John Smith

 

Written on the back, "At foot of John Smith Statue, Lind Porter Photographer, 4/11-1909."  

Were to start.  There's enough of the statue visible that it was easy to match to the John Smith Memorial in Jamestown, Virginia.  But who are the people?  Well, I can't say definitively, but I do have some guesses.  The sculptor was American artist William Couper, born in 1853, died 1942.  The only photographs I could find of him was from earlier in life.  He had a mustache and the same chin shape as the man in the center, although the face is more rounded.  Age perhaps, and certainly many 56 year old men have white hair.  It's the young man next to him that points toward Couper.  His son was a graduate of VMI, the Virginia Military Institute, class of 1904, and he went on to a military career.  As I could only find photos of a young William Couper, his son, also William, all I could find on him was a painting from much latter in life.  But, the man in this picture is wearing a military uniform, so it's a possibility.  Too, the memorial was officially unveiled on May 13, 1910, and it makes sense that it was actually placed in position earlier than that, and that the artist and his family would pose for a picture.  

Now, the statue was the gift of Joseph Bryan and his wife Isobel Lamont Stewart Bryan.  Joseph died in 1904, and Isobel died in 1910.  Clearly Joseph isn't in the picture but the couple had a number of children and the third man might be one of them.  In any case, the statue was officially unveiled by grandson Joseph Bryan III.  According to what I found, he was born in 1904.  As far as the two women go, not a clue, though a family member of some kind is a good guess.  Too, Isobel was the founder of The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.