S. J. Dixon Photography, 249 Yonge Street, Toronto

Again, this is a photography my cousin bought. S. J. Dixon Photography at 249 Yonge Street in Toronto and was founded in 1872 by S. J. Dixon. the year 1893, Dixon's wife Sarah took over for unspecified reasons (perhaps Dixon died?). By clicking that hyperlink above, you can see a newspaper advertisement put out by this photograph company stating what they do in their shop. Along the side, you can see their insignia as well as multiple other ads.

Just an extra bit of information for you: here are their listings in the Toronto directory...

• 1901
• 1903

There is no note of who the two people in this photograph are, although I believe the picture was taken in the very late 1800s or very early 1900s due to their attire.

Family Portait

I'm not sure who these people are or their relationship to each other, nor do I know who took the photograph; the occasion; the location; or the year it was taken. Judging by the clothing though, I'm assuming it's the very late 1800s (after 1890) or very early 1900s (prior to 1910).

Amazing Christmas Present!!!!

My daddy knows me too well. He bought me this gorgeous picture that's from an 1894 catalogue for Christmas! Let's take a look at why it's the idea gift for me (from "Le Coquet: Journal des Modes" -- I believe there is some information about the magazine/newspaper here, but it's all en français):

1. It's an antique from before 1900
2. It's got not just one pretty dress on it, but multiple pretty dresses on it
3. It's from Paris, France (if you didn't know, I have an obsession with France...79 days until I go to Paris!)
4. It's in mint condition
5. It's from a fashion magazine...I love clothes. :)

To make it even more "exotic" to me, he picked it up from his trip to New Hampshire. This Ontario girl is thrilled. Guess what's going up in my baby blue cherub toile-pattern wallpapered room? You guessed correctly -- THIS IS! :)

The Roffée Brothers

 

Above are two pictures from the studios G. & W. Morgan (5 Market St, Aberdeen, Scotland) and Elite Studio (same address). For one thing, I'm not sure if G. & W. Morgan became Elite Studios due to the fact that they both have the same address and the Elite photograph was taken after the other, which was taken in 1890.

What I've gathered of these two men is that one's name is John, the other Alexander. They have a sister (I don't have her picture) and whoever wrote on the back of the photograph said they are "Two Brothers on Mother's side" followed by the names of the two men. At the bottom, you can see the negative number, which is 23492 and the date it was taken (1890 as I mentioned before). Because the photographer is in Scotland, I suppose that they are Scottish.

The second photo (negative number 49394) is of one of the brothers in the first picture, though I'm not sure what his name was because there is no specification as to which brother is which (name wise). The back of this one says the death dates of the men: "1919 Dead, January 2 Johnny" and "1921 Dead, July 10th Alex". Perhaps the photograph of the single man is of John, considering his death death date is written first, but I'm not sure because it could just be written in chronological order.

Again, if anyone knows anything about these two, please let me know! I appreciate any information you may have! :)

Someone PLEASE help me find out who this lovely woman is!

Of all the pictures I acquired the other day of handsome gentlemen; precious little babies; and pretty ladies in the most splendid of dresses, this is the one picture that spoke most to me.

This picture was taken in 1890 at G. & W. Morgan, located on 5 Market St. in Aberdeen, Scotland. Presumably (because of the location the photograph was taken), she is a Scottish girl. She looks young, maybe in her late teens, so perhaps she was born in  the 1870s? The negative number of this specific picture is 16635. She has a sister and two brothers; I know this because I found the following picture, which I also bought:

Quite the nice family, wouldn't you say? Anyways, the back of her photograph had nothing written on it except the print that came with the card, saying the name of the photography company as well as the negative number, as seen below (it's rather difficult to see because I've sealed the pictures in air-tight bags):

As for the back of the family photo, there is a bit of writing by the son of the boy with his arms crossed in the photo. He wrote: "Chap with arms folded is my Dad George Fordyce. His Brother Andrew + 2 sisters." ...the writing is quite messy and I'm unfamiliar with Scottish surnames, so I don't know what exactly to make of it all. Regardless, I'm assuming that the family photo consist of children all with the last name Fordyce. What annoys me is that the two aunts of the person writing on the back of the photo stay nameless! The father's name is mentioned, the uncle's name is mentioned, but what about the two women?

I've been trying so hard to find out any information about these people on Google, but nothing has come up. I can't even find a website of all the pictures taken at G. & W. Morgan to sort through them myself in order to find what I'm looking for. If anyone can decipher the writing on the backs of these cards better than I have or know who are in these pictures, please let me know! I would be so, so, so thankful!


UPDATE: The Aberdeen library emailed me back regarding information they found about this family. Click here to go to a link where a picture of the directory where G. & W. Morgan is listed. Hopefully there will be more updates to follow! :)