Unidentified Baby, Semi-Identified Photographer

Several drafts ago in my list of local photographers, I included Henry Iverson of Chicago; later I took him out because I thought I had confused the Chicago photographer with the "Iverson, Photographer" of "Hobart, Ind." who had taken a photograph in the possession of our Ols historian. Now I begin to think I was wrong in thinking I was wrong.

Here is another Iverson photo I recently bought:


(Click on image to enlarge)

No helpful notes on the original to identify the baby, and it looks like every other baby in a christening gown. So: on to the photographer.

The Hobart Historical Society has a few issues of a Hobart newspaper that has not been microfilmed or otherwise digitized, called the Hobart Advertiser. Elin Christianson[1] tells us that it was published from 1884 to 1899 and further comments:

The Advertiser was established by H.C. Hanson, a Hobart watchmaker and jeweler. George Scholler, Hobart music teacher and instrument dealer, was associated with the Advertiser as editor for a good part of the time. The policy of the paper was distinctive to Hanson who was an ardent prohibitionist and self-appointed keeper of the public morals, using the Advertiser to campaign against saloons, gambling, and Sunday baseball games. He frequently attacked local residents in his columns and collected caustic comments from the Hobart Gazette and physical injuries and libel suits from irate townsfolk in return. In 1899 Hanson decided to become a preacher and sold his paper to Zora E. Irvin [who] changed the name of the paper to the Indiana Cyclone …. [citations omitted]

After reading that description, I dared to hope that the Advertiser might give some juicy details about a certain Ainsworth scandal, so I retrieved the crumbling papers from the museum archives and read through them. Not a word about my scandal, but I did find an interesting item in the April 15, 1887 issue: an advertisement entitled "New Art Gallery," announcing that "H. Iverson," who called himself a "Practical Photographer," was now in business in Hobart.

The Chicago Historical Society[2] tells us that the Chicago photographer, Henry Iverson, operated studios at various addresses from 1874 through 1885:


(Click on image to enlarge)

In 1886 and later years, he was no longer listed in Chicago directories as a photographer. So it's possible that he moved down to Indiana.

The March 15, 1889 Advertiser, in its "Hobart Tidings" social column, reported that "Mr. Iverson and family left for their home in Kansas, last Tuesday." That may have been the photographer; I can't find any other Iversons who lived in Hobart. The Kansas newspapers that are online don't yield any information about the photographer Iverson in that era, and, of course, the 1890 census is lost.

The 1900 Census shows the Henry Iverson who I believe is our guy back in Chicago, having remarried after the death of his first wife, and working as an insurance agent. I can't find him in the 1910 Census. He died August 31, 1916. The transcription of his death certificate on Ancestry.com says he was a retired miner, of all things! I can't find any death notices in the Chicago newspapers online.

So, in short, he's elusive and I'm not sure about his history before and after his stay in Hobart, but I feel pretty confident that photographs with the imprint of Iverson of Hobart, Ind. (rare as they are) date between April 1887 and mid-March 1889.

I have updated my photographer notes accordingly.


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[1] Elin Christianson, "Hobart Advertiser (1884-1899)," Hobart, Indiana Newspapers Summaries, Aug. 1979 (manuscript owned by the Hobart Historical Society).
[2] Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Photographers 1847 Through 1900 as Listed in Chicago City Directories (1958), online at http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Chicago%20Photographers%201847%20through%201900,%20as%20listed%20in%20Chicago%20City%20Directories.pdf.