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We see a range of 1890s outfits in family portraits archived on HBC. Many mothers used age grading on outfits. Younger boys wore dresses. Some were done in boy styles. Plaid was popular for boys' dresses. After breeching boys might wear Fauntlroy suits, sometimes with ringlet curls. Boys very commonly wore sailor suits. There were a range of different suit styles. Boys often wore suit jackets that buttobed at the collar rather than more adult sack suits with lapels. Boys might just wear blouses during the summer. It was common to add lace or ruffled collars. The ruffled collars gradually replaced the lace collars as the decade progressed. Some mothers added large floppy bows. Kneepants became almost universal for boys and by the end of the decade quite old boys were wearing them. Boys commonly wire long stockings, although rural boys would go barefoot during the summer.A popular convention was to dress all the children alire or to coordinate their outfits. There were importnt regionzal and class differences.
This cabinent card is undated, but looks to have been taken about 1890. We are, however, not at all sure about this date. It easily could have been taken in the 1880s. The portrait is of a mother and her two children. We know the mother's name--Polly. But we do not know the children's names. All we have is the inscription, "Polly and the babies." So weare unsure about the gender of the children, but they certinly look like boys. Mother has dressed both in what look like matching or similar white dresses. The image does not provide a lot of setail. This type of dress - for boys - was quite common in the latter part of the 19th century. The oldr child on the left looks about 9 years old. The white dress he is wearing comes down to just below his knees. Notice his ears and hair. The boy on the right is seated. He looks about 5 years old, and is also wearing a shin length white dress. He is holding, what appears to be, a toy stuffed animal in his lap. Mother looks a little haggard, but we would guess that the family was fairly affluent. This cabinet photograph was taken by Speake of 807 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri.
A HBC reader has set us an unidentified portrait of an American family. There are four children. All we know is that their mother was nammed Ella and that three of the four children are boys. The children wear an Eton collar, a Fauntleroy suit, and white dresses. We assume that the older child in the dress is a girl. We have seen boys wearing dresses like this child, but as the boy in the Fauntleroy suit looks younger, almost certainly this child is a girl. The children seem to be wearing long black tockings. One interesting aspect of this portrait is the headwear shown. One boy holds a cap. Two has for laid out in frint of the children. It is not immediately apparent who would wear the other two hats. In particular we do not now who would have worn the wide-brimmed hat with the white band.
Here we have a Rhode Island family showing three siblings. The portrait is unidentified and undated. We believe that it may have been taken about 1890. The older children are a boy and girl. We believe that the younger child wearing a plaid dress is also a boy. The portrait was taken in Westerly, Rhode Island. We believe that the children come from a prosperous city family.
Here we have a portrait of the Jamerson Family in 1890. They lived in Lincoln County, Missouri. They look to live in a larger town. I would think that they are a middle-class family. The clothibg is not elegant, but there is some attempt to dress stylishly. The family does seem to rasonably fixed, but I would not say affluent. The daughter in the background does seem to have a fancy outfit. Dhe seems much more smartly dressed than the others. The two boys in the foreground wear kneepants suits, one with a pin-on lace collarf.
This family had eight children. I think this and the fact theportrait was taken in a small town means that this was a farm family. The portrait we have seems to be yhe older children, two girls and a boy. They look about 9-13 years old. The girls wear identical collars, but with slightly different lace collars. We're not sure about the color of thedresses, but it was a dark color. The major difference is their hair. One has shrt hair and the other long hair. The boy is wearing a sailor outfit. The photogrpher was the Fenner Brothers in Creston, Iowa. The portrait is not dated, but the clothing styles and perforated mount suggests the 1890s to us.
Here we have an image of the Powers family, a large, extended rural family. The portrait is undated, but we would guess about the 1890s. The portrait shows both the family and the family home. One curious aspect of the family is that one of the children looks to be a rather old boy wearing a dress. Another much younger boy wears kneepants. Another child who we think is a girl has ringlet curls. Hopefully HBC readers will have some thoughts on this portrait.
A HBC reader has provided us a portrait from a family albumn as they are trying to figure out just who the family depicted are. HBC dates the image to the 1890s, probably the late 1890s--but that is only an estimate. The boys' clothing suggests that they are an urban family, perhaps a relatively recent immigrant family. One boy wears a sailor suit and the other what looks to be a double-breasted suit. The HBC reader would appreciate any insights as to the date of the image.
Unfortunalely we have no information about this unidentified American family. It is also undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1890s. The portrait has a white border which might help date it. We do not know who the children are, but surely they are a sister and two brothers. They all look to be wearing very frilly white smocks. Usually smocks were a more utilitarian garment. Perhaps the garments are better described as summer frocks. The older boy looks a bit old to still be wearing frocks. Many mothers at the time liked to address the children in identical outfits. They are dressed alike except that the older chilren wear black long stockings and the younger boy short white socks.
We note a portrait of the Beasley family in 1890. The portrait was taken in Tennesse, but we are unsure just where. It looks to be a farm fmily or at least a family in a rural area. Presumably the portrit was taken by an itinerate photographer as the photograph was taken outside the family home. There are four sons and and three daughters. One of the daughters may be an aint.The boys all wear suits, the younger boys wear kneepnts and are barefoot.
