Figure 1.--We have two portraits of John Irwin from Franklin, O. The "O" probably meas Ohio. Both portraits are identified as John Irwin on the back. Both portraits were taken at the Ryding photo studio. The portrait here shows John dressed to the nines in a fancy Fauntleroy kilt suit. He doesn't look much like a soldier yet.

We have two portraits of John Irwin from Franklin, O. The "O" probably meas Ohio. Both portraits are identified as John Irwin on the back. Both portraits were taken at the Ryding photo studio. The first portraits shows John dressed to the nines in a fancy Fauntleroy kilt suit. The suit has a small jacket showing off a fancy Fauntleroy blouse and white bow. The kilt skirt is heavily pleated. He was probably around 2-3 years old. He stands beside a ice cream parlor chair with a floral spray on the seat and what appears to be a bell in his hand. The mounting was not a cabinent card and suggests to us that the portrait was taken about 1895. These mounts started to become popular about the turn-of-the-20th centuyry, perhaps few years before but not much earlier. The second portrait shows John a few years later about age 6 years. He wears a dark knee pants sailor suit, black long stockings, and strap shoe. It was a cabinent card probably taken about 1900. He holds a basket of flowers in one hand and a flower in the other. Handwritten on the back is the following ... "John Irwin son of Sallie Hankinson Irwin died in Battan (there is a question mark ober Battan) March also served in Mexican War". I'm not entirely sure, but this seems to mean that John joined in the Army. The Mexican War probably means the Pershing expedition (1915). He would have been very young at the time. The Bataan March probably means the World War II Batan Death March (1942). The question mark probably means that the comment was written during the War. Families with loved ones in the Philippines for the most part did not find out what happened to them until the United States liberated Luzon (January 1945).

Created: 10:05 PM 7/21/2007
Last updated: 10:05 PM 7/21/2007