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Here we see a farm mother with her two boys dressed in identical plaid Fauntleroy blouses. The mount helps date the imahe to 1888-95. We would guess the portrait was taken in the early 1890s. These boys are wearing their blouses without floppy bows. The portrait was taken by an itinerate photographer operating out of Chilo, Ohio.
I have never seen a photographer use a quilt for a backdrop before. A plain backdrop was more common because it was less distracting. I wonder if that might be the woman's quilt.
The smooth corners and perforations on the cabinet card date it to about 1888-95. (I have not yet found examples after 1895, but they are possible. The clothes probably mean the 1890s part of that range.
The boys are wearing Fauntleroy blouses. Notice the large ruffled collars and matching wrist cuff ruffles. They wear them with knee pants. This was standard boy's wear at the time.
It was very common for boys to go barefoot in the 1890s and 1900s. We see many barefoot boys even in formal portraits. It was especially common in the South and rural areas of the mid-West.
As to social-economic background. Going barefoot did not mean poverty, but wealthy boys would have not been photographed this way in a formal portrait. Note that they are not at a studio in town. The photographer was an itinerant photographer. S.T. Clayton identified himse;lf as a "traveling artist". These itinerate photographers sought out customers in rural areas. This mum had enough money for the photo. It is hard to tell just how affluent they were, but poor people probably would not have used the money for a portrait. The photographic is skewed this way.
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