Photo Links To The Revolutionary War
If you are lucky enough to have some old tintypes, you are lucky enough. But you might not realize that some of the people in those photos might have seen or participated in the American Revolutionary War first hand.
An article in Reunions magazine (Feb/Mar 2008; page 16) that arrived in my mailbox this week alerted me to a book project by Maureen Taylor The Photo Detective and David Lambert of the New England Historic Genealogical Society entitled “The Last Muster”. The article details the project by Maureen and David in which they are endeavoring to publish a book that will include photos and background information about America’s Revolutionary War generation.
Unless you are a photography history expert (which I am not) your first thought was probably that I am one flash short of a bulb. But, you would be wrong. Here is what Maureen has to say on her blog:
If an image in your photo collection fits the following criteria, it could depict a member of the Revolutionary War generation:
Type of photograph
Look for these types of images:
* Daguerreotypes (1839 to 1860s): The first photographs, daguerreotypes have reflective surfaces. You must hold the photos at an angle to see their images. Daguerreotypes are often found in cases.
* Ambrotypes (invented in 1854): Often placed in cases because of their fragility, these glass images are backed with dark material.
* Tintypes or ferrotypes (invented in 1856): This third type of cased image is produced on thin sheets of iron.
* Cartes de visite (CDVs) (introduced in 1854): Inspired by 19th-century visiting cards, these small paper prints usually measured 2×4 inches.The Subjects’ Ages
Are the people in your pictures old enough to be part of the Revolutionary War generation?
* Patriots, soldiers, and loyalist adults: Anyone who was an adult during the American Revolution would have been at least 80 years old by the advent of photography.
* Children: Anyone who was a child during the American Revolution would have been in his late 50s or older when he had his picture taken.
* Wives and widows: The last surviving widow of a Revolutionary soldier died in 1906! Esther Sumner married Noah Damon when she was 21 and he was 75. Finding pictures of wives and widows means looking at pictures taken between 1840 and the early 1900s.
I am currently the caretaker of our family (Yates, Holmes, Morrison, etc) tintypes and this article really had me wondering if we had any that fit the criteria. Sadly, some of them are not in good shape, and to add to the frustration, I am not able to prove which family they are.
Here is what I know, and suspect. Before 1918 my grandfather Will Yates took his father James William Milburn Yates from Howell County, Missouri back to where Jim was born in Roane County, Tennessee to visit Jim’s father James Knox Polk Yates. I think that at that time these tintypes were given to Jim Yates by his father JKP Yates because he was in frail health. Jim and Will went back to Missouri and JKP Yates died in 1918.
In 1937 Jim Yates, now a widower, came to live with his children who had moved to Washington State. I believe that he probably brought the tintypes with him and when he died in 1938 his possessions passed back to my grandfather Will. Here are a few of the photos that may fit the bill for this story.
It’s too bad that the faces of the two men together are so badly marred, but considering the age of these tintypes, we are lucky to have them at all!
This might be my GG-Aunt Lydia
Maybe an early photo of Jim Yates
The tintypes of the couple above were in a black leather-bound case with a hook closure. That could be the reason for their good condition.
~~~
If you have information or images to contribute to Maureen’s Revolutionary War project, please
contact her.
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Filed under: Genealogy, History, Photos
This is really interesting. I have some CDVs, of course mine are English, but I’d love to know if any of yours fit the bill - I bet they do!
It’s funny how quickly you can go back to events and have something from that period without even realising.
The pictures and some of the events which you have published are very good. Certainly gave me some insight into the past.
Antiques’s last blog post..sharp
i just love these photos. there is something sort of mystical about them. and being able to peer into the past is so cool. I’ve seen Dags before and know that these types are really fragile. thanks for sharing your history and photos - it was fun reading and looking.
It’s captivating to see such photos from the past which can really give an insight. Makes us also remember how different the fashion was back then :).
Nick’s last blog post..More A2 Past Papers
I have photos from dating back to my great-great-great grandfather. I am not sure how my dad had them, but he was smart enough to scan them in, do a little of clean up work on them and then have them printed in multiples so that there is not just one copy.
It is amazing the shape that they remained in and that I can look at a picture of my g-g-g grandad who happens to also be Richard Nixon’s grandfather.
That makes me Richard Nixon my great uncle three times removed. Needless to say, I did not know him….
Thanks for the post.
Bill
Thank you Bill, for stopping by and leaving a comment. Even if we are not fans of Richard Nixon, he was still our President and should be honored as such. You are related to a historical personage Bill!
Some great shots from the past. I love the look of antique photos.
Thanks for the pictures. Seeing these pictures gives an strange reality to old westerns. Amazing
Awesome Webduck! What they say about revolutionary war veterans still being around for photography is dead on. Sure, they were old, but around nonetheless. We have a book somewhere with a couple of Revolutionary War vets in photographs.
My father is amazed by this concept too. He keeps telling me how incredible it is that he was alive at the same time as Civil War veterans. He says excitedly “I was breathing the same air as CW veterans!” I didn’t really understand his excitment about that until I grew up and started appreciating history more. I found on Youtube a great video of Civl War veterans on film. It is really cool to see them moving around on film! (it’s also incredible how they saw bombers dropping bombs in WW2 while when they fought they charged in lines of thousands and shot rifled muskets!)
Thank you for the heads up on this book project!