A picture circa 1869

This picture in my great-great-great grandmother's photo album is a mystery. I don't know who these two men are. Obviously, they were important enough to Eliza to put in her photo album. The back of the picture has the name and location of the photographer - helpful clues to begin sleuthing.

First I looked up Burr Oak, Michigan. It's in St. Joseph County, near Sturgis and the Michigan/Indiana border. Very interesting, as I've never known of any of my ancestors to live in that area.

The photographer, S.R. Norton, turned out to be Sequester R. Norton. It also turned out that Sequester's Burr Oak studio only existed for a short time - circa 1869 according to this source: http://clements.umich.edu/eadadd/tinder_directory.pdf

So, the picture I have was probably taken around 1869. My next step will be to search the census for that county to see if any of my family surnames come up.



This is a picture I took with my phone of the front and back, and combined into a split screen. Maybe these guys were brothers?

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