c.1870 Tintype Photo W.R.Lacey, Prominent OSKALOOSA Mahaska County IOWA Lawyer

Description

Size, including the paper frame, approx. 2 1/2 in. by 3 5/8 in.
Here’s a quote from the webpage “iagenweb.org/mahaska/proud/Chapter19.htm”:
Mrs. Needham is a fine-looking woman, has a young face and not a gray hair, though she has granddaughters who are young ladies. Her daughter Minnie was a bright and studious child, was one of the first to graduate from Oskaloosa High School and was quite proficient in music. She married Mr. W. R. Lacey, a prominent young attorney, and is now mistress of one of the finest homes in Oskaloosa, where she and her husband and daughters entertain their hosts of friends in the most delightful manner. Every room, nook and cornet is furnished in an elegant, comfortable and restful manner. The daughters charm one with music, and the choicest of literature greets the eye on every hand. Their conservatory is filled with the choicest plants and flowers, and their grounds are a bower of beauty. Broad verandas festooned with graceful vines and surrounded with ferns, begonias and palms make one almost imagine they are in the tropics. Their grounds reach from street to street, and are pretty on all sides, with no unsightly places at all.
W. R. Lacey is a successful attorney, a careful businessman and is steadily adding to his possessions.
And from the National Parks Service website:
During the 1890s, many houses began exhibiting characteristics of the popular Queen Anne style. Several of the finest of these have been demolished over the years, including the W.R. Lacey residence at 418 1st Avenue East…
And from a newspaper archive website:
Mar 29, 1986 · W R. Lacey helped found the St. James Episcopal Church and was a bank director. He and wife, Minnie Needham, daughter of a founder of the Oskaloosa Herald newspaper, had four daughters. Francine married Dare Lamberson of New York, who came to Oskaloosa and owned a car dealership.
You can see, from the handwriting on the back, that he used this photo like a CDV – as a business card or calling card.
I flipped the close-up image because a tin type is, by its nature, a reverse image. So the last view of his face, above, shows how he actually looked.

Condition
- one short scratch on his cheek and another going up from the top of his head; a few light angled bends across the plate; mild soil.
Portrait photograph with studio backdrop
Thanks for bidding!