Well, we still don't know who they are, but we now know a little more about them. By some very cool alignment in the universe, I met up with Maureen Taylor - The Photo Detective herself - at the NERGC (New England Regional Genealogical Conference) held April 6-10 in Springfield, MA and asked her to look at the photo to see if she could tell us a little more about it.
This couple are in their middle ages - 40 to 60 years old. The woman is wearing a day cap and the gentleman is sporting an unusual tie... it is patterned, which is not a common thing in the mid 1800's - the possible date of the photograph.
This photograph is actually a copy of a daguerreotype. It says so in the lower right hand corner - not that it was a daguerreotype, but that it is a copy, probably made by the person who signed the photo at the bottom. There are telltale spots in the background that indicate that the photograph is a daguerreotype.
It would be interesting to see if investigating the signature of the photographer would lead to any further answers. I'll let you know what I find.
Someone should start a website of unidentified photographs that people could upload their photos to... then other folks could look at them and hopefully ID the people in the photos. Sort of a WikiPhoto.
Any takers?
