Not Jesse James
(To prove a point)
T.J. Sellers?
Photo from the authors. collection
The soft youthful glow of this young man's face jumped out at me as
I looked through a new group of Carte devisite's that I had recently purchased.The photo also had a possible name written on the back, TJ(?) M Sellers, apparently of Versailles Kentucky. The photographer's studio name and location is also on the back of this photo: "S.C. Williams Photograher" 56 E. Main St. Lexington, Ky. It's worth noting that Lexington and Versailles are approximately thirteen miles from each other. But my efforts to find out more about him, lead me in different direction.
"So far as the population of the city, the immediate environs are concerned, they were as orderly and law-abiding as any community of equal size anywhere."
-John Clum Mayor of Tombstone Az giving the everyday citizens their due respect.
The pursuit of history in our modern world is heavily driven by popularity, controversy and sometime criminal behavior. As I writer, I also find myself caught up in the grinding perceived seriousness of the many historic topics that I write about here. But as I pour over old news articles online or sift through old photos in wooden boxes in antique malls, I am reminded that there is and was a world occupied by normal everyday people. And the soft face of young Mr. Sellers reminded me of that fact. When I started digging around about information about this particular young man, I came upon a series of humorous short blurbs about photographers in the Lexington Bluegrass Blade between 1891 and 1910. And I found out something I did not realize, and that was that people of the day seemed to view photographers, much in the same way that they viewed barbers, and the barber shops of that time was always a place of local gossip and humor.
There were a number of photographers who set up shop
on Main Street in Lexington Kentucky this is just one ad of many.
I had to look this one up! An Octocyon is a bat eared fox.
I have not determined what the term dig-dig refers too.
I'm sure there's a hidden story here
Could this be a veiled ad for postmortem services?
Good people skills were essential for photographers
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