Two school pictures circa the late 1880's from south Tulare County:
Photographer's stamp on the back of this photo states: D. M. Churchill, Photographer, Pixley, Cal.
The Daily Alta California newspaper (of San Francisco) 3/17/1889 issue, indicates that D. M. Churchill of Pixley was a blacksmith. I would guess that for many small town photographers, taking photographs was just a sideline.
Two close-ups from this picture:
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Stamped on the back of this photo: J. W. Talhelm, Photographer. Alila, Cal.
Tulare County land ownership maps of 1892, list a J. W. Talhelm as owning a small plot of farm land near Alila. John William Talhelm of Alila is listed as a registered voter in 1890 (Listed age: 23 yrs, Occupation: farmer, Birth place: Pennsylvania). According to other voter registration records, he moved to the Dinuba area by 1896. The town of Alila later changed its name to Earlimart.
Only the children near the center of this image appear to be in focus.
Close up:
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Even with the blurry image from the second photo, the school teacher in the two pictures (above) looks like it could be the same person. This could even be the same school, just different school houses & different years (e.g. Both photographs could be of Alila's or Pixley's grammar school.). This teacher could also possibly be the same person in this photo.
Close-ups of the school teacher from the pictures above:
Based on other photos of him, I think the school teacher may be my great-grandfather Morrison Frank Pixley (1865 - 1959). He lived there on his property just north of the town of Pixley by the very early 1890s. My great-grandparents were married in the town of Alila in 1891.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the information. He lived a long life!
DeleteI looked up your g-grandfather. The earliest mention I found of him in Pixley was in 1889 ("Morrison F. Pixley" is listed as the notary public for Pixley, in a 1889 California journal). It looks like he moved to Marin County around 1893, and then to San Francisco. One of the family trees on ancestry.com has him back in Tulare County in the early 1950's. Some family trees indicate that he was an attorney. Do you know if he taught school in Pixley, around 1890?
I just realized that I've combined biographical information from Morrison Frank Pixley (your great-grandfather), with Morrison's uncle Frank Morrison Pixley.
ReplyDeleteThe elder Pixley was a famous Bay area journalist, attorney, and politician. The town of Pixley was named after him
I have a great rare panoramic photograph of Pixley Ca
ReplyDelete