I have a copy of what appears to be a charcoal drawing of an old tintype of photograph of my gggrandfather, "Mike." He was born in Indiana around 1832, lived in Iowa and died in 1880. The picture is of a man who appears to be somewhere between 25 and 40. He has straight dark hair cut long enough to almost cover his ears. He is wearing a dark suitcoat with deeply notched rather wide lapels. He has on a white shirt with no apparent collar. Over that and showing about a half inch of white shirt above it is what appears to be a dark shiny (satin?) hand-tied bow tie maybe an inch and a half wide. I think it's a painting or charcoal drawing of a photograph as he has that "bravely facing a firing squad" look of someone trying to be motionless long enough for the photographer to get a picture. Since he is known to have died in 1880, the photograph is from before that time. But before or after the Civil War? Anybody know when it was the custom in Iowa for a man to be clean shaven, cut his hair to cover the top of his ears, wear a shirt with a collarless neck and a bow tie, and a suit jacket with deeply notched lapels? The outfit could have been a photographer's prop of course, but the fashion must have been reasonably current for the time. I have a photo of another ancestor from 1875 - 1880 who was sporting a rather fluffy beard that was trimmed so as to frame his entire face, but the face itself was mostly bare. ---------- As for Sharon Becker's comment about the 70's: "And we thought we looked so cool at the time, ha, ha, ha." I'll have you know that my lime green polyester pantsuit and big red "Dolly Parton" wig were very cool indeed! I expect they will inspire awe in some as yet unborn descendant! ---------- Jeanne Surber -----Original Message----- >From: Sharon Becker <srbecker@iowatelecom.net> >Sent: Dec 7, 2008 9:51 PM >To: iowa@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [IOWA] Fw: question about old photos > >I just wanted to say that no one will EVER have >any trouble dating all those family photos from >the late 1960's, all of the 1970's, and the early >1980's. Something about the shimmer of polyester >and colors no one has ever worn before or since. >And we thought we looked so cool at the time, ha, ha, ha. > >Sharon R. Becker >Ringgold Co. Coordinator > >(Guilty of having a mullet hair-style with "wings" & oversized glasses >that weighed 5# way back then.....although I never owned >any mustard-yellow or glow-in-the-dark lime green clothing.)