Thanks to James Bessing, Sr. and his research into census records, I have added another piece to the puzzle of who may be who in these glass negatives.

At the Capewell Glass Negative page I started on FaceBook, Mr. Bessing wrote:

O.K. I just finished tracing The Westville Capewells on Broadway from 1880 to 1930 1890 being excluded. Mark and Willie start in Phila’ with Harry and John B. ,then are in Westville on Broadway in 1900 with 4 boys and four girls.In 1910 there is John B,Ella,John B Jr. and Oliver and In 1920 there is John B, Ella,John B Jr.and Henry O. Then in 1930 there is John B. ,Ella John B Jr. and Henry. All info from Census records

With this in mind, I started looking through the negatives looking for family resemblances and/or group shots, and sure enough I found this:

Four girls, four boys and Mom and Dad. The numbers add up to the census records and there is enough of a resemblance to conclude that these people are related. The first thing I noticed was that all of the men have the same pronounced ears as the photographer John B Capewell (standing on the far right).

The youngest child has a similar scowl I’ve seen on John B. Capewell in a number of the negatives. I think I’ve found the aunts uncles and grandparents of John, Jr and Henry O.

This was probably shot in Westville, NJ in what looks to be a fairly shabby alley for a nice family portrait. It must have had a certain quality of light that was going to make for a good exposure, and I’m sure John planned to do some judicious cropping when he made the prints.

It was probably shot more than 100 years ago. John looks a little younger than he does in the shots with his wife and sons.

Here is the glass negative as I shot it. I placed the 5″ x 7″ negative on a light box, and set up a digital camera above it on a tripod. I inverted the digital image and adjusted the levels in Photoshop.

As I said above, I started a page for the Capewell Glass Negative Collection at Facebook. I invite you to join this group by heading over there and clicking the LIKE button. Ultimately, I am hoping to gather more information about the Capewells and hopefully connect with various relatives and descendants of these folks. Spread the word!

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