Orphan Photo #34

This beautiful cabinet card, appears to be a wedding photo and is in near-perfect condition.  Unfortunately, there is no identifying information.  The photographer’s imprint reads:

John Hills

Art Studio

Cleveland, Wis.

Oddly enough, there are five towns of Cleveland in Wisconsin.  To narrow down the approximate location, I did a census search for John Hills.  I find a John Hills living in Centerville, Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the 1900 census.  He was born in 1870 and is listed as a photographer.  I continue to find him through 1930, but never again listed as a photographer.  Based on this information, I estimate that the photo was taken between 1888-1909, starting with when he would have been about 18-years old and up to the year I find him as a postmaster in the 1910 census.  It is of course possible that his main occupation in 1910 was postmaster and that he did photography on the side.  I’m having a hard time narrowing the time frame down based on the apparel the couple is wearing, so that’s my best guess.

Orphan Photo #34