"Portraits enlarged up to life size" (2)

W.N. Statham of Matlock Bridge also offered a copying and enlargement service, as shown by the wording on the reverse of cabinet card mounts used in the 1890s and early 1900s: Marilyn and Mike McMillan recently contacted me about images of two photographs - a cabinet card and a cdv - included in my profile of this photographer.

My husband and I were looking at this site and noticed that we can identify the people in two of your unidentified photographs ... The first photograph is of two unidentifed young girls seated in white dresses. The second photo underneath is of an unidentified middle aged couple. He is seated with his arm resting on a table and he has a large beard. His wife is standing.

This middle aged couple are my great grandparents. An enlargement of this photo hangs in my home. They are Henry Statham and his wife Ann Jane (Wass) Statham, both born in 1853. Henry and William Nathan Statham were first cousins. Henry Statham's father, Isaac Statham (m. Sarah Carline), and William N. Statham's father, Abanathan, were brothers. The two young girls in the previous photo are Henry and Ann Jane Statham's daughters - Gertrude (on the left, born April 4, 1882) and Lilian (on the right, born Feb 16, 1886). This family along with two sons, Henry (my grandfather) and Isaac emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1903.

I am the only child of Walter Statham who was the only child of Henry Statham, the son of the Henry in the picture. So I basically have everything worth saving that belonged to my grandparents. The oval enlargement, and also an oval enlargement of my father's maternal grandparents, Walter and Sarah Barrett, were in a large envelope unframed. These pictures must have come to Canada in the early 1900's. My husband and I had them framed a few years ago so they must have sat in the envelope unframed for most of the 20th century. They were in very good condition. This is really interesting. Putting pictures on a website like yours proves that it is possible to identify people in photos.

Marilyn kindly sent me some photographs of Henry and Ann Jane Statham later in life, after they had settled in Canada, including these two. She also provided two images of cartes de visite by the Derby branch of A. & G. Taylor's countrywide chain of studios, showing Gertrude and Lilian Statham, which must have been taken shortly before their departure for Canada in 1903.