Cabinet Card Photographers: October 2020

photographer: Wm. H. Kibbe
Kibbe Building
Johnson, N. Y.

William H Kibbe
(1846 - 1910)

There is a nice biography of W H Kibbe at Historic Camera which outlines his career. It appears he was located as photographer in the “Kibbe Building” from 1871 to his death in 1910.

It is a light weight card with a single ruled line for a border, no printing on the reverse and simple lettering for the studio identification. This card style was popular around 1884 to 1890. (PhotoTree.com)

There is another fine example and a short biography at Cabinet Card Gallery.

Another example is found at Ancestorville.com

from Wilson's Photographic Magazine - 1910

Example from Visual Studies Workshop

reverse of the card at the left

photographer: W H Kibbe
New York
example from auction site

reverse of card at left

photographer: Kibbe
Kibbe Bilding, Johnston, NY
example from auction site

Reverse of card at left

photographer: Kibbe
Kibbe Bilding, Johnston, NY
example from auction site

photographer:Geo Kibbe
Amsterdam, NY
example from auction site
(Connection to William H Kibbe is unknown at this time)

photographer: Kibbe
Hartington, NE
example from auction site
(No connection to Kibbe of NY has been found)

photographer: Kibbe
Wibaska, MN
example from auction site
(No connection to Kibbe of NY has been found)

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. Listed here are all the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY. This is a work in progress. For a look at the original postings go to LOST GALLERY.

New examples and additional information are always welcome. Any additional information will help narrow the time that these precious antiques were made.

All submissions should be free of glare and shadows. Do not crop. Leave a border around each card. The edges are sometimes an important clue to the age of the card.

Some examples on this page have been enhanced or restored for clarity and presentation here.

This page is free for educational and research purposes only but, as always, if the original owner of any of these examples objects to the use on this page, just let me know and they will be immediately removed.

FORD'S FINE ART GALLERY

Photographer
Ford's Fine Art Gallery
McHenry, Ill.

Reverse of the card on the left

Another card with the same image
has a different reverse

Photographer B A Ford was difficult to trace. He was born in Rhode Island, US, in 1833 as shown by the US census of 1870 and 1900. The 1880 US census claims he was born in 1843, ten years later. It’s probably just a clerical error but it does confuse things a bit.

Newspaper items place him positively in McHenry, IL, between December of 1866 and October of 1893. After that he is, for a time in Joliette, Braidwood and then Streator, IL. No death certificate or obituary could be found but he does seem to drop out of sight after 1900. One Ancestry tree places his death at 23 Feb 1904, at age 60, but no documents have been found to support this.

Several newspaper items were found, the most informational are added here.

The cabinet cards here were probably finished between about 1853 and 1877. There is a possibility also that the subsequent photographers operating in the Ford Fine Art Gallery space after he sold out, kept the gallery name.

The cards at the left are quite primitive and were possibly done early in that time span.

1833
Rhode Island, US census 1870, 1900, B E Ford is born
1864
Rock Island, IL, city directory, tax roll, as photographer (studio location not given)
1865
Illinois, tax roll, city not shown, as photographer
1866
McHenry, IL, tax roll, as photographer
1867 Apr 18
Woodstock (IL) Sentinel newspaper ad as photographer, studio over Owen & Bro’s store in McHenry, IL
1868 Apr 19
McHenry, IL, state records, marriage to Mary E Colby (Note this might be in error, 1900 US census says the marriage was in 1883)
1870 Sep 02
McHenry, IL, US census, as photographer (no wife mentioned)
1875 Oct 06
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item as photographer at Ford’s Fine Art Gallery
1876 Jul 19
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item says Miss A M Woodward has been hired as artist for Ford’s Fine Art Gallery

1876 Oct 01
La Salle, IL, state records, marriage to Anna M. Woodward; this conflicts with the state records that say Ford married Mary E Colby in 1868
1876 Oct 11
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item says B A Ford has married Anna M Woodward of Streator, IL
1876 Nov 01
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer, newspaper item says an Estey Organ was presented to the parents of Mrs B A Ford who reside in Streator, IL
1877 Jan 27
McHenry, (IL) Plain Dealer news item says Ford is looking for someone to take over the gallery
1877 Jan 31
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer news item says Ford has sold his gallery and is moving to Streator. IL
1877 Feb 07
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer news item says L S Gorten had purchased the gallery of B A Ford
1879 Feb 06
Woodstock (IL) Sentinel news item says Mr Dunbar has taken the rooms formerly occupied by B A Ford
1880 Jun 02
Braidwood, IL, US census, as photographer boarding at 69 Main, no wife listed

1883
US census of 1900 says Bernard Ford married Mary E Colby on this date (Note: state records say the marriage to Mary E Colby was in 1868)
1885 Jan 01
(Bloomington IL) Pantagraph newspaper item says a fire has damaged the gallery of B A Ford in Braidwood, IL
1893
Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune small news item says B A Ford is selling to buildings in Braidwood, IL
1895
Joliet, IL, city directory as photographer
1899
Will County (IL) directory as photographer
1900 Jun 14
Coal City, IL, US census, as photographer
1904 Feb 1904
Streator, La Salle, IL B A Ford dies at age 60 (date from a family tree, no documents to support)