*My husband's great-grandfather is sitting there playing cards, with a cigar in his mouth......at age 12. Seriously. Ernest was born in 1880 and came to the U.S. in 1893. Family legend has it that he was 12 in this photo, so it would have been taken in 1892.
*
.jpg)
6 comments:
That's a good picture. They use to start smokin' young back then, but that's the way now too I guess. Back then it was just tobacco and not all the chemicals they put in there today. Still a good picture.
What a great photo...and story! Family stories being passed down are so important, but having a photo to go with them makes them all the more special. Thank you for sharing Ernest with us.
I love old photos like this. I clicked on it to look closer and he does look really young. Thanks for sharing with us.
Did he win the hand??
A great picture, and a family treasure!
This looks like a staged scene for the photographer: none of the cigars are actually lit; there is no deck of cards on the table (unless it's hidden by Ernest's arm); and there seems to be a backdrop, such as you would find in a photographer's studio. Given the date, it is almost certainly a studio shot.
It's fun to imagine what the circumstances were that led to the picture. Did they plot together to have this rakish picture taken to horrify their parents?
It looks like most players have eight cards. Not sure what that game is, but if I were a betting man, Ernest's looks like a winning hand.
Thank you all for viewing Ernest and his friends. I wish I knew who the other guys were; perhaps they were relatives of Ernest's....but, I don't know. We never saw any of these photos until the old folks were already passed away so we couldn't ask.
Sempringham.....you're very observant, and probably correct about it being a studio shot. And, back then, most photos probably were, now that I think about it....or if not in a studio, at least very staged.
What card game would they be playing? Poker? I wish Ernest's hand of cards was more clear. They seem to be intentionally making their cards visible.
I'm thinking this photo was taken not long before Ernest left for America. Maybe that prompted the photo.....perhaps Ernest wanted it as a remembrance, but who knows.
Post a Comment