Can you help date this photo?

Here are six strapping men that I would like to date. The man at the back right in particular has caught my eye. Before you jump to conclusions, remember, I am a married woman and this is a genealogy blog. The only type of dating I am interested in is finding out when this picture was taken! You may be able to help.

The photo comes from the collection of another French family researcher, who has given his permission for me to post it here. He's as keen to find out about the man at the back right as I am, as this man may be our shared ancestor. Click the picture for a closer look.

On the rear of the photo a handwritten note says:

Back
B. French
R. Marshall
J. French Snr

Front
H. Trickey
P. Trickey
J. Marshall

Ouyen

The photo's owner is confident that B. French is his ancestor, Albert Edward "Bert" French (1887-1958). The photo was in Albert's collection and was first seen by other family members after his spouse's death in 1983. The writing was already on the photo at that time, but it is not known who made the identification, or when.

We want to work out who "J. French Snr", standing at the back right, is. There were four generations of the family named James French in Victoria, Australia. There was only one John we know of who is believed to have died before the likely time period of this photo, and no other known  J names. We think this is most probably one of our James Frenchs. But which one?

• James William French (c1824 - 1896)  
  
• James Henry French (1849 - 1915)       - son of James William, father of Bert
  
• James Thomas French (1880 - 1965)    - Bert's older brother
  
• James William French (1913 - 1965)     - son of James Thomas 

The most likely candidates, given the apparent age of Bert, are James Henry (our shared ancestor) and James Thomas. The family lived in the Avoca, Victoria, region which is around 250 km (150 miles) from Ouyen, Victoria, where the photo was taken. Do you know any of these men? Have any tips or suggestions for dating the photo? Perhaps you are a Trickey or a Marshall descendant who is just as interested in this photo as we are? Even if you stumble onto this page a long time after it's publication, please get in touch! Leave a comment, or contact me via my details on the "About me" page.

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UPDATE - 6 April 2011
The photo has been more widely circulated among French family members for comment. As a result, P and H Trickey have been identified as Percy (c1903-1937) and Harold (c1904-1936). Given that they appear to be older than 10-11 years of age in the photo, this dates the photo after 1915, when James Henry French died. We believe that the man in the photo is therefore James Thomas French.

Playing with photos - part 2

I'm still having a lot of fun messing around with my family photos in Photoshop Elements. I'm concentrating on our more recent photos at the moment, dating from the 70s. I have some books on digital photo restoration on order but the estimated delivery date is still a month away. A month! Ridiculous, but even including the outrageous postage it's at least 25% cheaper to order them from the USA than to buy here in Australia.

So, while I wait, I'm reading internet tutorials and experimenting. I do have one or two photoshop books, but they're pretty basic.

Here's a before and after. It's a crop of the original image, reduced to 50%. The original image had a paper texture problem and a colour cast, but only very minor marks to clear up and no tears or coloured splotches of any sort.

I'm quite happy with how I've cleared the paper texture (which isn't nearly as visible here as it is full size). I'm not as pleased with the colour correction. As with the texture, I don't think the colour problems are as obvious here as in the original. There was a disinct magenta cast over everything, but especially the shadows on the faces.

I think I've improved the colour in the "after" shot... but I'm not entirely happy with it. More experimentation needed, I think!

Comments welcome, as always!

Who's missing from this picture?

This is the COUPER family of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. Someone is missing, but who?


In the middle is Mary COUPER (nee ALLSOP), wife of Daniel Miller COUPER. Obviously he's not in the photo, that's not the answer I'm looking for!

Mary and Daniel had nine children, all of whom survived infancy. However, there are only eight children in the photo.

The children were:

1. Jessie Isabella COUPER (F) b.1880
2. Robert John COUPER (M) b.1882
3. Lucy Ellen COUPER (F) b.1883
4. Alfred Edward COUPER (M) b.1885
5. Ethel Mary COUPER (F) b.1886
6. Leslie Miller COUPER (M) b.1887
7. Charles Henry COUPER (M) b.1890
8. Ruby Maude COUPER (F) b.c1892
9. Albert Donald COUPER (M) b.1894

The more I look at it, the more convinced I feel that the picture was taken c1893, before the birth of Albert Donald COUPER. That would give an age range for the children pictured of about 1 or 2 to about 13. Four girls and four boys with the youngest, Ruby, on her mother's lap.

That may seem the obvious conclusion, but another possibility is that the photo was taken after the death of Leslie Miller COUPER, who was accidentally killed by a horse at age 9 in 1897. This would make the age range of the children about 3 to about 17. Still four girls, four boys but now it's little Albert in Mary's lap. I'd also have to reverse my assumption about the gender of one of the other children.

So, is the youngest child a girl aged one or two, or a boy of age three or more? I think the former. What do you think? Any other clues or observations?