ID'ing Location - Cabinet Card Puppies

Bakers, I think you may be right.

 

Couldn't tell at first but the 2 entries just above his are "Grocery Store." The enumerator had a strange way of writing the capital G.

 

Ah, good catch.

 

Here's an hypothesis... maybe Mr. Wormwood's job was at a grainery, and he tanned hides as a second source of income?

 

2 counties away is a long way for the photographer to go take pictures, especially in the boondocks of western Kansas circa 1900, don't you think? It's at least 60 miles as the crow flies between Meade Center and Larned - and there's no direct route, even today.

I have no other hypothesis for where this picture was taken. I'm just skeptical that he would go that far out of his way. Larned must have had a photographer of its own. It was a much bigger town than Meade Center.

The alternative (and maybe this is what you were aiming at, Pat) is that Wormwood had a second business located closer to the source of the hides. And that somewhere was closer to Meade Center?

 

I guess we will have to see what they say when they reply!

 

Reply? Who?

 

What you said makes sense, Bakers.

Have we established an approximate time frame for the photo? I'm not so good at doing that.

If the photo is earlier than 1900, it could be Wormwood lived in the Meade area at the time. I found what appeared to be an entry for him in the 1870 Census in NY, but didn't see an entry for him in the 1880 or 1890 Census.

If the photo is later than 1910, the 1920 census said he was in Larned and had no occupation. So by then he may have been retired. It could be he had a sideline then in Meade, but I'd think that's less likely, especially with the Census entry saying he had no occupation.

 

Given that the men all appear to be wearing the kind of shirts that require a separate collar, I had assumed it was probably 1900-1910. Admittedly, the style out in the country may have been lagging behind what men were wearing in the cities, but I can't imagine that it's much later than that.

 

The Museum & The historical website mentioned in the first reply of the thread.

 

A Kansas Census from 1915 shows he was still in Larned then.

Could they have been wearing that style of clothing in the 1890s?

 

Oh! I missed that you were going to write them. Sorry - it's over 90 degrees here and my brain is going to mush.

 

It might have to be, the earliest I find Mosser in Meade Center in late 1870's and the latest is 1890. I can't find records of his studio after that. But maybe I'm just coming up short on info.

 

Haha no big deal! Just see what they have to say! If anything at all! Haha

 

My guess is the card dates from mid 1880's to 1890's. But that's just a guess

 

There's a paragraph on this site that shares what Ella Boyd Wormwood (Lewis Wormwood's wife) said about a sod house on the Boyd ranch in Pawnee County in the 1870s. So I take it that she lived in the county when she was young.

 

I love all the bowler/derby hats! All in the style of Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid, & Butch Cassidy. The history of that hard felt style hat is very interesting. It started c1840s in England as presumably an answer to more head protection for gamekeepers on horseback. The top hats they were wearing were knocked off by low branches, etc. These hats were made very sturdy to supposedly support a man jumping on the top of them. By the 20th century they became the hat associated with bankers and government folks In England.

The fashion migrated to this side of the pond. It was quite popular in the west. Some historians called it the "hat that won the west" rather then the Stetson. Presumably cowboys and railroad men liked them because they "would not blow off easily in strong wind," or when sticking one's head out the window of a speeding train.

Seems a gang of Baltimore volunteer firemen (c1850s) that earned the name of "Plug Uglies" worn them. The "Plug Uglies" were brawlers who would stuff the derbies with blocks of wood for more head protection.
http://www.thehathouse.net/2013/07/the-history-of-bowler-hat-or-derby-hat.html

--- Susan

Dodge City Peace Commission taken 1883.
From left to right, standing: W.H. Harris (derby), Luke Short, Bat Masterson (derby), W.F. Petillon. Seated: Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, Frank McLain. The article said the other hats were called the "Boss of the Plains."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_of_the_Plains#/media/File:DodgeCityPoliceCommission.jpg

 

Wow! Very cool! So the photo could be from the 1880's - 1890's as it seems their fashion is about then in (Western American) terms.

 

The five men all are sitting on a piece of farm equipment, that looks more connected with grain harvesting than anything to do with hides or leather, if that's of any importance. Maybe someone can identify specifically what it is.

I always am amazed at the diverse bits of information that can be gained from some of these old photos!

 

It's funny - as soon as I saw the photo, I thought of Wyatt Earp.