlier, but not too much later as knee pants were going out of style. We do see younger boys wearing knee pants in the 1910s, but knickers were more common for boys by 10 years of age.
We note stand-up paper frames in the 1930s. We think most portraits came in stand up frames. We are not yet sure about the color and decoration. We note one portrait measuring 3 1/2" by 5". It is in a studio cardboard folder and frame that measures 4 3/4" by 7 1/2". The frame is printed on the lower right corner "Hollingshead Woodland, Cal." At the bottom of the cardboard frame is the fold-back flap to make it stand up. On that written in ink is "John Louis Sanstrum April 1935". Notice the decorated blue border around the actual portrait,
Here is a portrait of the Victorien Sardou family in their house at Marly-le-Roi near Paris. Victorien Sardou (1831-08) was an important French playwrite. The Sardous family lived at Le Cannet, a village near Cannes, They owned an olive esate. When it failed Victorien's father moved to Paris and dabled at several, mostly academic professions. Victorien was left on his own when his father failed. He was unable to continue his medical studies. He had some difficult years, but his writing proved a success. His best know work was "La Tosca" (1887). The play was the basis on which Giacomo Puccini's famed opera "Tosca" (1900) is based. The fedora hat is named after another play. The Sardou family portrait was painted by Auguste de la Brely (1838-1906) in 187?. The museum legend reds, "Victoien Sardou (1831-1908) ey su familledans le grand salon se leur maison de Marly le Roy. Il fat des auteurs framatiques les plus f�conds et les pl? applaudis de sons temps. Ses plus grnds succ�s (Théodora, Fédora la Tosca, Gisnonda, Patr�a, Madame Sans-G�ne, etc.), fure souvent �crits pour Sarah Berrnhardt. Le decor de son salon illustre bien le retour du gilout pour le XVIIIe
siécle du gio�t pour le XVIIIe sicle dans laseconde moit su XIXe siécle. Don de Mme Victorian Sardou, 1932." he painting is a wonderful view of the home life for an affluent French family in the late 19th century. There are three children in the painting. Note the the boy on the right playing with a gun. He is wearing a pleated skirt. The portrait is in the Carnavalet Museum in Paris.
The Southern states were slow to enact compulsory attendance laws. This photo was taken in San Antonio, Texas (October 1913). It shows the Sasser brothers, aged 10, 7 and 5 years. They all worked as newsboys and none of them never attended school. Texas enacted the first law about compulsory school attendance in 1915. The boys are dressed similarly. They all wear caps. The older boy has a flat cap which was becoming standard. The younger boy peaked caps. They all wear knickers. The older boy wears a shirt and suspenders. Notice that there are no belts. The middle boy seems to be wearing a button blouse. The younger boy wears a blouse with a drawstring waist. All three are barefoot.
Here we have a formal studio portrait of two brothers Royce Arthur Saunderson (born Sept 9, 1920) and Heriman Hind Sauderson (born 14 years March 22, 1926). The boys were 10 and 14 years old on their birthdays. The portrait was taken sometime in 1930. The boys wear matching three pice, single breasted suits. They are both knickers suits. While they wear identical suits, they have different ties and knee socks. Boys still commonly wore staid, solid colored long stockings in the 1930s, but in the 30s brightly colored pstterned kneecocks became very popular. The photo is mounted on a matte folder that when closed is about 6.5" x 9.5". The photo itself is about 4.75" x 7.75". The boys were from Worcester, Massachusetts. The script is difficult to read, but it looks like the Heny Studio.
This portrait shows C.H. Savage from San Antonio Texas. The boy looks to be about 10 years old. He wears a collarb-uttoning suit with decorative double-breasted buttons. He has a small white collar and a small bow. The suit has knee pants worn with dark long stockings. Notice the soft hat with a turned up brim. These were very popular, we see quite a few boys wearing them. The portrait is undated and we are unsure how to date it. We believe it was taken in the 1880s, but we are not at all sure. Perhaps readers will have some thoughts.
