Monday, March 09, 2020

A charming Clarence Rose portrait; who are they?


I've invested enough time in the effort to figure out who these five children are, so it's time to publish, return the image to its place in the historical society archive and move along. Darn.

The image is an "orphan" without an object number. That means there is no obvious way to tell who donated it to the Lucas County Historical Society, or when. Most likely it arrived many years ago and for some reason was not properly cataloged. 

There's an inscription on the back that reads, "Ansley Family. Warren's mother 2nd from right." I can almost make the five oldest children of George L. and Mary Ansley fit --- but not quite. So I don't think it's them. The genders of two girls and one boy are obvious, but not those of the infant or the small person on the far right. Doting parents tended to dress small boys and small girls alike during their earliest years back in the day.

The image was taken at Clarence Rose's Elite Studio and that narrows the time frame. Clarence purchased the business, located in the Mallory Block on the north side of the Chariton square, during January of 1893 and operated it until the fall of 1897 when an attack of typhoid fever accelerated the progress of tuberculosis. He and his wife left Chariton during January of 1898 and spent 18 months in the South and Southwest seeking relief. He died at the age of 29 on June 30, 1899, in Benedict, Nebraska.

We have several examples of Clarence's work in the historical society collection and he also photographed several members of my family. He was an extraordinarily talented young man. So his untimely death is far sadder than the fact these children are going to remain unidentified, at least for a time.

1 comment:

Kelly B. said...

This may be my Ansley ancestors. I will search thru my ancestry.com page.