I found this on my hard drive tonight

I decided to add another copy of this photograph to the blog. Tonight I found this picture on my hard drive saved as a TIFF image, 10 MB in size. I don't have a scan of the back, and there's no writing on the front. So we still don't know for sure who this is. Although I had saved the file as "WmRushCurtis" and unfortunately I don't remember who had the original. And yes, you guessed it, I can't find any notes that would remind me. Since this copy is larger in size than the other one that's already posted, when you click on this one, the details are much easier to see. I'll keep looking through my notes to see if I can find anything about the location of the original. You can see the other post about this photograph, including the image scanned from another copy of this photo at: Definitely a Curtis

Definitely a Curtis

The photographer was J. Pasevitch, located at 274 25th St. in Ogden, Utah. When was Mr. Pasevitch open for business in Ogden? We can search the city directories to find the answer to this question. Knowing when the photographer was open for business in Ogden will help us date when this photograph was taken. We have three different names for this person. Does anyone know for sure who this Curtis family member is? We will have to do some serious photo dating to help us identify who this person is.

1.  Friend Charles Curtis is written on the back of the photo in very light ink or pencil. If this photo was taken in 1890, Friend would have been 37 years old.

2.  Cyrus Jerome Curtis is written on the back of the photo in darker, more recent ink. If this photo was taken in 1890, Cyrus would have been 38 years old.

3.  Benjamin Kingman Curtis -  if this photo was taken about 1890, Benjamin would have been 62 years old. How old do you think the man is in this photo? When the Curtis family moved from Michigan to Utah, they first ended up in Ogden. We don't have exact dates, but suspect they were in Ogden from about 1884 to about 1895. One of Benjamin's descendants, through his son William Rushmer, has three charcoal drawings of the Curtis family. They each measure about 18" x 20" and are done on heavyweight cardboard. On the back of one is written "Family Photographs. Curtis Ancestry. Sarah Lavantia Card Curtis; Benjamin K. Curtis; William R. Curtis; and Ella May Canfield Curtis." The charcoal drawings for Benjamin and Sarah are on separate pieces of cardboard. The one of Sarah has already been uploaded to this blog. The third drawing is a composite of both William and Ella May when they were children, about 3 and 4 years old respectively. So we have four names and three charcoal drawings, which leaves us with the identity of the last one being that of Benjamin Kingman Curtis, the subject in question. With the conflicting identities for this picture, the identified charcoal drawings may not be enough evidence. More detective work is needed, as outlined below. 

Dating this photo by carefully looking at several details:

1.  Style of photograph. I believe this is a Cabinet Card, although I haven't seen the original in person. I have only seen this scanned image. What are the exact measurements of the original photograph? If it's a Cabinet Card, then it should measure about 6 x 4. If the photograph is a Carte de Visite, then it would measure roughly 2 1/2 x 3 inches.

2. The hair style. When did men style their hair the way this person has done?

3.  Clothing. When did men wear clothing like that worn by the person in the photo?

4.  How old do you think this person is?

5.  The photographer. When was this person in business?

6.  The photographer's imprint. How many lines? How ornate is the imprint?

7.  The border, corners, and the card colors both front and back. 

See Estimating When a Cabinet Card Image was Produced for more details in dating old Cabinet Cards. After we have a better idea about when this photo was taken, we can compare it to the ages of the four men to see if we can determine exactly who this person is.