We note the Schadler boys during the second year of World War II (1941). The boys are Werner, Willi, and Gunther Schadler. We know nothing about the family, but based on the way they are dressed, we would say that they came from a middle-class family. This charming photo taken during the winter in the snow. They lived in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg-Swchweinheim. Willi Schadler is about 10 years old. He wears a sailor suit with short trousers and black long stockings. Mutter seems to have added a scarf tokeep him warm in the cold weather. He seems to be a good job of taking care of his two little brothers, Werner and Gunther. They are about 3 years old. They are dressed alike as twins in their stocking caps and snug winter snow suits.
Here we see a little American boy in 1915. He was the neigbbor of Frank Avery in Spokane, Washington. Avery was an avid photographer. We don't know his first name, but his last name was Schaefer. He wears a plain white dress. Outfitting little boys in dresses was becoming uncommon in the 1910s, but was not yet unknown.
This abinet card portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken about 1900. Writing on the back identifies the boys as the five sons of Eduard Schiele (Argentina). The portrait was taken by George Glanville in Tunbridge Wells. We are not sure about the boys' nationality. The name actually looks more German than English or Aegentine. But there must be English connections as the portrait was taken inn England and we note the cricket bat that one of the boys is holding. The saolor caps the boys are holding look more like German than British headwear, at least for boys this age. Argentina at this time attracted investment from Europe. The British were heavily involved in both cattle ranches and railways. The Germans had more diversified investments. There were thus both Brits and Germans in Argentina. Some were making their homes in Argentina. Others were only working their temporarily. Thus we are not sure how these boys viewed their mnationality. We can't make out the one boy's cap inscription, but it looks to be in English.
This undated cabinent portrait was taken about 1900-05. The clothes he is wearing could have been worn any time during the 1890s, but the mount style suggests that the portrait was taken after the turn-of-the 20th century. It was a cabinent card, sized 4 1/4" wide by 6 1/4" high. The card was not the traditional cabinent card style, but rather a greyish-green mount with a the portrait done in an oval area. The photographer was L Miller which was imprinted in the corner of the mount. The boy was Frank H. Scherer who is photographed standing by a chair. . Frank looks to be about 3-4 years old. His hair is done in shortish ringlet curls. He wears a fancy Fauntleroy blouse with a moderzte-sized polka-dot bow, knee pants, and long stockings.
This is a slightly larger cabinet card than the standard late-19th century card. It was 7 1/4" by 5 1/4" with an oval portrait of a boy in a sailorl suit. Notice the V-collar with two twin bands of the traditional three stripes. He has an embroidered edge on his dickey. The boy is Harlow Schooley. He was 3 yrs 11 months old in 1902. The card is addressed to Aunt Lillie.
Here we have a cabinet card portreait of an American boy. There is informtion on the bscck, 7 years old Americab boy taken during the summer of 1896. We even have his name. The writing is difficult to read, but looks domething like Willie Schriner. Willie is shirt fir William. The last mame is more difficult to read. He wers a Fauntleroy blouse which mother no diubt lovingly selected with knee pants and long stockings. As it is summer he does not wear a jacket. The portrait was taken in Medill's Studio in La Salle, Illinois.Notice the whicker chair. Whicker becpmes common in portraits durung the mid-1890s. useful in fting undated portraits. Natural whicker was common in the 1890s and white whicker after the-turn-of-the century. Here we have white whicker in 1896.
Brazil had a small German population. I know little about it at this time. Some of the Brazilian German boys wore Lederhosen. A good example is Alexander Schultz whose father worked with a S�o Paulo museum. Alexander spent a summer living with the Amazonian Indians.
This CDV portrait shows Carl Schrader who according to an incription on the back was 'Born Mar. 2/80'. The CDV is interesting as the cabinet card was the dominant format by the 1880s. As Carl looks to be about 5 years old, we can guess the portrait was taken in 1885. Which is interesting because his suit was so plain. This was the same year that Mrs. Burnett published Little Lord Fauntleroy. Carl wears a plain, very modern looking single breasted suit. The only period elemebt is the rather small, high set lapels. Bitice the collar which is larger than we see in the 1870s, but no neckwear despite the popularity of the floppy bow. The matching low-cur knee pants are worn with color-coordinated long stockings. The rounded-crown straw hat had a medium brim, but no streamers. Carl has long curly hair, but not done in ringlets as would become so popular in the 1880s. The studio was Nichols in Clinton, Iowa.
