$20.00 CAD
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Nice posed studio photo of two young men who appear to brothers. They are dark-skinned and I assume African-American but could also be East Asian.
The card has studio name embossed into frame “W.R. GRAY St. John Art Studio, St. John Kansas”.
Photo mounted on cardboard card.
Photo: 5 ½” x 4”
Card: 8 ⅜” x 5 ⅞”
Tear in card LL. Scuffs on corners.
(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the photo for sale)
William Rossetter Gray
He was born March 22, 1865 in Greentown, Howard Co., Indiana, the first of four sons of Luther and Rebecca (Oxley) Gray. In 1883, he moved to McPherson Kansas. He was 22 years old and working for a farmer in 1887 when he asked for his wages a few days in advance to buy a 5x8 camera he'd seen advertised in a circular. In his first job, he operated out of a photo car owned by a teacher named Van Duesen. They worked the area around Fall River. Some of the other communities the served were Fall River, New Albany, Fredonia, Neosha and Lafountain. Around 1898, he married Mary Tipton. In 1905, W.R. Gray moved his family from Fall River to St. John and bought the studio at 116 North Main
