This photo was taken by Will Triplett in 1915. Don Patterson (in the first car, back seat) is sitting in one of two cars that his father had just purchased. Note that the license plates are in consecutive order. Reprinted by Tish Triplett (1990). From the collection of Roger Triplett.
The Icon welcomes the Patterson family to try to identify the others in the photo.
This could be your great-grandfather. Sorry to say, the young man from Bluffton is unidentified. Will Triplett took the portrait around 1900. The more you study the photo, the more things jump out at you. Check out our model's left hand, for example. Is that a pocket watch chain near his right hand?
Here's another Will Triplett photo. It shows a tile factory in Beaverdam, which makes this a rather rare photo because we've not seen many turn-of- the century photos from Beaverdam. The persons in the photo and the exact location of factory is not provided. The photo was taken cira 1900.
Reprint by Trish Triplett. Provided to The Icon by Roger Triplett
You are looking at a photo by Will Triplett taken in Bluffton in 1895. The bridge crosses the Riley on Main Street, yet the note taken by Photographer Triplett read "Bridge on Indian Trail." This confirms the story that Main Street was in fact originally a trail of Native Americans.
Other information written about this photo follows - Back of the framed photo is handwritten: Photography by Will A. Triplett approx. 1900 (reprinted by Tish Triplett 1990)