This studio portrait shows a brother and sister carefully posed reading a book. Their names are Paul and Alice Schuster. They look to be about 7-10 years old. The studio and location is not identified. Paul wears a white long-sleeve shirt, small bowtie, knickers, light-colored probably long stockings, and low cut shoes. The knickers my be velvet. Alice wears a loose summer print waistless dress, a popular 1920s styles. Completed with white knee socks and Mary Jane strap shoes. Paul has ditinctively combed hair which is cut very short at the sides. Alice has bobbed hair a popular 1920s style. The portrait is undated, but definitely looks like the 1920s with so many styles popular in the 20s.
This cabinet card portrait shows the three Schwartz boys. The twins were Herbert and Clarence. We do not know the name of their older brother. The portait was taken on the twins birthday (October 25, 1907). They were 9 years old. Their older brotyher looks to be about 12 years old. They apparentyly lived in St Louis, Missouri. The posing looks like they were very close. The boys are similarly dressed They wear side buttoning blouses, a popular style at the turn of the century. We also see relatively small detachable collars Complting the outfgits are floppy bows, knee pants, long stockings, and high-top shoes. The only difference is that the older boy looks to be wearing a boater rather than wide-brimmed hats. They all have very short hair cuts. The studio is Schweig in St. Louis.
This studio CDV portrait shows a boy about 8-9 years old wearing what looks like a bow tie. We are not entirely sure if this is a bow or bowtie. The boy's name is written on the back of the CDV. We thought John's family name might be, "Schwensusen". A name we have never seen before. A German reader tells us that the name is is Schwennesen. Perhaps written in the presence of the parents of the boy in the picture. They were spelling it and since it was a foreign name, the photographer paused a minute. That's why there is a small gap between the two n's." Our reader tells us that the name is not an unusual name in northwestern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and in Denmark. The studio was Smith's Gallery of Photography at the Motch's Building, Madison and Pike, Covington, Kentucky. There is no Federal tax stamp. This means that the portrait could have been taken in the early-1960s. Given the elaboate lettering on the back and the pose, we believe it was taken after the Civil War, probably in the late-1860s. John wears a cut-away jacket which doesn't match his trousers. His pants apparently button-on to his shirt. He has white long stockings and high-top shoes. Note his rounded-crown hat. That was a major hat style for boys.
This cabinet card portrait shows the Scott boys (Hugh Scott and Terrrence Scott) pictured on a tandem bicyle built or two for a tudio portrait. They are 5 and 7 years old. They wear identiical knee pants sailor suits with saucer caps. The hat band tally reads 'U.S.N.' of course meaning U.S. Navy. They also wear long stockings and high-top button shoes, standard wear for the 1890s. We are not sure about the color of the sailor suits and the stickings. Black long stockings were common at the time, but the boys; stockings were clearly not black. The only difference between the two boys is the younger boy's long hair which unusually for America were not done in ringlet curls. The dealer dates the portrait to the 1900s, we would guess the 1890s, in part because of the classic style cabinet card mount.
This is a wonderful folky watercolour portrait of a boy standing on the seashore. He is wearing a black tunic with a broad belt at the waist and a deep white collar tied with a blue ribbon, over trousers. He's holding a large peaked hat. His costume is truly typical of the 1830s.There is a family tree inscription on the reverse of the portrait that identifies the child as Jethro Scowcroft (1829-1880), son of Thomas Scowcroft. Jethro was may be about 7 or 8 years old when this portrait was painted, but probably less than 10 years. The portrait is watercolor on card.
This cabinet card is a portrait of Frank Seward and his cbrother (name not specified). The boys look to be about 4-6 years old. Both boys have large white collars. One boy wears an sailor suit with a clearly destinguishable "V" collar. Sailor suit styles had not yet been standardized. His brother wears a cutaway jacket with a small white bow. Note his striped knee pants do not match the jacket. Both boys wear knee pahnts with black long stockings. The photographic studio D. Harvey in Tipton, Indiana. The studio logo adds 'Enamel Finish', but we cannot yet date that. The portrait is not dated, but we would guess the late 1870s.
