Stow Family Photograph Collection, 1850-1910

Collection Items

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  Stow Family Gathering
  

  This mounted photograph depicts various members of the Stow family at a family gathering on October 16, 1896. On the photograph, someone has identified some of the members of the family, but the donor of the collection has determined that several of the identifications are incorrect. They have provided a key in identifying all of the people present in the image, moving from left to right, up and down.
  A. Lemuel B. Stow (1866-1934)
  B. Ella Madison Stow (1874-1913) holding Baron H. Stow (July 1896-1962)
  C. Wilbur Stow (December 1894-1979)
  D. Viola Stow Dufour (1841-1912)
  E. J. Howard Stow (1833-October 1898)
  F. Shelomith Stow (1819-1901)
  G. Walter Hutchings (1866-1937)
  H. Minerva Mccauley Stow (1843-1921)
  I. Harry D. Stow (1889-1932)
  J. Minnie Stow (1868-1938)
  K. Horace Stow (1805-December 1898)
  L. Livia Jane Stow Branham (1827-1903)
  M. Nannie Madison Stow Tyler (1865-1903)
  N. W. Dean Tyler (1865-1938)
  O. Horace ""Harry"" M. Stow (1861-1946)
  P. Mary Sanders Stow (1866-1963)
  Q. unidentified (possibly a child or dependent of Harry and Mary Stow
  Also included with this photograph is a detailed explanation of all of the relationships within the family.
  1. All the Stows here, excluding spouses, are descended from Jonah and Livia Stow. Horace and Shelomith were their sons, as were Hiram (d. 1830), Solomon (d. 1846), and Uzziel (d. 1890). Most of the people in this photo, excluding spouses, are decedents of Horace Stow through his son J. Howard Stow.
  2. Livia Jan Stow Branham was a daughter of Horace. J. Howard Stow was a son of Horace. Minerva McCauley Stow was J. Howard's wife.
  3. Lemuel B. Stow was one of J. Howard Stow's sons. Wilbur and Baron are sons of Lemuel (thus grandsons of J. Howard Stow, and great grandsons of Horace). Lemuel's daughter Olive was born in 1906, and thus cannot be in the infant in Ella Stow's arms.
  4. Minnie R. Stow was a daughter of H. Howard Stow and thus a sister to Lemuel. She was Horace's granddaughter. She never married.
  5. Horace ""Harry"" M. Stow was another son of J. Howard Stow, and a brother to Minnie and Lemuel. Harry married Mary Sanders in 1893. The 1900 census recorded that Mary had not given birth to any child as of then.
  6. Loring S. Stow, who died before this photo was taken, was yet another son of J. Howard Stow. He married Nannie Madison in 1888. but died in January 1890. Their only child, Harry D. Stow, was born in 1889. Nannie then married W. Dean Tyler, and Harry D. Stow was raised in his household.
  7. Viola Stow Dufour was a daughter of Uzziel Stow. Her husband Frank Dufour was alive at the time this photograph was taken, but he did not make it into the picture, not did any of their offspring.
  8. Walter Hutchings was neither a relative, nor a suitor. Perhaps he was in the employ of one of the elder Stows."
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  Home of Uzziel and Catharine Stow, 1875
  

  This is a reversed image ca. 1875 of the home of Uzziel and Catharine Stow. Belle Dufour Stepleton (1883-1979) added the penciled caption probably in the 1940s or 1950s. Her son Donald Stpleton (1909-2003) copied Belle's inscription in ink about 50 years later, adding a few more details. Verso reads: "U. H. Stow home at Stowtown (Stow Triangle Area) (home farm). Left to right, girl named Dickason (hired girl), Amanda English, old lady who lived there until her death, [and] who had lived before coming to the Stows with Henry Clay's family in Kentucky. Always wore her bonnet even at dinner, in doorway Catherine Stow (my grandmother), and grandfather (seated) with Cane, Uzziel Stow, neighbor boy, hired man (B.D. Stephen)." The Stow letters occasionally include a greeting to "Manda" or "Mandy," this being Amanda English (1804-1890) who lived permanently with the Stows from at least 1860 on. We know very little about her, other than the fact that she was a seamstress. Willetta Washmuth's memoir includes an amusing anecdote regarding Uzziel and Amanda (Memories, Cotton's Hollow Press, Vevay, Indiana, 1991; pp. 33-34). However, be aware that Mrs. Washmuth (b.1905) had not know the other Stows personally, and in some instances she conflates Jonah and Uzziel Stow, and makes other factual errors. But her tales reflecting the character of Uzziel Stow certainly have a ring of truth. A photo published in Washmuth's memoir (p. 27) shows the house in its 1870 configuration, but from another vantage point.
  
