In early 2007, the picture shown above was posted for sale on eBay. The following information was provided along with a photo of the original item:
This is a very old ambrotype that was originally in a case but the top is gone. It probably dates to the 1850's and is of a man identified as Adam Thresher. No place is given but a search of contemporary census records reveals that he almost certainly was from the town of Cherry in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania near Laporte. The image is fading and some cleaning on the inside may help but I'll leave that to the buyer.
Our Sullivan County web page contains a wealth of information on the Thrasher family. The keystone history is Settlers XXVII: The Thrasher Heritage. Even a cursory review of this site will bring to the reader's attention that two individuals named Adam Thrasher ["Thresher", "Thrash", "Drescher" etc.] grew to manhood in nineteenth century Sullivan County. One of these Adams lived from 1815-1877, and was the son of the original Thrasher settlers in the area, George and Catherine (Fox) ["Fuchs"] Thrasher. The second Adam lived from 1838-1913 and was the son of Geroge and Lydia (Weaver) Thrasher and also a grandson of the settler couple, George and Catherine. In other words, the first Adam was an uncle to the second Adam. Which Adam is shown in the picture above?
I asked three prominent contributors to our page--Carol Brotzman, Dick Hunsinger and Larry Pardoe--for their opinions. Carol and Dick replied that they believe the subject of the picture must be the second or younger "Adam", both based on the age of the individual pictured and on the premise that the second Adam was known to have gone by "Thresher" at least some of the time. Larry was less certain of this identification, and in the course of explaining himself porffered the following detailed overview of photograhic technology in the middle to mid-late nineteenth century:
I would say the chances are nearly equal that the photo could be either of them, although I tend to think probably Adam, born in . 1838. YOu might want to read explanations of the types of old photos below. In order to determine which one, you should probably try to narrow down the age of the individual based on features and dress. I thought maybe he might have been about 35-45, which might period the photo to about 1850-1860, if Adam number 1, or 1873-1883, if Adam number 2. The next thing would be to try to determine which of the three types of photos it could be based on the explanations below, which would also give you a time period for those types of photos. The seller states that this picture is an ambrotype. Therefore, presuming this is correct, the picture would be from the ambrotype photo period of 1855-1865. So maybe if you can put the subject's age at 40 or so, then he could be the first Adam.
I was lucky to obtain some prints made from some old "tin type" photos of some of my Pardoe ancestors. One of the photos was of David Jesse Pardoe (March 21, 1847 to September 22, 1870). Two others were of Nelson C. Pardoe (August 23, 1849-November 20, 1879) and their mother Margaret (Molyneux) Pardoe (Sepember 11, 1822 - April 15,1870) (Although the photo was penciled to be Thomas Pardoe's mother, I believe it was his wife - not his mother). As Thomas Pardoe was b. June 12, 1822 and d. March 11, 1866, there was no "tin type" photo for him. Therefore I believe these photos were probably taken sometime between 1866 and 1870.
While visiting the Sullivan County Historical Society and Museum about three years ago, I saw two photos they had on display. I don't know if these were made from "tin type" photos or if they were some kind of paintings. They were of Edward Molyneux (April 16, 1789-March 2, 1872) and wife Rebecca (Bird) Molyneux (January 1, 1797-July 24, 1882). Both subjects were aged so ,if they were in fact from "tin type" photos, they were probably taken in late 1860's.
One of my ancestor relatives, Hunter W. Pardoe, (b. 1851, d. ? ), was a photographer. He was born in Lewisburg, Union County, PA, and in 1872 was learning the photography trade in Mifflin, PA. In 1875, he relocated to Newton, Jasper Co., Iowa. Between 1875 and 1884, he was a photographer in New Sharon, Mahaska Co., Iowa. From 1884-1887, he was a photographer in Keithsburg, Illinois and in 1887 was listed as a photographer/artist in Muscatine, Muscatine Co., Iowa.
He had a brother William H. Pardoe (April 20, 1828 - June 8, 1901) who also relocated to Newton, Jasper Co., Iowa. One of his descendents whom I have been corresponding with, had quite a few old photos (many not described as to the actual individual photographed). She mentioned to me that there were three types of old photos. One was called daguerrotypes, another called ambrotypes, and the third was tintypes. She emailed me some information she got from The Daguerreian Society, 3043 West Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15216. Their email address at the time was DagSocPgh@concast.net. Here is what this society sent (undated, probably about 2004, Mark Johnson, President):
These days people call everything "daguerreotypes" but that's not the case. Daguerreotypes (1840-1855) are on polished silver so they are very reflective, like a mirror. Since they are on silver and subject to tarnish, daguerreotypes were put behind glass and sealed with paper tape so air cannot tarnish the plate (there often is some tarnish around the edges of the picture). This was then put into a small hinged case, similar to a woman's compact. But, the easiest way to tell if you have a daguerreotype is to see if it has that reflection, just like a mirror. You have to tile it back and forth to see the image.
The second type of photograph, ambrotypes, (1855-1865) also came in hinged cases but in these there is a photographic emulsion that has been coated onto glass so they do not have that "shiny mirror" reflection (but, being on glass they are somewhat reflective). If you carefully pry the ambrotype out of its case and hold it up to the light you can usually see through the picture (since its on glass). Ambrotypes don't tarnish, but the black paint painted on the backside of the glass often dries out, cracks, and then peels off. The second biggest problem is that the emulsion turns dark making the image look dark. This problem is similar in appearance to when a daguerreotype's silver plate is tarnishing but that (the tarnish) has a bluish tint to it.
Tintypes (1855 thru the turn of the century) are made using the same photographic emulsion as the ambrotypes but, rather than coated onto glass, the emulsion has been coated onto black-painted tin and then exposed. Since they are not on silver they do not have the reflection and, since they were not fragile, are not usually found in cases. Early tintypes are sometimes found in cases, as that was still the convention at the time, but most often they're loose or have been placed in photo albums along with later paper photographs. These are usually about the size of a business card and, in fact, the paper photos that size are called CDVs for the French term Carte de Visite, or "calling card", as people would give then to their friends when they visited. Sometimes they dropped them in a basket in the parlor and the friend would collect them in an album.
As Paul Harvey would say "and now you know the rest of the story". My friend, who was the wife of my half fourth cousin, once removed (thanks for my genealogy calculator on my Family Tree Maker software), sent her photos to a professional in California to try to find more out about the photos. He referred to them as "Carte Vistas" and dated them circa 1890. Moreover, some were actually taken by Hunter W. Pardoe, mentioned above. Wish someone would have written names on them.
Larry Pardoe
February 21, 2007
Thanks to all of you. Now what do YOU, the reader think?
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