{"id":1171,"date":"2012-10-15T21:46:35","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T04:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2020-11-26T12:06:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T20:06:10","slug":"civil-war-era-photo-album-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackenedroots.com\/blog\/civil-war-era-photo-album-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil War era photo album, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In part 1 of this post<\/a>, I introduced a Civil War photo album that had been owned and put together by Lewis and Ruth Black, sometime around the Civil War or just afterwards. The album has spaces for 24 photos, and 23 of these spaces are filled with cartes de visite photos.<\/p>\n

In order to determine when, where, and why the album was put together, I carefully removed each of the contained photos and scanned each of them, both front and back sides, to look for clues. In this post, I’ll present the resulting scans and will try to determine who these people are, and when and where the photos were made.<\/p>\n

Below are the scanned images of all of the photographs contained in Lewis and Ruth’s photo album:<\/p>\n

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On the first page is an unidentified woman. It is an albumen print mounted on a carte de visite.\u00a0Thanks to the presence of the 2\u00a2 revenue stamp, we know that the photo was taken between August 1, 1864, and August 1, 1866, and that the photo cost less than 25\u00a2. The photo was taken by V. B. Massey of Lancaster, Ohio.<\/p>\n

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The next photo is of an unidentified young boy.\u00a0It is an albumen\u00a0print mounted on a carte de visite.<\/p>\n

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The next photo is of an unidentified young man.\u00a0It is an\u00a0albumen print mounted on a carte de visite.<\/p>\n

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The next photo is of an older,\u00a0unidentified woman.\u00a0It is an\u00a0albumen\u00a0print mounted on a carte de visite.\u00a0The photo was taken by Schaub & Peterson of Des Moines, Iowa.<\/p>\n

While I so far have no evidence to support my hunch, I suspect that this may be a photo of Lewis’ mother, Mary (Blosser) Black (1807\u20131862). This photo differs from the rest in terms of the amount dark stains (insect excrement?) on both sides of the photo, leading me to believe that this photo spent a significant amount of time unprotected by frame, case, or album before being added to this album. Perhaps this photo was taken with Lewis to war, or was with him in the hospital while he recovered from his wounds, or just was displayed on its own in his house for some time?<\/p>\n

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The next photo is of a woman identified as Matilda Pollen.\u00a0It is an\u00a0albumen\u00a0print mounted on a carte de visite.\u00a0The 2\u00a2 revenue stamp indicates that the photo was taken between August 1, 1864, and August 1, 1866, and that the photo cost less than 25\u00a2.\u00a0The photo was taken by M. I. Braddock of New Lexington, Ohio.<\/p>\n

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The next photo is of a young woman identified as Hattie Black.\u00a0It is an\u00a0albumen print mounted on a carte de visite.\u00a0The photo was taken by C. W. Borah of Lancaster, Ohio.<\/p>\n

None of Lewis’ 11 sisters (Jemima, Rebecca, Mary Jane, Miriam, Minerva, Charlotte, Matilda, Ellen, Kate, Clara Ann, or Isabella) has a name close to Hattie, so perhaps Hattie Black was a first cousin. Lewis’ father Benoni had six brothers (William, Demosthenes, Charles, Alen, Charles [again], and Israel) who would have passed the Black surname on to Lewis’ first cousins:<\/p>\n