Bauman Cabinet Cards, Galesburg, Illinois

In the first installment of this series, I highlighted the early #Cabinet Cards found in Margaret Forsyth's photo collection, provided by Nick Hyslop. Those cards were taken in the 1870s, in Adams county, and possibly Hancock county, Illinois and were of the ancestors and close relatives of William Marion Forsyth. In this next batch of cabinet cards, I'll take a look at cards from a single photographer, G. C. Bauman, who was located in #Galesburg, Illinois, the home town of William's wife, Margaret. The cabinet cards come if 4 distinct styles, only one of which has multiple examples. Like those in the first installment, dates can be approximated because cabinet cards became more stylish with each passing year. In our case, several of the cards are either labeled, dated or can be positively identified by other means, namely recognizing the persons photographed.

The first of the cabinet cards is unusual as it is not of a normal size, being square, has no imprinting on the front, and has fairly basic backside imprinting. This photo is also labeled, "Aunt Mame", which is a nickname for Mary. Based on the card style, the cabinet card was photographed in the early 1870s. Margeret (Scully) Forsyth was born in Galesburg, Knox county, Illinois on January 21, 1873. Her father, Edmund Scully, immigrated from Ireland with Maurice Godsil in 1866, aboard the ship, "Virginia". Maurice died on the voyage. Edmund married Maurice's twin sister, Margaret Godsil, in Galesburg on May 20, 1867. Rumor has it that Edmund followed her to America, she having arrived earlier in either 1864 with her parents and siblings, or in 1865. Since Edmund did not come with any family, the Aunt Mame referred to on the backside of the photo must have been Margaret Godsil's sister, Mary Godsil, who was born about 1849 and would have been in her mid twenties when the photo was taken. The other person in the photo is likely, Margaret (Godsil) Scully, the wife of Edmund, who was born in December 3, 1847, and who would have been in her early twenties. This might explain why her daughter, Margaret (Scully) Forsyth did not label her mother and only labeled her aunt. As we shall see, there is a later photo who is also probably Margaret (Godsil) Scully.

 

The next cabinet card, is of normal size, includes both frontside and backside imprinting and has a pink colored backside. It probably dates from between 1875 and 1880 and is unfortunately not labeled. It is difficult to be certain who the mustached gentleman is, however, Edmund Scully was born, May 6, 1842, so would have been in his early to mid 30s at the time. As will be apparent, I am arguing that all of the G. C. Bauman photos in this collection are of immediate family members, so if this is indeed Edmund Scully, the paradigm holds true. The photo collection also includes two definitive photos of Edmund Scully taken about 1902. Comparing these to the photo shown below would lean toward this not being Edmund Scully. As can be seen in those two photos, and the photos of some of his children, Edmund Scully had a wedge-shaped head, and the man in the photo below does not.

 

The only other option is that the above gentleman is one of Margaret (Godsil) Scully's brothers of which Micheal was born in 1849, and Patrick was born in 1853. It is difficult to say by looking at the photo if the gentlemen is in his mid 20s or his mid 30s. I have several early photos of Patrick Godsil. For reference the below photo of Patrick Godsil and his family was taken in 1895 and was provided by Mel Slane.

The next cabinet card, begins a new era in styles. Here, the frontside imprinting has become quite stylized, and the backside printing is even more so. Again, the photo is not labeled or dated, but we can estimate its age to the early 1880s. This identical card design continued to be used through the early 1890s. To my eye, this is the same, albeit older, woman found on the left in the first cabinet card, and for that reason I assume that is once again Margaret (Godsil) Scully, but now in her early thirties. It would make sense for Margaret (Scully) Forsyth to have photos of her parents in her collection.

 

The next cabinet card is of an unknown child. The child has a uniquely shaped head, that is wedged. Based on other photos, this appears to be Daniel Scully, Margaret (Scully) Forsyth's youngest brother. He was born in 1884.

The next three cabinet cards have a design identical to the last, but are not labeled or dated. They all appear to have been taken at a single sitting and are therefore probably all members of the same family. However, in the first card, the young lady on the left is easily recognized as my great grandmother, Margaret Scully, the daughter of Edmund and Margaret (Godsil) Scully, and the photo collection's namesake. In the photo she appears to be in her late teens, perhaps 17. Since she was born in 1873, so we can date this photo to about 1890. The other person in the photo is obviously a sister, and based on later photographs of her sisters, she is probably the next oldest sister, Anna Scully.

The next cabinet card is likely to be another sister of Margaret Scully. Mary Elizabeth Scully was about 23 years old and Ellen "Nell" Scully was about 21 years. This photo is probably the younger of the two.

The last of the cabinet cards from this sitting are likely to be other siblings of Margaret Scully. The young must be Catherine "Kate" Scully, and one of her brothers. James Philip Scully was about 11 years old, Edward D. Scully was about 14 years old and William H. Scully was about 16 years old. Based on the presumed age of the boy in the photo, this is probably Edward Scully.

The next two cabinet cards are also from a single sitting, and we know the young men to be the brothers Joel Madison Forsyth and William Marion Forsyth. The photo of William was not part of this collection, but a copy of the original and was found in my father's photos. William's hair has been colored in by someone. Neither man is wearing a wedding ring, Joel married in 1891 and William in 1892. According to William's obituary in "The Quincy Journal", William moved to Galesburg in 1889. William and Joel, left their father's farm in Chili, Hancock county, Illinois to work on the railroad in Galesburg. We can then assume that these photographs were also taken about 1890.

The next cabinet card is actually labeled "Ellen Godsel". This is undoubtedly, Ellen "Nell" Godsil, the daughter of Patrick Godsil, Margaret (Godsil) Scully's brother. Nell was born about 1880 and looks to be about 12 years old, dating the photo to roughly 1892.

The last of the Bauman cabinet cards found in Margaret Forsyth's photo collection is labeled, "William Henry Forsyth", my grandfather, the son of William Marion and Margaret (Scully) Forsyth, and who was born on February 25, 1893, dating this card securely in 1893. This card differs from previous cards in that the studio logo has been removed from the front imprinting, and the rear imprinting has been greatly enhanced.

In this article, I have used common cabinet card dating practices to estimated the dates the photographs were taken. That and knowledge of several of the subjects has helped me determine the probable likelihood of the other participants. Unlabeled photographs, however are only rarely ascertained, so go back and label your old photographs now.

In the next installment, we will look other cabinet cards from this collection that come from other studios in Galesburg, Illinois.