From the Bretzman Studio, Indianapolis: Unknown Boy, circa 1901-1904

I just love this image and wish I knew the name of this young man.  Provenance may help identify him someday.  The portrait was found with photographs and documents belonging to the Ealey family of Clay County, Indiana.  Some of the collateral lines of this particular Ealey family were Muncie, Kolcheck, and Presnell.  Perhaps there is some connection with one of these families.

The photographer was Charles F. Bretzman (1866-1934), working out of his studio at 142 S. Illinois Street, Indianapolis.  Bretzman came to Indianapolis at the turn of the century and opened his first studio at this location in 1902.  He moved to a new studio in 1905 at 22 1/2 N. Pennsylvania Street, which tells us this photograph was taken sometime between the years 1902 and 1904.  There are a number of photographs by Bretzman on the Indiana Historical Societies' Photographer collection, donated by Charles' son, Noble Bretzman, who was also a well-known and respected portrait photographer.  I searched through the collection online but did not find this photograph there.

William Calvin Presnell and Claudie Moon, Marriage Portrait, Danville, Indiana, 1897

In a previous post, The Marriage of George Ealey and Malissa Rader, I researched the bride and groom's respective family trees.  Through this research I learned that George Ealey was the son of William and Wealthy Hicks Ealey.  One of the items I found along with George and Malissa's marriage license was a photograph labelled in pencil, "Willey Presnol & wife, first cousin of mom."

I recalled seeing a similar surname in one of the books I had consulted on the Ealey family.  I went back to A Standard history of Champaign County, Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development, a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1918.  William Ealey moved to Champaign County in 1891 and received an extensive biographical entry in volume 2 of the book.  The biography included information on William Ealey's children and told me that George Ealey's brother, William M. married Louisa Presnell, of Clay County, Indiana.  I also discovered in the Indiana Marriage Index, that George's sister Sarah Ann Ealey, married Louisa Presnell's brother, John R. Presnell.  The 1870 US Census for Jackson, Clay County shows the family of Calvin and Jane Presnell, with brother and sister, John R., 15 and Louisa F., 12, along with 5 other siblings.

John R. and Sarah Presnell, had a son named William Calvin, born 9th of April 1878.  The family lived in Sugar Ridge, Clay County, Indiana.  William or "Willey" Presnell married Claudie Ethel Moon on the 27th of July, 1898 in Danville, Indiana.  I believe this is who we see in the picture above.

According to the 1906 Canada Census for Manitoba, William C. and Claudie Presnell moved to Saskatchewan in 1905 and lived in the Humboldt area.  William's mother Sarah Ann Ealey Presnell remarried after her husband John died, and  moved to Humboldt as well.  Her second husband, Mr. Barnett passed away shortly after arriving.  She, and a few other Presnells from Clay County can be found in Humboldt on the 1906 census as well.

So who owned this photograph?  The question makes my head hurt just a little bit, but I believe "Mom" is Ora Ealey Kolcheck, daughter of George and Melissa Ealey.  William Calvin Presnell would be Ora's first cousin.  The grouping of artifacts I found seem to have Ora as the main link to all of the artifacts.  So it's my belief that one of her children wrote the notation, with the mispelled surname, on the back of this photograph.

Update: November 2012
This image has been reunited with a descendant in Missouri.