A Case of the Same Initials: Wilbur F. or William F. Kilborn Studio Portrait, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1880s

This unidentified young couple had their portrait taken  at the W. F. Kilborn studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the 1880s. 

Ontario-born Wilbur F. Kilborn opened his photographic studio in Cedar Rapids in 1864 and operated there until 1886.  Though hard to see in the image above, this item has the WFK logo in the imprint.  The only difficulty with saying that Wilbur F. was the photographer is that Wilbur's nephew, William Franklin Kilborn apprenticed with Wilbur Kilborn around this time and eventually took over the studio from his uncle. It's difficult to say which W.F. Kilborn is the creator of this image.  More research would have to be done into the various photographers imprints used by these photographers, and there seems to be very few samples of their work online.

 

Work cited:

Palmquist, Peter E, Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide:  A Biographical Dictionary.

Annie's from Wingham, but where's Eleanor from? 1890s, Port Arthur, Ontario

 

On the reverse, in pencil, "Annie McIntosh from Wingham, Eleanor Anne Sharpe."

 

I'd love to learn more about the costumes Annie and Eleanor are wearing. Unfortunately, there isn't information included on the photograph about the event or occasion that prompted this photograph.

We do know that the photograph was taken in Port Arthur, Ontario by William Barrie, who operated a photographic studio in that town from 1886 to 1896. I would date this one to sometime in the 1890s. I've researched William Barrie before concerning another photograph in my collection. For more information on William John Barrie, please see "Unidentified Orphan Photo: Arm Around Her Dolly."

I searched a little on Ancestry to see if I could locate a suitable Annie McIntosh in the Canadian censuses. I am guessing that Wingham is the town located in Huron County, Ontario but it could, of course, be any town named Wingham. And, there are quite a few in North America and abroad. I could not find her. As for Eleanor, I couldn't link to an exact match for her in Port Arthur. She could have lived in a nearby town, but I could not find one more likely than any another in the list of Eleanor Sharpes in the censuses.

Any ideas, readers? 

 

What-A-Shame: Four Generations from Sweden

Four generations of men:  the eldest, 83 years. The youngest, little Edmund, is six weeks.  Unfortunately, I can not decipher the handwriting in the corner. I believe this family is Swedish, because of the caption words år (year) and vecker (weeks). Men's fashions are difficult to date, but if I had to guess, I would pinpoint this one around 1910 and add a liberal leeway.

What a shame there isn't more to go on.

A Name Passed Down: Alcy J. Miner, Sylvania, Ohio, Early 1880s

For the longest time, I thought that  Miss Miner had signed her name "Aley Miner."  Eventually, through my research, I realized that her first name is actually "Alcy" and that Alcy was a given name that appears throughout her family tree, right up to contemporary times. The transcriber of the 1870 census on both Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org, also thought that she was an Aley. The later censuses, however, list her as Alcy. 

Alcy was born in Ohio around 1863, the daughter of Hiram and Mary Jane Miner¹. She had a sister named Irene, who was born 1866. Her father, Hiram, was a Farmer, originally from New York and her mother, Mary McIntyre, was born in Michigan.

According to Gayleen Gindy's book, Sylvania, Lucas County, Ohio: From Footpaths to Expressways and Beyond, Alcy's father Hiram was the son of Dr. Amos Miner (1788-1854) and Alcy Case Miner (?-1852). Amos Minor was one of the earliest doctors to practice medicine in Lucas County. Gindy writes, "Alcy J Miner had married Homer D. Hyde and they lived on this Corey Road property in Sylvania Township for many years. They had a daughter and named her Alcy. O. Hyde."

I had a look at the Toledo City Directories and learned that the photographer of this image, E. H. Alley of Toledo, Ohio, operated his photographic studio at 324 Superior from roughly 1869 to 1887, but worked from other addresses both prior to, and after his time at 324 Superior. 

I believe this photograph can be dated to the early 1880s. The knife-pleated cuffs, with the sleeves that are set high along the shoulder line, and her lovely lace scarf seem to me to be of that time period. I wish I could see more of her skirt to get a better sense of her entire outfit.

Alcy J. Miner Hyde died in Lucas County, Ohio on the 21st of April 1923 at the age of 60 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo². 

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1 "United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6LM-P3C : accessed 27 Oct 2012), Aley J Miner in household of Hiram Miner, Ohio, United States; citing p. 29, family 249, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 552735.^↩
2 "Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8RY-VK3 : accessed 27 Oct 2012), Alcy J Hyde, 1923; citing reference fn 27833, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.^↩