Here we see an American boy living in Berlin, probably during the 1920s. It is a postcard back photograph, but must have been ebclosed in a letter as their is no address or postmark. It was written to friends in America. The card reads, "Dear Daniel & Louise, Do you remember me?> I am on the other side. I am in the Tier garden which is very pretty. (At the zoo!). Come over to Germany soon. Loce from Bobby Shafley." Unfortunately we are not sure about the writing. Whilke it is written as if Bobby wrote it, we suspect mother actually did the writing. Bobby is wearing a sailor cap with an "America" cap tally, a cardigan sweater, white knee pants, black long stockings, and low-cut shoes. He looks to be about 8-9 years old. We do not know why Bobby was in Germany. It sounds like the family is living there. The family name sounds German, but 'Bobby' and the perfect English suggests that they are throughly Americanized. Perhaps they were a diplomatic family, but a lot of American companies did business in Germany.
This cabinet card portrait shows John Sharp Jr., age 3 � years. John wears a plaid dress with velvet trim. Notice the lacy pantalettes, dark long stockings, abd high-topshoes. He ha a narrow, upturned brim straw hat. We do nit se streamers, but this is difficult to tell. The studio won a competitin in 1888 so we would guess the portrait was taken about 1890. The studio was Davis in Richmond, Virginia. A reader writes, "I was wondering whether pantalets served as linings for clothing such as woolen dresses and Fauntleroy and other suits. I remember as a child preferring woolen shorts that had linings as the wool did not scratch my legs. Just a thought, I have no idea if that was part of the issue or not. Here, it was probably decorative but we do know that stockings often did not go very high up the leg until the 20th century so it may have played that role. Also on this image is the fact that the collar looks like it is not attached but was taken on and off whereas the cuffs and other decorative items were definitely attached to the dress. Maybe this was hand made by the family rather than store bought."" We believe that better maud garnents for younger children were lined. We know that Fauntleroy suits were cimminly lined. We believe that this was alsocommin for winter-fall dresses like this ime and kilt suits. It is quite kilely that this was a home sewn dress. Dresses wereveasier to sew thn suits. And mothers found that their daughters were commonly more interested inn clothes than their sons and more fashion concious.
This is a CDV portrait of Harry Shaw. The boy's face is slightly out of focus. He looks to be 6-7 years old. The photorapher was Fred Ash who had studios at South Beach Blackpool and Orchard Street St Anne's on the Sea. Yjis suggest that Harry was on vaction ith his parents and not a resident of these beach resorts. He wears a tam with a colored sailor suit. We assume it was a blue suit, but there is no way to tell. The blouses is traditionally styled, but the knee pants are done with decortive stripes. You can tell this is not an American boy because he is not wearing long stockings.
We note two portraits of Ralph Shaw as a young boy. The portraits would have been taken about 1890, roughly 2 years apart. The portraits are cabinent cards, done with different colored mounts. . Vintage cabinet photos showing little boy, Ralph Shaw, with ringlets and lacy clothes. The first portrait shows Ralph at about age 2-3 with long hair, but not done in ringlets. The second portrait shows him in a white dress and wearing thick, tightly done ringlets. We think that these are American portraits. The boy's name, ringlets, and clothes (especially the bows and long stockings) look American as does the cabinent card mount. We are confused though by the city--Ewark. Not only have we never heard of that city, but there is no state indicated. (A state is almost always indicated in American cabinet cards.) Perhaps it is Newark. The studio is Chase. Ralph could be English, but we have never heard of Ewark in Englnd either. And Ralph doesn't seem a particularly English name.
This portrait of the Shea boys was taken about 1906. The boys wear knee pants suits with different degrees of Norfolk styling. Notice the rather loud patterns. All the boys wear dark long stockings. Notice that at mid-decade, knickers were still not very common in America. The family was from Portland, Oregon. The boys from the left are: Otis Lee Shea (Leo) born November 12, 1894; Thomas William Shea (Tommy) born March 21, 1893; and John Lakin Shea (Johnny) born October 31, 1898.
