Seed Pearl Necklace and Bracelets

[Steve]

I may have identified the couple in the photograph after researching the family histories of Ruth (Montgomery) Day, and her husband. Ruth's 1976 estate sale is where the daguerreotype supposedly comes from. Based on the clothing and hairstyles in the photo, I would date it to c.1857. My visual estimate would put the couple around their forties. I know that's a little younger than some of your estimates for the couple's ages. There's only one couple that matched this age guess and photo production estimate from Ruth and her husbands lineages:

Jehiel Halsey Montgomery born 15 Oct. 1815 in New York State, died 26 Jan. 1892 in Decorah, Iowa and his wife Emily Biggs born c.1818 also in New York and died 13 Jan. 1906 in Decorah. They are Ruth's paternal grandparents. Based on the c.1857 age estimate, he would be around 42 and she around 39. The couple was living in Aurora, Illinois in the 1850's and if it is indeed this couple the daguerreotype was probably made there too.

Despite being a little younger than some of you suspected, this is the only couple age wise who seems to fit with the age estimate of when the photograph was made. The second closest couple was the paternal grandfather of Ruth's husband - who would've been about 63 - and his wife who would've been about 51 in 1857. I just think 63 is too old for the man in the photo.

I haven't found any photographs of either Jehiel or Emily online, so I can't confirm this. And I guess there's always the possibility that Ruth just bought the daguerreotype somewhere because she liked the photo and it just got mixed in with her family history items.