This cabinet card features a couple posing for their portrait at the studio of A. H. Hall in Chatsworth, Illinois. The gentleman has an interesting long and narrow beard, The woman has a dress with many buttons and is wearing a pin on her collar. Note the mans hat is on the floor directly in front of where the couple is sitting. It is not uncommon to see cabinet card portraits that include hats prominently displayed on the floor. Perhaps the hats were viewed as important enough to belong in the picture but it was considered inappropriate to wear hats indoors. The couple in this photograph are identified on the reverse as Joseph and Ella Francis. Investigation reveals that Joseph Francis served in the civil war. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in Company D of the Illinois 45th Infantry Regiment.He mustered out as a private in 1865. The 1880 US census identifies Joseph S. Francis (1846-1930) as a farmer of Irish descent living in Illinois. The 1910 census finds the Ohio born, Francis living in Forrest, Illinois and working as a railroad car inspector. He was 64 years old at the time and living with his wife Ella Svedaker Williamson Francis (1862-1938) and four of their children. The 1930 census that Joseph Francis, at age 84, was still employed. He was working as an assessor for his township. Research found death certificates for both Joseph (1930) and Ella (1938). The photographer of this image was Albert H. Hall. The History of Livingston County (1878) provides a brief biography of Hall. He was born in 1849 and at age 22 went to Chicago to learn the trade of photography. In 1872 he moved to Chartsworth and opened a photography and gem gallery. He married a woman named Dora Knapp.
PORTRAIT OF A COUPLE IN CHATSWORTH, ILLINOIS (JOSEPH AND ELLA FRANCIS)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 