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  Minnie R. Stow, Minerva McCauley Stow, and Viola Stow Dufour, 1907
  

  This photograph is mounted in a folio and depicts three members of the Stow family, Minnie R. Stow (1868-1938), Minerva McCauley Stow (1843-1921), and Viola Stow Dufour (1841-1912). Viola is seated at right. Minerva, the wife of J. Howard Stow, is in the center, and her daughter Minnie is on the left. If their apparel signifies morning, then perhaps this photograph post-dates Frank Dufour's death in April 1907. (J. Howard Stow had died in 1898.)
  
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  Viola Stow Dufour, 1910
  

  This mounted photograph of Viola Stow Dufour (1841-1912) was taken ca. 1910, after the death of her husband and two years before her death.
  
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  Francis R. Dufour, 1900
  

  Mounted photograph of Francis R. Dufour (1836-1907) dating from the early 1900s, was taken at Frank's home, with tobacco and corn crops in view.
  
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  Francis R. Dufour, 1900
  

  Mounted photograph of Francis R. Dufour (1836-1907) standing outside holding hat.
  
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  Francis R. Dufour, ca. 1862
  

  Carte-de-visite of Francis R. Dufour (1836-1907). Image appears to date from ca. 1862, either just prior to his marriage to Viola Stow, or shortly thereafter.
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  Carte-de-visite of possibly Catherine Manser Stow, ca. 1862
  

  According to the family, Belle Dufour Stepleton, Catharine's granddaughter, identified this photo, but we're not absolutely certain that she is correct. If it is Catharine, she is not wearing her spectacles, and would appear to be in her late 60s or early 70s. Catharine attained the age of 70 in 1881. Both the clothing and the stye of the image appear to date from an earlier era, so we have to consider that Judith Hyde Manser (d. 1871), Livia Hayward Stow (d. 1858), or someone else could be the subject, and that this carte-de-visite may have been copied from an earlier cased image (daguerreotype, tintype, or ambrotype). There is a good chance it isn't Livia Stow as she died before the invention of carte-de-visites."
  
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  Uzziel Hayward Stow, 1888
  

  Cabinet card of Uzziel Hayward Stow (1809-1890) two years before his death, when he was 79 years old. He preferred plain attire and may have been a reluctant subject.
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  Catharine Manser Stow, 1888
  

  Cabinet card of Catharine Manser Stow (1811-1899) at age 77. She has donned her wig and a modest, lacey cap for the occasion.
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  Baron P. Stow, 1864
  

  Carte-de-visite of Baron P. Stow (1847-1864). On Friday, January 29, 1864, Baron Stow wrote in his diary: "I… went down town and got my Photographs taken. I passed some time before I could get them to look natural." Later, on February 3, 1864, he comments: "I got my Photographs to day- they are very nice I think. I had them taken standing up." It is likely that this image was the one of which he writes. At the time Baron was captivated by Anna Ogle and no doubt intended to exchange photographs with her. He was 16, and died of typhoid on August 2, 1864.
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  Photograph of Viola Stow, circa 1860

  Carte-de-visite of Viola A. Stow (1841-1912). This image appears to have been taken before Viola's marriage to Frank Dufour in October, 1862. Note that an identical table serves as a prop in the studio photographs of her brother Baron [018PC4.04-.05]
  
  Viola Stow was born in 1841 near East Enterprise, Switzerland County, Indiana, a rural farming community near the Ohio River. She was the third of four children and only daughter of Uzziel and Catharine Stow. Stow’s parents valued education, and as a young girl she studied at the community school in Stowtown. The school was maintained by local residents, but the community often had difficulty retaining teachers. This led to sporadic instruction during Stow’s youth.
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  Loring B. Stow, ca. 1870
  

  Carte-de-visite of Loring B. Stow (1838-1860) This image has apparently been replicated from an ambrotype that was taken in the late 1850s.
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  Hiram S. Stow, ca. 1870
  

  Carte-de-visite of Hiram S. Stow (1835-1853). This image has apparently been replicated from an ambrotype that was taken ca. 1853, when Hiram was 18.