This cabinet card portrait shows a boy named Jack Shearer. His proper name is presumably John. He looks to be about 7 years old. He wears a peaked cap that does not precisely match the knee pants suit. The knee pants are cut at knee length which was common by the 1890s. Jack is holding gloves. We can't tell much about the jacket. He has a large Eton collar which he wears with a floppy bow. He wears black long stockings rather than ones that match the suit. His outfit is completed with hightop button shoes. The portrait was taken February 19, 1893. The studio is Holden in Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester west of Boston was an important industrial manufactiring center.
This cabinet card portait was probably taken in the early-1900s decade. This is based on the color and style of the card, one of the many new styles that appeared at the turn-of-the-20th century. The whicker furniture is also a clue. The boy is idetified as Lake Sheary. He looks to be about 3-years old. Lake has short, stringy ringlets. He is outfitted in a colored sailor suit although we are not sure about the color, probably blue but there were other colors. The V collar is truncated and has unusal crossing stripes. He has a high collar, plain white dickey. His sailorsuit is done as knee pants, black long stockings and high-top shoes. The studio was taken by the Lindig studio in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
We notice two CDV portatits of Edson Shellcross. He was from southeastern Pennsylvania. The first portrait was of Edson at age 13 in 1869. The portait shows the longer hair styles still worn by men and boys in the 1860s. Unfortunately we don't see much of his outfit. It is notable because he is wearing what seems to be a jacket with very small papels. The second shows Edson several years later. This portrait is not dated, but we would cuess was taken in the late 1870s. He is shown with two children, oresumably girls but they are not identified. We assume they are his younger sisters. The girls wear matching dresses. They are too old to be daughters and the posr is probanly too intimste to be cousins. The first portrait was taken by John Schofield in Frankford, Pennsylvania. The secoind portrait was taken at by J. B. Gibson in nearby Coatesville, Pennsyvania.
This cabinet card shows Freddie Miller Shelton of Scranton Pennsylvania. His proper name was prsumably Fred or Fderick. The portrit is undated, but the pinked card mount suggested that it would have been taken about 1890. We noted these cards from about 1888-95. The Fauntleroy styling also help to date the image. Freddie was 5 1/2 years old. Freddie wears a Fauntlweroy-styled kilt suit. It looks like a velt suit with a cut away jacket. The kilt-skirt has a front pannel with two columns of buttons, but is not pleated. The button trim was often coordinated with the jacket, but in this case Freddie has a cut-away jacket. We think that velvet kilt-skirts were not commonly pleated. It is difficult to make out any details of his blouse, but we do note lace wrist cuffs. He also seems to be wearing a white floppy bow.
Here we see two boys dressed very similarly. The boys are identified as Charles Shumaker and John Henry Hodges. John was called J.H. Both boys wear similar, but not identical Norfolk suits with similar flat caps. Notice how the brims are worn differently. The similarity of the outfits suggest tht the boys were brothers, but as we know their names, this was not the case. They could be cousins being raised together, but we suspect that they were just good friends, probably neighbors wearing what at the time were very popular styles. They also wear the same darl long stockings. We are not sure about the color. They could be faded black or perhaps brown. One of the boys had a bike. Notice trhe well used waggon at the side. Also notioce the porch, a very popular fixture in small towns and the growing sunburbs. The home suggest a middle-class family living in modest, but confortable circumstances. The snap shot is undated, but looks like the 1920s. We do not know where in America the snapshot was taken.
An English boy, William Silvester, had a minature watercolor portrait painted in the early 19th century. William was 11 years of age. Miniature Length 3 1/8", Width 2 1/2"; Frame Length 5 7/8", Width 5". There is not a lot of detail in this minature portrait, but it does show the high ruffled collar and the short hair style worn at the time.
