An Ebay purchase of four photos, one of which was from Traverse City. It is from the William Boswell Studio, which operated between 1900 and 1906.
On the back in ink is "Henry, Laurence & Carl Howard" with (Grandpa) [below Henry] and brothers.
The photograph has three men sitting in front of a painted backdrop, with curtains, a pair of columns, one with a vase and the other with a statue of a woman holding a jar on her head. The man on the left is sitting on a chair and the two on the right are sitting on a bench. A fur rug is on the floor.
It took me a while to realize that the names of two of the three men were incorrect, the three were actually Henry, Alanson, and Carlos Howard. And it turned out, I had already researched two of the three, Henry and Carlos, because they lived in Long Lake Township.
The three men were sons of Parley Howard (1799-1881) and Betsey Fisher (1794-1850).
Henry D. Howard was born in 1829 in New York. He was married to Orpha Zerina Garvin. They settled in Long Lake Township, Grand Traverse County in the early 1860s. Howard served as a Private in Company G of the 3rd Michigan Infantry. The couple had four children- Alice, Anna, Mary, and Horace. Henry died in 1905.
Carlos Howard was born in 1824 in Genesee County, New York. He was married to Mary M. Greene and they had four children- Charles Carlos, Alonzo F., Don, and Chester D. They moved to Long Lake Township in 1861. Carlos died in 1900 in Traverse City.
Alanson Freeman Howard was born in 1828 in New York. He was married to Sarah A. Stone and after her death to Martha Jennette Haskin. He had at least one son, Albert Elias. Alanson died in 1905 in Macomb County, Michigan.
The columns, vase, statue, and rug are unusual and I think this is a case where an existing photograph was taken to Boswell to have a new photograph made. One reason for thinking that is that one of the men in the photo, Carlos, died in March 1900, right around the time the studio opened.
