Well, that's what is stamped on the back. Almost certainly Thomas McConnell, a commercial photographer who had a studio on Market Square in 1901. And that's it. A few family details, but beyond that, nothing. Letterkenny is town in County Donegal, Ireland. Republic of, not Northern. It's called the Cathedral Town, home of St. Eunan's Cathedral, all on the River Swilly. What can I say, photographs travel. I bought this CDV in the Los Angeles area, just like the previous post.
A fascinating face, indeed. There's something a bit masculine in her visage. The chin and brow line seem more male to me than female. I know I'm probably wrong, but I think there is a slight chance that this woman is actually a man. I spent decades working in photo labs and one of the things that I learned is that if people can think, they'll do it and take pictures, and a lot of men think about wearing women's clothes. But what about when this picture was taken. I started my lab career after the invention of the Polaroid camera and worked into the digital age granting a certain amount of anonymity to those men wanted to wear a dress. Did professional studio photographers of the nineteenth century have special times to take photos of special customers? Probably.
I've mentioned this before. I didn't start this blog to share my found photography collection with the world; I started it because it was scattered all over the place and had become too large to easily view. Anyway, I found an old box of photos while cleaning out a closet and wasn't sure if I had already posted them. I have, after all, been at this for more than 15 years. So, I laid out a dozen or so of them on the table and went back and had a look at everything that's been posted. It took a while. The idea was that if my small sampling hadn't been added to The New Found Photography, I'd assume that none of them had. None of them had, so the good news is that I don't have to buy any more photos for at least a few months. And no, I don't think this trio is on something.
Probably, though for all I know they could be any sort of relative or no relation at all.
The last of the Swedish portrait series. Click on Swedish CDVs to see the rest. I saved this one for the end because it was the only one with anything written on it. It can be hard to read, but "Grandma & Grandpa Erikson." Grandpa is wearing a medal, but from which war? Or is the medal military? It could have been for years of service as a postman. I guess we'll never know.
Another carte de visite from Sweden. I can't imagine that all these photos aren't from the same family. Click on Swedish CDVs to see more. Only one more from this collection is left, so after a few more posts I'll return and finish things up.
Another Swedish portrait from the studios of Arvid Kierling. Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more.
I'm beginning to think I should have called this the Arvid Kjerling collection. Anyway, click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more. The only child's photo in the lot.
I can't imagine that all of these photos from Swedish Photographer Arvid Kjerling aren't related in some way. Some are clearly from the same family, others could be friends. Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to bring up others. Eventually, there willl be seven of them.
Well, the lady on the left is the same woman form the last post, so if nothing else we know that this photo goes with the previous. I was able to find out a bit about the photographer Arvid Kjerling. He was born in 1864 as Karl Teodor Arvid Kjerling. He opened his first photo studio in 1891 in Trollhatton, and moved his business to Karlstad in 1892. He was successful enough to have opened up additional locations before his death in 1917. So, not a long lived person. Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more.
Of the four cabinet cards I purchased, this is the one that might not show a member of the Rayburn family. So, a bit about photographer on T. H. Eulass, a very small bit. Eulass was, apparently, an itinerant photographer. He was known to work out of Joplin, Missouri, as well as Indiana, and Ohio. And of course, Mason City, Illinois.
It's pretty obvious that the man is Eddie Rayburn from the previous post. I still can't find any info on the Rayburn family, but I was able to dig up a bit of information on photographer G. N. Burleigh. He had a studio in Taylorville, Illinois from 1878 to 1886. Then he was in Jerseyville, Illinois for a year in 1888, and finally ended up in the Illinois state capitol, Springfield from 1891-1900. So, at the very least we can pin down this image to a ten year period. But, what was Eddie, his wife, and by the look of it, a new child doing in the state capitol? Did he move from Mason City? A visit?
I hadn't purchased any cabinet cards for awhile, but I just picked up four of them at a reasonable price. Two of them have names written on the back. The top one, "Eddie Rayburn & Family." Then a bit lower on the back, "Ralph, Floyd." I guess the mother didn't merit a mention. The other photo, "Arthur Rayburn." The other two cabinet cards, which I'll be posting in the next two slots, are almost certainly members of the same family. I wasn't able to find anything on the Rayburn family.
As of right now, I haven't been able to locate any information on T. H. Eulass, the photographer of the top photo, but I was able to find a mention of S.M. Miller, whose mark was found on the back of the second image. Samuel M Miller was born in Illinois, in 1839. He's listed in the 1860 census as a farmer. I couldn't find any indication that he served during the Civil War. In 1863 he married Lucea A. Whitney, the daughter of his boarding house landlord. From 1870 to 1900 he's listed as a photographer, and, over the years, father of four children. By 1910, he's a widower and retired. So far, I haven't been able to find a date of death, but I'll try a few more searches with the next two posts.
