Tin type help

Elizygreen

Cadet
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
Hello,

I have just inherited a tin type of who I believe is my great great grandfather. Any and all info/insight with uniform identification would be greatly appreciated. I have little to no background information. TIA!

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The image appears to be post Civil War and is perhaps a cadet of some sort. The image could also well be a militiaman. Without any research I am thinking the 1800s, perhaps 1880 to 1890. Maybe the mid to late 1870s. I would predict it is before the late 1890s. A bit of research might narrow down the year some.
 
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Elizygreen two questions.
1. Are you sure it is a tin type?
2, The cap insignia appear to be a castle, can you confirm that the insignia on the cap is a castle?

The reason I ask these questions is that "castle" insignia are common for military schools, but less so for militia units. If we could get a good feel for the year, I might possibly narrow it down to military schools known to wear "castle" insignia for the probable time frame. Also if we could identify the button on the jacket it would help.
 
We do our "experts" think of the cap? I hate to speculate that the cap is more of a 1890s type cap. That would be rather late for a tin type.
 
Welcome. Can you share your great great grandfather's name and regiment? Is the glass cracked? Wondering if glass was used to protect a tintype. It does look like a military school uniform. The double-loop between the button and the fleur-de-lis pattern leads me to believe the uniform is not from West Point, VMI or The Citadel as I have not seen a double-loop on uniforms from these colleges.
 
Wow, thank you for the responses. You are an incredible group. I'll attach a photo of his grave with birth and death dates. You can see that we are a north east family. He was born in NH and became a very successful contract builder in the Boston and Cape Cod area. It is a broken piece of glass in the frame and I believe there is a cardboard velvet box/frame case that goes with it. I just inherited this among other heirlooms in a suitcase last month.

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Did the engineers use a castle too? I see he was employed by a construction firm- an engineer would make sense.

I'm not arguing on date but tin types stayed around for awhile- look on Ebay for examples. There are some surprisingly late images, based on clothing depicted.
 
The larger military academies provided the cadets a degree in engineering. Most smaller military academies and military schools offered an engineering degree with other degrees available. This is the reason so many academies wore an engineer style castles as an insignia.

The photo does appear to show a young man or perhaps a teen. My best guess is that he is a cadet, but I can not rule out him being a militiaman or even a member of a band. Castle insignia were common for cadets, less common for militiamen, and I would thing uncommon for band members. Some states did have a few engineer companies.

The photo in post #1 is a head and chest image and sadly does not provide too many details of the uniform being worn. There does appear to be epaulets on the shoulder, perhaps cloth should boards type epaulets. Epaulets were not overly common on cadet uniforms. We also have the braiding on the breast as a cue. I think the cap is interesting and not a cap I can place. Elizygreen died not say what state her ancestor grew up in and perhaps this might help come up with a guess on what military academy her ancestor might have gone to, if indeed he did get a degree in engineering from a military academy.
 
So getting back to his cap. It does not appear to be a forage cap (kepi). Are we looking at a brimmed cap with a rounded top? I am having difficulties seeing the brim. We are not looking a a type of pillbox cap are we? How about the cord on the cap? It kind of looks like the style of cord that became popular with Army officers in 1883. Still cap cords were not unknown before 1883, they just became more common after 1883 when Army offers started to wear them on their caps.
 
"... He was a life member of Damascus Lodge, A.F. & A.M. and Aleppo Temple..."

Don't forget that fraternal organizations like these also often wore uniforms of various designs - Welcome to the forums!
 
The extra loop and the double braid on the chest are not typical of a West Point, Citadel nor VMI coatee. I'd begin to investigate late 19th century National Guard units.
Ray
Hello,

I have just inherited a tin type of who I believe is my great great grandfather. Any and all info/insight with uniform identification would be greatly appreciated. I have little to no background information. TIA!

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