Sometime around 1910, the family of the Rev. T. Davis posed for a photographic portrait.
The photograph was printed on a postcard – a common way to share likenesses with distant family members and friends.
The quality of the photograph, especially the slight blurring and the disturbing shadows, suggest that this image was not made at a studio.
Indeed, there is no studio mark, nor any indication at all of the place that the postcard was printed.
Here, the clergyman stands solemnly behind his seated wife.
The daughter appears to be perched on the arm of the couch on which the mother is seated.
The son is seated to the left of his mother.
The family is well-clad.
The father wears a sober suit; mother wears a dress with a patterned design; daughter is found in a light-colored shift, and the son wears a white shirt with a colorful kerchief.
Rev, Davis is wearing glasses, and the reflection from the lenses marred his appearance.
I made digital repairs to his face, and removed other streaks of light in the mother’s face and in the boy’s hair.
The background, also, was spotted with dots of various discoloration -most of which I could remove digitally.
If he was a vain man, Rev. Davis might be glad that I made his thinning hair a bit fuller – the light was reflecting from his high forehead.
On the reverse, we learn the children’s names.
The daughter is “Elsie”; the son is “Fred”.
Alas, Mrs. Davis is identified only as “Mother”.
The Rev. Davis is identified as “Dad (Rev.)”
While I am glad that some thoughtful person inscribed the names of the family members, one is always sorry that more identifying clues have not been recorded.
One hopes that the Rev. and Mrs. Davis were successful in their ministry and that the children grew up in love and security during the early 20th century.
