This is a photo of my 2x great granduncle Tilson W. Barker and his son Alanson Augustus Barker. I think it safe to say this is not your typical Victorian era photograph. I laughed the moment I saw it. It looks like something out of an old silent movie Then I looked closer at the surroundings. There's an ornate rug and the wall behind them looks like tile with a dark border at the base and the rest of the wall tiles are white. Alanson's trousers look to be patterned as well. I'm not sure what tools Tilson is supposedly using.
I am impressed by how sturdy that chair must have been!
Seven years ago I discovered from census records that Tilson was a blacksmith and a maker of coaches. Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 at Ancestry had this:
Here's a summary of what it says:
Capital Invested, in real and personal estate, in the Business $500
Raw Material Used, Including Fuel. Kind of Motor Power,
Quanitities Kinds Value Machinery, etc
2 tons Iron & Steel $120 None
6 sets Carriage Works $175 2 forges
3 tons B Coal $50 None
Average Number of Hands Employed - 1 male
Average Monthly Cost of Male Labor- $40
He produced 6 carriages worth a total of $320 and other work worth $600
That's doing pretty well for that era's economy.
Alanson was born in 1852 and is listed as a farm laborer on the 1880 Census. But in 1900 and 1910 censuses his occupation was a coachman for a private family, which seems logical for the son of a someone who made them. But by 1920 the automobile had taken over and Alanson had become a gardener, possible still working for the same family.
Thanks to "stws" who posted the picture at familySearch and allowed me to post it here.
1 comment:
Hi Bill, I've communicated with you a few times before and I'm checking out more of your posts since we overlap with ancestors in the Barker, Swan, line. My husband and I are putting together ancestry books for our children. I was amazed to see this picture. Didn't know it was on family search. It's actually mine. My mother kept it in a box with all her family photos. It's a tintype.i love this picture. My mother always thought it was her grandfather Alanson, and his younger brother, Herbert, who she remembered was bald, but after enlarging and examining the picture, I realized it was almost certainly her great grandfather, Tilson, and her grandfather, Alanson, in the picture. The bald man was too old to be a younger brother. Alanson's brother, Herbert, was a professional photographer, so I'm pretty sure he took the picture of Alanson and Tilson Barker. We have quite a few photographs of the family taken by Herbert Barker. My great grandfather, Alanson Barker , was a real character. He cut off his toe with an axe when he was in his 80s because it was hurting him. Judging by the picture, I'd say the whole family were characters.
Virginia Brown
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