THE CURTIN STORE CIRCA 1895

The Curtin Store c 1895. The people are not identified. The photo was enhanced by Philip Ruth.

​A photo derived from the archives of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and printed in The Durable People (Ref Below) shows the company store in Curtin c 1895.  The folks in the photo are not identified.  

I think the man at left is my grandfather, Jeremiah Glenn. In 1895 he was an employee at the store and was my grandmother’s beau.  (They were married in April, 1896.)  At the time of the photo John Parker, my grandmother’s father, was the storekeeper and postmaster, jobs both held later by Jeremiah.

In the two photos below, notice the similarities in the hat and the way it fits and is worn; the shape and thickness of the eyebrows; the drooping lock of hair above the end of the right eyebrow; the slightly narrowed shape of the right eye compared to the left; the rather prominent nose; the mustache and the skin creases on each side of the nose extending downward to the mustache; the shape of the visible ear; the slight hollow between the right cheek and jaw extending forward and downward toward the narrow rounded chin; the rather slender neck.    

Photo on left is the face of the unknown man at the store. Photo at right is Jeremiah Glenn c 1896. This photo is also enhanced by Philip Ruth.

Undated photo of Rebecca Parker Glenn (1876-1963) and Jeremiah Glenn (1874-1936)

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The unknown man in the store photo also appears rather tall for the late 1800s.  Notice his height, relative to others in that photo. I don't know how tall my grandfather was, and camera's perspective can play tricks, but Jeremiah appears quite a bit taller than my grandmother in the photo at left. He also appears quite tall relative to the steps in the background.  In fact, the photographer didn't aim high enough to include the top of his head. 

So the clues we have are the high likelihood that Jeremiah would have been in a photo taken at the store while he worked there and the apparent similarities of the face and physical characteristics in photographs of limited resolution.  Since my grandfather died 86 years ago, it is unlikely that anyone still living could resolve the question.  Maybe electronic facial recognition tools could be definitive.   What do you think?

Reference :
Ward, Mary Frances: The Durable People. The Community Life of Curtin Village Workers, 1810-1922.  Published by Roland Curtin Foundation, Howard, PA, 1987
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