I came across this photograph on Ancestry.com of John Henry Graham, his wife Mary Bohannon, and some of her relations. A version of this photograph can also be found on the Find a Grave memorials for Daniel Arthur Bohannon and his wife Ada Barnes.

The people in the photograph, from left to right, are:

John Jasper Bohannon. To assist in transplanting your thoughts back to how John might’ve really looked at the time, here is his physical description recorded on his 1917 draft registration: Medium height, medium build, blue eyes and dark hair.

Florence Woods. She was from Van Buren County and married John Bohannon in Searcy County on Sunday, 6 September 1896. It appears Florence had some sort of brooch pinned to the right side of her blouse.

John Henry Graham. He was John Bohannon’s brother-in-law and had signed as security on John’s bond for marriage license. John Henry had some sort of ribbon hanging from his left lapel. There’s no record that he ever served in the military, so it’s unlikely to have been a military award.

Mary Matilda Bohannon. She was John Bohannon’s sister, older by about four years. She married John Henry Graham in Searcy County on Thursday, 3 October 1889.

Daniel Arthur Bohannon. He was John Bohannon’s brother, older by about eleven years.

Ada Barnes. She was John Bohannon’s sister-in-law by her marriage to Daniel Bohannon on Sunday, 2 September 1888.

Date & Location

The exact date of the original photograph is unknown, but we can narrow it down some. If we assume that everyone was already married here, the photograph could not have been taken earlier than 1896, the date of John and Florence’s marriage. It could even be that was the occasion captured here.

It’s a good bet that the photograph was taken someplace in Watts, Red River Township, Searcy County, as the 1900 census recorded all three couples there. Though whether the location was one of their residences or the local church or a random tree line, I cannot determine.

Condition & Source

The image from Ancestry.com appeared to be a photograph of an original on a white background, perhaps in an album. The subject is framed at an angle, with the upper right and lower left corners out of the shot. There is tape clearly visible along the left and bottom edges. The names of the people in the photo were written by what appears to have been a black ball-point pen by an unknown person. There was no information provided regarding the photographers and dates of either the original subject or of this photograph of it. The name of the owner of the original was also not provided.

Photo Manipulation

I did some editing of the photograph to get it ready to post here. I straightened the image, used a sharpen filter and a white balance filter, reduced it to grayscale, then scaled the dimensions down 50% for a smaller file size and faster download. The software used was Microsoft Photos (for the straightening) and GNU Image Manipulation Program 2.10.12., a free and open source equivalent to Photoshop.