We note a cabinet card which depicts a Victorian era American family. The wife is wearing an outfit with a blouse of very beautiful heavy dark material. Her hair done is diifferent than we have noted on most ladies in the 1890s. The sons are wearing dark kneepants suits. One boy's suit has a jacket with vertical pleats. The boys both have large white collars. One is an Eton collar the other is a ruffled collar. Such differences were often employed in age grading, but these boys are very close in age, Both have large bows. Dad’s looking a tad harried. This photo was taken at Mater Art Studio, located in Chanute, Kansas. One source suggests the portrait was taken in 1891, but I believe that is only an estimate. This may be a farm family, but we are not sure.
Dr. Thomas Jefferson Ozment was the family patriarch. Dr. Ozment was born March 12, 1838 in Anderson County, South Carolina. He died July 29, 1916, more than two decades after this portrait was taken, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was a medical doctor. Dr. Ozment married Elizabeth Murphy. They had two children. She died April 12, 1869. Dr. Ozment Than he married Mattie J. Bailey October 21, 1869, in Echola, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. They had 10 children. The portrait of the family here was taken in Tuscaloosa August 9, 1893. There are several children in the portrait. We do not know their identity. Most must be his children, but there may also be grandchildren as well.
Here we have an unidentified American family. The family is unidentified, but the elegant outfits suggest to us that is an affluent urban family. WE see the parents and five older children. One boys who looks to be about 13 years pld wears kneepants. Noys in the 1890s wore rather tight-cut, knee-length kneepants with black long stockings. The one thing we do know is the date of the portrait, July 10, 1893.
Here we see the Whitney family in 1895. The children are three sons and the older daughter (Ray, Tip, Lloyd and Grace). Ray and Tip both wear identical colored blouses with large Peter Pan collars. They also have identical buzz-cuts. I'm not sure what color it would have been. They look about 11 and 8 years old. Lloyd is younger, perhaps about 4 years old. He is not yet breached and still wears a dress--a light colored one. His curls have also not yet been cut and contras sith the short hair of his older brothers. Their older sisters wears an unusual black collar.
These unidentified brothers had their protrait taken in the 1890s (figure 1). The boys look to be about 4-11 years old. We are unsure about the social status of the family. We do know the photograph was taken in Rome, New York. We are not sure precisely when, but would guess the mid-1890s. The brothers wear different suits, but the choice of the same ruffled collars and bows make them look like they are dressed alike. Note the difference in their jackets. Only the second boys wears an actual Fauntleroy jacket. Note how long the older boy's jacket is. While the jackets are different, all four boys wear the same kneepants and long stockings. Note the body language in the portraits. The two middle brothers seem especially close.
George Nelson Bailey lived in Houston County, Tennessee. The photograph here of his family was taken about 1897, presumably by a itenerate photographer. We see not only the family, but there home as well. The family left to right includes Dora Elizabeth, Authur Mumford, Maude (standing), George Nelson Bailey, Fred David, Claude Eldridge (standing), Bell Brigham (my Dad), Melinda Pearl (baby), Martha Elizabeth Waynick Bailey, Hicks Sizemore. Notice the younger boy wearing a cut-away jacket. That seems a rather dated style in 1897. We are guessing it is a hand-me-down and reflects the fact that rural people often did not have the latest fashions.
We see the Strange family in Sebastian County, Arkansas. We believe this is a farm family photographed by an itenerate photographer. It looks like the chairs have been brought out from the house and set in the sun for a good image. Father wears a dark suit and sports a glorious handle-bar mustache. Mother has a voluminous white blouse. The girls wear white dresses. Notice how the oldest girl has shoes and long black stockings. The bous have b;looses with wide fancy collars. The wear kneepants. Notice how almost all of the children are barefoot even foir this formal portrait.
The Back family had their portrait taken in 1898. They were from Harrodsburg, Indiana, a small town south of Bloomington. This was a farming community, but we know nothing about this family. Anna Back and her husband Andrew Gordon Back had two sons, Lloyd (sitting in the front row) and Ralph (standing). Lloyd is about 11 years old; Ralph is about 15 years. The family looks to be prosperous. Here they are dressed up for a formal studio portrait. Lloyd wears an
impeccable knee pants suit with long black stockings and hightop shoes. Notice his hair neatly parted in the center. Ralph, who also has a center part, wears an equally dressy single-breasted suit. He is also probably wearing knee pants and black stockings like his younger brother although we can't be sure because his lower body is hidden. The boys' father, Andrew Gordon Back, sits in a chair to the right.
Here we have another large farm family. It is the Dunning family who were photographed on the steps of the front porch of their frame farmhouse in Redford, Michigan. There look to be three generations. Two of the younger boys at front wear blouses and floppy bows. The other wears a sailor suit. All three are barefoot. They alsi have cropped hair. An older boy who looks to ne anout 12 wears a janyty cap with a shirt, knee pants and long stockings. One little girl looks to be wearing a white dress. The portrait is compleye with the family hound. One unusual aspect for what looks to be a well estanlished, staid family is what appears to be a bottle of booze.
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