Father & Son? ID'ing Help

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if I could get some opinions.

I purchased these photos from the same individual and
I'm not sure if they are brothers, Father & Son etc.

They have the same name on the back. But one
looks too young to be the same as the man in the other photo.
Though they look very similar.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Scantic

 

The signatures are more different that the faces.

I was going to say the pictures were the same man some years apart, but then I saw the writing.

 

Now I'm back to "same guy." The only D S Geist in Lancaster County, PA in the mid to late 1800's was a Daniel Geist, born about 1850, blacksmith, son of Jacob. He did eventually have a son Daniel, but he wasn't born until 1899.

 

Information with year date(s) on Thomas Cummings as a photographer in Lancaster, PA, in link below.

http://gregfrenchearlyphotography.com/reigart.html

I did a quick look around but didn't find anything on "Jamison & Benson" photographers in Lancaster, PA.

I will say that the two men certainly look related to some degree at the very least.

 

http://www.lancasterhistory.org/photographs/lancaster-photographers/1916-jamison-j-m

This says Jamison & Benson 1864-66

 

I vote with Baker, same man with pics taken just a a few years apart. I took the liberty of correcting the perspective of the picture so as not to be looking *up* at them from their feet, and editing the one on the left in hopes of getting a better look at his face. On close-up the faces look the same as to eyes, nose and lips. The hairline is receding in the same way on both pics. The style of the beards are very similar. In both the beards are darker than his hair on top. The one on the left may have a bit more hair on top, but that may be caused by the way the head is turned to the right while the other we are seeing left side of his head? It looks like both photographers were located on North Queen St. It seems Jamison & Benson may have been a few years later than Cummings. If I am interpreting the 2 pics above, Jamison & Benson were the photographers of the pic on the right where he may have less hair on top?

As to the sigs, there are similarities though not identical. It doesn't means he, the subject, signed them. My sig. is never the same and from year to year has changed. The pic on our right looks more formal; therefore, he may have taken more care on signing if indeed it is his sig.

--- Susan

 

To me, the one with more flourishes looks like is is probably a signature. The other, smaller one might or might not be a sig. It might just be somebody writing the person's name on the back as an identification. Although there are some similarities (and differences) between the two.

 

Another possibility about the dates -- the one on the right, the sort of vignette style one, might possibly be a copy of a different, older photo. It's hard to tell, though. That vignette style was popular for a time and could include original photos and copies.

And I just re-read the information Bakers provided about Daniel Geist. If he was born in 1850 he was not likely to be the man in the photos. The photo on the left is definitely from the 1860s. That stripe around the edge of the card is definitive. I also think the one without the stripe looks more like 1860s than any other time. It could possibly be from the early 1870s. And to me, the man in the photos looks too old to have been in his teens or early 20s when the photos were taken.

 

Thanks for the info on likely dates, Fig. I was hoping that the D S Geist name search would bring up someone older than what I ended up finding from my gut feeling before I started. Back to the drawing board!

 

I was originally dead set that it was one and the same person - at two different ages!!! However.....One does not usually develop a 'shorter forehead' as they age!!! Although the nose does get longer!!! The younger guy has quite an already receded hairline! But there does seem to be a resemblance......

 

Well, looking back to 1850 I was able to find 2 more D Geist's of older age than the first one living in Lancaster County. Of them, 1 has the middle initial S. The other left for Ohio shortly after the 1850 Census, so I would count him out.

Fortunately, the D S Geist, who was born mid-teens and died 1901, still in Lancaster County, is listed on several trees, one of which has a picture of him in the prime of life. Unfortunately, that picture bears no apparent similarity to Scantic's pictures.

 

Perhaps D S Geist was from a neighboring county.

 

Here's a thought. The image on the right seems to be an earlier style of image, pre-Civil War, being just the "floating head". This image may also be a copy of a daguerreotype as the clothing looks older than cdv era and he looks younger. The left image is the same guy but mid 1860's? Just another angle...

 

Wow thank you so much all with the replies! I'm sorry I have not been back, my father is moving into a new house and I've been bogged up moving all of his things from one place to another. Setting him up again. At his age, he's able to move very little! lol

Any who!

Wow thank you so much for all of the help! I appreciate it! I also do think it's the same fellow. I think the answer above about the daguerreotype maybe correct. Someone also mentioned this on the Victorian Images group (FB).