Here’s another picture of what I assume is one of John and Ella Capewell’s sons, but I’m not so sure. The hat and clothing on the baby look sort of feminine making me think it may be a girl. Of course, it may be a Christening gown.
We’ve seen the young girl on the left before in a number of these negatives. Most recently she was in the Cousin Among the Corn post. I assume she is one of John Capewell’s nieces since records indicate that John and Ella only had the two sons.
We’ve seen the same field in the background in a number of these shots. It was either Capewell’s back yard or he really liked shooting here.
I wonder if the wicker baby carriage was purchased as part of a set with the wicker rocking chair in last week’s post. Like the chair, it looks brand new.
There were a couple negatives of this wicker perambulator so I decided to include both in this post.
…and the entire image from this negative is below.
About The Capewell Glass Negative Collection
The Capewell Glass Negative Collection is a series of about 200 5-inch by 7-inch glass negatives shot early in the 20th Century by John Batt Capewell (1878-1951) of Westville, New Jersey. John passed the negatives down to his son Henry who left them in his wife’s possession upon his passing. Henry’s widow didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t particularly want them so she offered them to my Dad who couldn’t turn down anything. Ultimately I wound up with them and thought I would one day have photographic prints struck from them. That didn’t happen, but I came up with the digital workaround of placing the negatives on a lightbox and rephotographing them with a digital camera. The “processing” was then done on a computer with image editing software. They came out better than I thought they would so I thought I would show them off to the world on this site. Many of these pictures have not been seen in a century, and I’m proud to be presenting them today.
At first, I did not know who the people were in the photographs. I have a box of ephemera that accompanied the negatives and snagged a few clues from that as far as the Capewell name. I did some research on the internet and had a few false starts and wrong turns, but the readers of these posts have provided a remarkable amount of research and detail. I’m amazed at what people have turned up sifting through public records and such!
Last Week: Baby in a Wicker Rocker
It was customary to dress all babies alike in those days for practical reasons as they needed to be changed so frequently. It seems odd by today’s standards of pink and blue.I discovered this in my genealogy research and looking at old family photos. My father and his brother were born in the first decade of 1900 and they were both dressed similarly in the first few years. I thought it was an odd custom until I discovered the genealogy tidbit.
Btw, the detail and clarity of this and many other photos in this collection is unbelievable, considering they are over a hundred years old.
I gave a link to your website to a former next door neighbor of the Capewell family. I’m anxious to hear if he or any of his family members can shed some light on some of your photos. His parents came from Italy to Westville in the early 1920s.
I really enjoy this website. I try to tell anybody I can about it. It’s nice to have something to look forward to each week. I’m glad you decided not to post them all at once.
Thanks for making an “I Grew up in Westvilleite’s” Thursdays more interesting in anticipation.
Thanks so much for the info and the kind words, Warren! I’m dying to know if the Capewell neighbors have anything to add to this. Thanks for passing it along!
I certainly hope so. They’ve teased me for several months, saying they remember the family and would like to see the pictures. But, they don’t trust the internet and are reluctant to access it. I’ve failed at trying to get them to join the “I Grew up in Westville” group on Facebook. I just hope they get hooked on the excellent pictures of their neighbors and feel more comfortable on your website.