Photographer_________

Beardsley Bro’s, Art Gallery, 71 & 73 Owego Str., Ithaca, New York

Title:

Mr. & Mrs. Jesse McKinney

Date:

c1860s

Medium:

Carte-de-Visite on printed mount (2)

Size of Image:

na

Size of Mount:

3 7/8 x 2 3/8 inches

Condition:

Medium to rich tonal images, some light rubbing/aging but bright with penciled names of sitters on versos, Civil War Era Proprietary 2 cent, blue Tax Stamps 

Other:

Handsome pair of portraits of Jesse McKinney (1790-1862) and his wife Elizabeth (nee Brown 1795-1864) .  Both were originally from New Jersey families settling in the Tompkins County, New York area including Ithaca and Lansing.  Jesse McKinney served a variety of public service roll including Justice of the Peace, 1834; member of the Assembly of New York State, 1839; School Commissioner, 1873, Special Judge, 1875 and a Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Ithaca.  He enlisted in the New York State 141st Regiment, Company C in 1862.

The Beardsley brothers, Jefferson and George F, were active in Ithaca from 1861 until around the 1880s.  Jefferson is also noted as an accomplished painter as well producing portraits, landscapes and applying color to the photographs.  George and Beach Beardsley are said to have made much of the photographic portraiture.  Maria Beardsley was responsible for printing the negatives and mounting the photographs.  The Beardsleys made many photographs of the Cornell University family including many images of the athletic teams.  Their photographs can be found with various identifications including Beardsley Brothers, Beardsley, J. Beardsley, Beardsley Bro’s Art Gallery, Beardsley and Purdy, Tomlinson & Beardsley and Cascadilla Art Gallery.