A few more glass negatives for those interested

You have to start reading Mary Roberts Rinehart stories. This looks just like a scene from one of her Tish Carberry novels.

 

I wonder if that's "Mrs. Campliers" in the flat cap just to the right of the fellow in dark hat looking straight into the camera.

Are there any New Hampshire references?

 

He must had a precarious perch along that trail.

I would not have guessed the west, but they could have still been living in Ohio which would have made it a bit easier.

So, his parents were Samuel G Willson, who died in 1898. His mother was Allie Bushnell. There is a family plot in a cemetery in Columbus, but it doesn't give birth dates for the parents.

 

I also thought that pic looked faked. Sooo cropped, zoomed, edited... for a better look. Still not sure, but do think the beard is real now.



Going back to my reply #9.... Gee it would have been interesting if we could see all of the number on that Curtiss "Jenny" biplane. If the number was 44925, "...44925 (135 OS) w/o in takeoff accident at Linden, AL Nov 30, 1922..." this picture might be a real prize for you. Curtiss "Jenny" Serial number 44925 was the plane of the WWI air ace James Armand Meissner after he returned to the states. His flying comrades in WWI were Eddie Rickenbacker and the Lafayette Escadrille. After WWI, he moved to Birmingham, AL where he was instrumental in organizing the Birmingham Air Flying Club. "It was Alabama's first Air National Guard unit and the 7th in the United States." While flying with this group, he was their commander officer, he crashed his "Jenny" outside of Birmingham near Linden, AL. He survived unhurt but the plane was totalled. He died in the 1930s. Rickenbacker was one of the pallbearers at his funeral. His ashes are buried in Arlington National Cemetery

1. Scroll a good 3/4ths of the way down the page to the line:
"221130 JN-6H AS 44925 135Sq Birmingham, AL TOA 5 Meissner, James A. USA AL Linden, AL"
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/1940sB4/1922.htm
2. Scroll about 1/3rd of the way down the page:
http://www.jeffcohistory.com/newsletter_Apr_13_pg2.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Armand_Meissner

--- Susan

 

I was having a tough time understanding how Willson and Meissner could have any connection, especially after reading the Birmingham AL information Susan posted that implied the Meissner spent his childhood there. And I do know that Wikipedia is fraught with veracity issues - but the Wiki page about him says he "grew up in Brooklyn" and graduated from Erasmus Hall HS there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Armand_Meissner

So, since Willson was living in Brooklyn when Meissner was in HS (he was born in 1896 so high school would have been around 1910 - 1914) I wonder if they knew each other - neighbors maybe, or maybe he was a friend of Cleo's? It just seems otherwise quite improbable that a hobbyist photographer would travel all the way to Alabama to take his picture (assuming that's him in the pilot's seat in the photo.)

 

Maybe just a friend who flew there, had his/her photo taken?

Thank you to ALL whom have done so much research on this, so interesting.

Book, can you see for sure that the horses crew is same people as in the photo under tree?
I cannot see well enough to tell..

 

Susan thank you for the enlargement, looks more "natural" hair and beard now but the rest totally staged.

 

The while thing looks fake -- the facial hair, the pose, and so on. The background looks wrong for the outfit. It all looks to me like someone having a lot of fun with costumes and props (including the pipe). I like it a lot, but I think it's a gag.

The way the small revolver is 'carried' is utterly impractical. However, it leads me to think the dressed up person is in fact a woman. A man already has a 'weapon' in that position, a woman might feel the need of one. Or it might be ironic?

 

>I was having a tough time understanding how Willson and Meissner could have any connection ...It just seems otherwise quite improbable that a hobbyist photographer would travel all the way to Alabama to take his picture (assuming that's him in the pilot's seat in the photo.)<

I agree, Bake, improbably. Oh well, just thought I'd throw out the info on Meissner anyways. BTW, I doubt the man in the plane is the pilot because he is in the wrong seat. I've flown a few times in a 2 seated biplane. The pilot always sat in the rear seat. I think the pilot is standing on the ground with the old leather helmet on. I tried to compare the pics of Meissner from those articles to any of the men in the picture, but can't say for sure if either looks like Meissner. Those pics of him seemed to have been taken during WWI possibly 5 years before like c1917-18. Here's another pic of him showing him with a broader face more like the possible pilot in the pic. Scroll down a little to the newspaper clipping:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49259068

--- Susan

 

I was just going to say that, if nobody else had already!

 

You're a braver woman than I, Susan!

And a better "searcher" as well.

Even if that's not Meissner, it was very interesting to read about him and his exploits.

 

Yes, I thought it was a woman back in my post #13.

Still looks like a woman to me when looking at the overall, said it because to me it looks like the opening of the shirt is edged with a scarf? Or maybe that is the shirt itself, but it looks girly-guy to me. Even the chest looks buxom. JMO

Y'all are fantastic searchers!