Burial of Susan Marie Best Purdy

 Below is one of the gems from the estate I'm curating. 

This is an old photo of Susan Marie Best Purdy's burial in 1910. The grave is located in the Staunton City Cemetery, Staunton, IL.

I've enhanced the photo as much as possible with the equipment available. In the lower right hand corner the footstone shows (barely) the initials "S.M.P." The footstone in the lower left shows (barely) "W.C.P." for William Collins Purdy. 

I have a dearly cherished pillow case that she embroidered with the initials "S.M.P" on them, which lends credence that this is her burial. 

In addition, the earth near her footstone has been disturbed, whereas the earth near her husband's footstone has not. WCP2 died in 1912. Susan, a.k.a. "Susie," died before him in March 18, 1910. So I'm dating the photo to March 1910. 

Can't wait to get back and see it in person. 

Here's the photo:

New photo of William Collins Purdy II

There are lots and lots of photos of unidentified people in the boxes from my uncle's estate. Luckily this one is labeled and will help me to identify so many others. 

Here is the photo:

 

Notice that it's labeled "Wm C Purdy" in the lower left corner. So this is William Collins Purdy II. 

The date of the photo is unknown but likely to be around 1890 when he was about 63. This date is just an estimate and bears more research and comparison with other photos I have of him. 

You may notice a slight difference between the right eye and the left eye. I have seen this feature in other pictures that I now know are of William Collins Purdy. I wonder what caused the difference?

More soon.