The Dearest Couples, Still Together

[JPK Huson 1863]

There are few of these. Been ' collecting ' for quite awhile. Couples of past-middle age, Civil War era who also found the time, interest and you must know love to go have their photograph taken together. Intriguing! I love this! A few look less than happy; fact remains they are here together, where's everyone else who made it this far? Why bother after all this time to gather resources and have one's Mr. and Mrs. photograph taken? Looking at the dress, very likely they lived during times of great turmoil. Sons and daughters to worry about immersed in war yet this mattered. Why? We'll never know. It just did. Pretty dear.

I'm posting a photo from this era of my own grgrgrandparents, on Dad's side. Gideon and Polly. Both had brothers and sons all over this dratted war. One of my hands-down, all-time favorite relative photographs, and why? They look like delightful people. Farmer, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, despite being dressed like`a lawyer. Their son perished at Goose Creek.

Lives ' then ' are unfailingly interesting, all part of the endless tapestry and backdrop against which that awful was fought.

These images are all LoC and ebay.

This is just awful. One photo I'd been convinced was a nice older couple now seems to have been a post mortem! Deleted. The poor man was a little slouched in his chair- on closer inspection you could see the post behind it, and his eyes were possibly painted. Really wish folks would stop selling family albums, gee whiz!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

 

[Patrick H]

I can't resist saying that a lot of these people don't look very happy. However, I realize that's probably due to the stiffness of the pose, etc.

 

[DanF]

I can't resist saying that a lot of these people don't look very happy. However, I realize that's probably due to the stiffness of the pose, etc.

Or maybe it's like the case of the guy crying at his fifty year wedding aniversary,

His wife asked, "what are you crying about you old fool?"

He replied, "fifty years ago today your daddy told me if I didn't marry you he would see to it i spent the next fifty years in prison"

She said, "and"

He replied, "if I had let him, i'd be a free man today!"

 

[James B White]

Is it known who the officer is in post#1, 5th photo? (Or should I recognize him as someone famous?) His wife sure looks in style somewhere between the Mexican War and the Civil War, making him a rare regular-army officer.

 

[18thVirginia]

I can't resist saying that a lot of these people don't look very happy. However, I realize that's probably due to the stiffness of the pose, etc.

If you'd been that old in that era, your aches and pains would probably have kept smiles at bay.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Or maybe it's like the case of the guy crying at his fifty year wedding aniversary,

His wife asked, "what are you crying about you old fool?"

He replied, "fifty years ago today your daddy told me if I didn't marry you he would see to it i spent the next fifty years in prison"

She said, "and"

He replied, "if I had let him, i'd be a free man today!"

Or the old man when asked how long he had been married. He responded, "50 years. And 10 of them were happy!!

 

[MaryDee]

My understanding from my reading was that it was not "the thing" to smile for your portrait--having your picture taken was a serious business

 

[DanF]

My understanding from my reading was that it was not "the thing" to smile for your portrait--having your picture taken was a serious business

Not to mention that by the age of most couples in those photos they were allready missing quite a few, if not all, of their teeth.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I can't resist saying that a lot of these people don't look very happy. However, I realize that's probably due to the stiffness of the pose, etc.

Really? I'm not arguing but don't see it in most of them. Look at their eyes. Maybe a few even then it's probably just who they were not general unhappiness. Maybe it's because we had my parents with us until Dad died a few years ago an now have Mom but I see deep contentment and stillness. These couples really do finish each other's sentences or sometimes create them when one looks at the other, it's funny to watch.

Another thing I noticed with elderly couples who have been together forever, when one passes away the surviving half isn't as overtly grief stricken as you'd think but tend to continue as if the mate is still around somewhere. Mom does and there's not a saner Scots Presbyterian on the planet. She has 2 other widows buddies, friends whose husbands we all knew and I don't think any of them know they do it. They'll refer to them a great deal, what they would have said or liked or something they did together- it's very nice. Meanwhile all 3 are as chipper as ever. If that's the result of being tied to someone for 55 years in invisible, I'd take it.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

My understanding from my reading was that it was not "the thing" to smile for your portrait--having your picture taken was a serious business

Yes, someone, maybe you or Anna Elizabeth, once mentioned how much it costs? If you have the cost on any of this, it would be great to know! Guess it could have been different depending on what process or didn't that make any difference?

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Is it known who the officer is in post#1, 5th photo? (Or should I recognize him as someone famous?) His wife sure looks in style somewhere between the Mexican War and the Civil War, making him a rare regular-army officer.

I did wonder- he's from LoC so must have been a notable in the US military, wish the ID had followed the photograph. Those folks must be inundated with work, getting these up. Sometimes these are duplicated in National Archives, maybe I'll get lucky and bump into a name there?