This is a 1901 cabinet portrait of Donald W. Simpson who was 5 years old. The portrait was taken on March 18, 1901 as indicated on the back of the card. This photograph shows little Donald, who is sporting very long hair, dressed in a Fauntleroy suit. He is wearing knee pants and dark stockings and a white blouse with lacy cuffs and a large lacy collar and a lacy area down the front of the shirt. His dark jacket is open and has large buttons. He is holding a riding crop in his right hand and is seated in a little throne type of chair. He is formally posed. This is an unusual cabinent card done as an oval portrait. At the time cabinent cards were going out of fashion and portraits were beginning to be done in paper frames. This cabinet photograph was taken by Perry & Son - Empire Block of Sheldon, Iowa.
This family snapshot shows a boy named Malcolm Simpson (Jenuary 1948). He was 14 years old and attending Nelson College (Nelson, New Zealand). Nelson College on South Island was a secomdary school which still is in operation. Malcomb looks to be wearing his school unifoirm. He joined an excursion to the nearby Cobb valley. The Cobb Valley region is a popular recreational area. It is very popular for hiking and camping with outdoor enthusiasts and other naturalists. There is beautiful mountain and bush scenery as well as very interesting flora and geological formations to observe. Malcomb while on one of those excursions found a limestone formation containing fossils (January 14). He showed it to Professor Noel Benson. He later identified the fossils as dating to the Cambrian period. The rock is the oldest yet found in New Zealand.
Dayton Sizer was born in Winnebago County, we think Neenah Wisconsin (about 1899). The 1899 date is a Census estimatemand is confirmed by the mount style. His parents were Dayton A. Sizer and Cora Sizer. He had a brother named Eaton. We have a cabinet card portrait of Dayton who looks to be about 5 years old. That would mean that the portrait was taken about 1904. The portrait is an oval torso shot which makes it difficult to determine just what he was wearing. We think it was a fancy tunic suit. His hair is noe in ringlet curls. The mount is a new style mount and there is no studio information.
This CDV portrait shows a boy named J. Skioch who looks to be about 5 years old. He wears a sailor-styled dress with a moderate-sized scalloped collar. There are stripes on the "V" collar and cuffs. There appears to be a back flap. Buttons go on the way doen the boddice and pleated skirt. They look ornamental. The outfit looks a little similar to a kilt suit, but we think it was a dress. He wears the dressc ith long stockings. He is pictured with the family hound dog. We suspect they had a good time together. The portrait was taken by J.S. Armstrong Photo in Fergus, Ontario. The portrait was taken June 26, 1887. The CDV mount was burgundy and done like a cabinet card mount. CFVs remained popular in Canada aittle longer than the United States.
Most CDV portraits are unidentified. This portrait is unidentified, but hard to read. We are guessing that the boy's name was John Montagu Slopford, but there are several other possibilities. Please let us know if you have a better knwoledge of old English script. Interestingly John is wearing an overcoat. The overcoat has double-breasted styling, but does not seem to be an actual double-breasted coat. Usually mothers had children take off their coats so the portrait would show the nice suits and dresses they were wearing. Here we have no idea what John is wearing. We can see his Glengary cap and streamer--a indication of the popularity of Scottish fashions. He also wears bloomer knickers and heavy socks. We do not know how long they were. He has high-top shoes. John was 10-years old and the portrait was taken at the Maull & co. studio in London. Note the little black dog. Small dogs like this began to be bread during the Victorian era as the newly prosperous middle-class began demanding household pets adapted to city life. I'm not sure what kind of dog this is.
The early photograpic types were not as common in Britain and the rest of Europe as in America and is a wecomed addition to our English archive. We have not found a lot of English Ambros, but we have found a few, mostly in the 1850s decade. While most tunics were plain, of course, mothers being mothers, there were some highly decorated tunic oufits. A portrit from the mid-19th century, probably the 1850s, shows a Barnstable boy in a white, highly decorated tunic outfit. This would be an tunic outfit for a special occassiom, Note the lace collar which was tied on. The boy is identified, but the writing on the back of the portrait is difficult to read. An English reader suggests perhaps Selwyn Arthur Slym--but that is only a guess. Unlike American Dags and Ambros, it is not a cased portrait. You can see the wire attached by wax on the back so it could be hung. The boy's tunic has elborate embrodery. The shortened sleeve and blouse sleeve also help date it to mid-century. We have no idea about the color of the emnbroidery, but this could gave been a very colorful outfit. Clearly not a school garment.
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