Louis Bucklin at 9

I’m being a bit bold with that title.  I’m not really sure how old Louis is in the main photo I’m talking about, but my guess was that he was nine.  So that makes the photo’s date as around 1882.  Louis Charles Bucklin was born April 11, 1873, in Masonville, Iowa, which is in the township of Coffin’s Grove in Delaware County.  His parents were James A. (possibly Austin) Bucklin and Mary Ann McGrath.  The Bucklin family was from Massachusetts and the McGrath family was from Ireland.

James and Mary Ann were married in 1854 in Springfield, Massachusetts.  It was James’ second marriage and Mary Ann’s first.  James had married  Rhoda Maria Gove in 1843 probably in Ludlow, Massachusetts.  They had two children together, then Rhoda died in 1849.  At some time Mary Ann immigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings.  They settled in Palmer, Massachusetts.  Somehow she met widower James Bucklin and they got married.

James and Mary Ann settled in Palmer, Massachusetts, with James’ two children from his first marriage.  Eleven months later their daughter Jennie was born.  Almost six years later they had their first son together.  He was named Joseph C. Bucklin, but everyone knows him as Joe. 

The family then moved to Iowa before the birth of their next son Edd.  He was born March 8, 1864, in Sand Springs, Iowa, which is in Delaware County.  Their last child was Louis.  The spacing of the children seems a little odd.  There are gaps of 6 years, 3 years, and 9 years.  I haven’t found any mention of any children that died, but I wouldn’t be surprised. 

It was during the childhood of these family members that photography was getting to be affordable and available to families.  That must have been true for the Bucklin family because there are several old photos of this family.  The sad part of it is that many of the photos are unidentified.  One of the identified photos is this photo of Louis Bucklin.

Like I said at the beginning, he looks to be about nine years old.  In 1882 the family was still living in Coffin’s Grove, Iowa.  They did not move down to Louisiana until 1884.  I have tried to edit this photo in the past and have never liked any of the results, so I’m going ahead and posting it as is.  I like the photo.  He looks like a dignified little man in the photo.  His feelings about photos must have changed at a later date, because there aren’t any photos of him after he was married.

I’m going to share a few other photos as well.  The next one is another photo that was identified.  But this one is of Louis’s older brother Edd when he was a child.  He looks to be about six years old, so that would put the photo as being taken around 1870.  This is an enhanced version of the photo.  Of course, the photo of my great uncle looks great with edits.  The original photo is much better.

This next photo is one that was not identified, but I’m starting to think that is was my great grandfather Louis.  I think it may be a little larger photo that looks like a post card.  It’s not like that small one of Edd that looks like a daguerreotype.  Also, this boy doesn’t have the same dour look that Edd has in the photo.  I think it looks like a younger version of Louis.  If it is Louis, it was taken around 1875 or so.  This is an enhanced version of the photo.  Sometimes my photo editing comes out good, but a lot depends on the quality of the original photo.

Tell me what you think.  Could it be Louis?