Wednesday, May 1, 2013

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 254: Devier J. Smith in Concordia, Kansas, 1885

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection passed to me by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:




The back of the photograph:


This is a photograph of my second great-grandfather, Devier James Lamphier Smith (1839-1894) in  his finest double-breasted suit, complete with watch chain, top hat and riding crop (?).  This may be what he wore to sell his bottles of hair tonic for $2.00 each (see My favorite snake oil salesman).

The information on the back of the photograph defines the place where the photo was taken as Concordia, Kansas.  The Smith family moved from Concordia to McCook, Nebraska in May 1885 to start a new business (a livery stable) and perhaps a new life (his in-laws, Samuel and Mary Ann Vaux died in the five years previous).  It seemed like they moved somewhere else after a family member died.  

When I made my note on the back of the photograph (I know, I should not have used a ball point pen - I was uneducated in the 1990 time frame!), I thought it was Devier, but I wasn't sure.  I am convinced that this is a photograph of Devier now based on all of the collected evidence, but this is the only picture I have of him after 1870, and fortunately it is time dated and place certain.

One reason I really like this photograph is that it is one of the few I have of a bearded ancestor.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/05/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-254.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
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2 comments:

T said...

No surprise but my relatives also lived in McCook and within the past month found the remarriage and death information for her. When I saw McCook in your post I thought sure you'd found another of my relatives but I guess not this time. Now I'm wondering how many of "our" relatives you've posted about before I found you! The one last week was also mine so I did put it on ancestry as a story just like I did the first one I got from you. I just copied and pasted the whole thing. That way your comments and your info went there with it. You never know who might see it and want to find you. Thanks, Randy!

Geolover said...

That's a lovely photo.

What he is holding in his right hand is mysterious. A riding crop would not be so thin and would be shorter than the length shown in the image -- with a handle having a loop (think the sort of thing many umbrellas have).

A fly-fishing rod? I am not sure any were made of metal at that time, and I see no 'eyes' for the line.

Fencing foil? It would not be held that way.

Something to do with his occupation?