The Photographer Provides the Clues: Unknown Couple, Greene, Iowa, 1880s.

I found this cabinet card photograph with the  funeral card I wrote about in my Funeral Card Friday:  Margaret Emde post last week.  I suspect there is a connection with the Emde family, but there is really no way of knowing if these are the Emdes without another photograph to compare it to.

The photo was taken by L. L. Harvey in Greene, Butler County, Iowa. At the time of the 1880 census, Harvey was a 24-year-old photographer living as a boarder in Greene, and single.  He doesn't appear in the 1895 Iowa Census.   L.L. Harvey married Emma Winkelbleck and they had two children, Harold Harvey, born 1887 and Hellen Harvey, born 1894.  Emma enters into a second marriage with Levi Baker in 1899, so it is probable that L.L. Harvey died/left the area sometime between 1894 and 1895.

We can guess then, that the photograph was taken somewhere between 1880-1895.  With older folks it is difficult to date photos by fashion.  They held onto trends longer than young people.  Notice the woman's hairstyle:  she has parted her hair down the middle.  This was hugely popular in the 1860s and earlier.   Her dress style seems to be 1880s.  The embossed cabinet card border and gold script imprint indicate late 1880s.  There is nothing printed on the back.  I would place this card somewhere around 1885-1890.