Description of blog

Years ago, about 1968, I received from my grandfather, Walter P. White, Sr., a collection of 4 x 5 and 5 x 7 glass plates photographic negatives made by his father, Frederick Henry White. These images, mostly of his family, were made in Milwaukee between 1896 and 1899. It is interesting to get a glimpse back into their lives. All but one of the family members shown in these photographs are descendant from Asa Cossitt, Jr. and Rachel Seymour Steele. Their eldest daughter, Sarah Maria Cossitt, married George Cossitt White (her 1st cousin and a descendant of Asa Sr.) and the eldest of their children was Frederick Henry White. The one family member shown who is not a descendant of Asa and Rachel is Frederick's wife, Frances Ludington.

The collection consists of 39 4" x 5" plates and 28 5" x 7" plates. All the 4 x 5 plates were exposed in 1896 and all the 5 x 7 plates were exposed in 1897-1899. Frederick must have done some editing as the 4 x 5 plates are numbered intermittently from 7 to 131 and the 5 x 7 plates are numbered intermittently from 7 to 93. Additionally, there is one 5 x 7 plate with the number missing and an additional 7 plates with no number or label (alas). This suggests that he exposed at least 224 plates and more likely at least 231 or 232. It is easy to imaging that Frederick culled his plates due to poor development or movement of his subjects as his exposures were typically about 8 seconds long. All 67 surviving plates are reproduced here.

All plates are shown below in reverse chronological order. The titles are those used by Frederick.

There is labeling on all but 7 of the 67 plates. In this labeling Frederick referred to himself as "Papa", his wife Frances as "Mama". His first cousin, Sarah Lavinia White Van Pelt, was called Mrs. G. B. Van Pelt. His sons, in birth order, were called Fred, Harry, Bud (or sometimes Budd or George), and Walter. His nephew Garrett was called Garrie. There are only two pictures of his eldest son, and namesake, Fred. He was 15 1/2 in January 1896, the time of the earliest pictures. Was he away at school most of this time? And Frederick's sister Sarah Lavinia (Aunt Vinnie) only appears in one picture. Why is that? Also seen are Frederick's mother, Sarah Maria Cossitt, and two of his first cousins, Fannie and Mary (May) Cossitt, daughters of Pearl Steele Cossitt.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Group on Side Porch

No. 42  Dec. 25th, 1897

Here we have Fannie (on the left) and May Cossitt (on the right), cousins of Frederick and Sarah Lavinia White, and George Vinson, a friend of the family? It is easy to understand what might have caused him to have come a'calling this afternoon.

The top picture is a detail of the lower plate.


Frances (Fannie) and Mary (May) Cossitt are daughters of Rev. Pearl Steele Cossitt and Mary L Johnson. Pearl is the son of Asa Cossitt Jr. and Rachel Seymour Steele. Thus Fannie and May are nieces of Sarah Maria Cossitt and first cousins of Frederick Henry White. Fannie would have been one month short of 18 and May had just turned 16 one week prior to this photograph being made.

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