Unidentified photo: 2 dashing Greensburg men

Unidentified Family Photo by R. W. Snyder

c. 1885


Cabinet card by R.W. Snyder, Portrait & Landscape Photographer, East Side Square, Greensburg, Indiana.

Unidentified Shelbyville cabinet card

El Reno, Oklahoma to Greensburg, Indiana

Unidentified photo from the museum's collections

I'm so curious to know how this photo made it's way to Greensburg! The card imprint names the photographer as C. C. Stotz of El Reno, Oklahoma. This photo was likely taken after 1907, when Oklahoma became a state.

According to census records and city directories, Christopher Stotz lived in El Reno with his wife Clara in the early 1900's. Many more Stotz photos are at the Oklahoma Historical Society. You can view them by searching their online database for "Stotz."

Family Photos: Unidentified Wilkens of Carthage, Illinois

This photo of five unidentified adults, from the Decatur County Historical Society's collection, gives a couple of good clues. The cabinet card gives the name and location of the photographer: Sympson in Carthage, Ill. Also, the name "Wilkens" is hand-written on the back. 

In the 1900 census, there was a photographer named Crittenden Sympson living in Carthage (Hancock County, Illinois), and a farmer named Charles Wilkens was living near Carthage in Sonora with his wife, Mary and their 7 children: George, David, Valley, Charles, Gabriel, John and Ralph. 

If you know more about this photo or how this family is connected to Decatur County, please contact us or leave a comment.

Cabinet Card Gallery: Two girls, unidentified

This Greensburg cabinet card from the Decatur County Historical Society shows two unidentified girls - sisters, maybe?  

Cabinet Card Gallery: Man with cats

This cabinet card, part of the Decatur County Historical Society's collection, features an unidentified man with several cats. 

Beck's Studio

John W. Beck was another Greensburg photographer during the cabinet card era. John was born 30 March 1865, and came to Indiana to teach school. During his years as a teacher, he became interested in photography, and began photographing professionally in 1885.

John lived in Osgood, Knightstown, Carthage and Kokomo before he settled in Greensburg. He married Dollie Smith 25 December 1891. Beck's Studio opened in 1911, and was still operating when Harding's History of Decatur County was published in 1915.

Milly Applegate photographed at Beck's Studio, Greensburg, Ind., c.1911

Beck's Studio Imprint

Beck's Studio on Main Street, south side, one block from the square

Photo provided by Decatur County Historical Society

If you know more about Beck's Studio, please share in the Comments section.

If you'd like to share a photo taken at Beck's Studio, please contact us!

We'd love to post it on our blog.

Family Photos: Millard Hudson's Main Street Studio

 Does your family photo collection include any cabinet cards? A cabinet card is usually a 4½ x 6½ inch photo mounted on cardboard. These were popular in the late 1800’s, but they quickly went out of style with the introduction of the affordable, easy-to-use Kodak “Brownie” camera in 1900. Cabinet cards are nice because they often identify the photographer on the back, which can help you place a photo in a time and place.

This photo of Ella A. Applegate was taken at Millard Hudson's photography studio at 9 1/2 Main Street opposite the Hotel DeArmond in Greensburg. Millard A. Hudson was born in Napoleon, Decatur County in 1858. He owned Greensburg's leading photography studio for a number of years before he quit due to health problems.

There are many ways to date a photo and identify where it was taken. In Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900, Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor explains how to use hairstyles to date photos. This can be a great place to start if you have no other clues. The short, frizzed bangs in this photo indicate that it was probably taken between 1880 and 1890 - and the bangs could be fake ones attached to a comb!

To learn more about decoding your family photos, you might like another book by Taylor: Uncovering your ancestry through family photographs. Both books are available at the Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library. If you would like to share a photo taken at Millard Hudson's studio, please contact us!

Source: Harding, Lewis, History of Decatur County, Indiana. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co.,1915.