The Packwoods


There is a unique thrill in flipping over an antique photograph and finding more than just blank cardboard. This week, I added a spectacular 1896 cabinet card to my collection, and the handwritten notes on both sides allowed me to piece together a bittersweet story of a late-19th-century farming family.

The portrait itself, dated April 1896 in faint pencil on the front, is a masterclass in Victorian-era family photography. It features a young couple surrounded by their four children. The stoic expressions, the children's heavy velvet and plaid dresses, and the crisp white lace collars are all classic hallmarks of the decade.

​But it’s the back of the photo that truly brings it to life. Written in elegant, sweeping cursive, the inscription reads:

Jesse Packwood

Family.

They was Friends of Mr & Mrs E.H. Powell.

With a location, a surname, and an exact date, the pieces of the puzzle quickly fell into place. This is the family of Jesse W. Packwood and his wife, Amanda (White) Packwood, who operated a farm just west of Exeter in Barry County, Missouri.

​By looking at historical records from the spring of 1896, we can actually name every single child staring out from this portrait:

  • ​Cordelia & Della: The two older daughters standing on the right, born in the late 1880s.
  • ​Homer: The serious little toddler in the plaid dress sitting on his father's knee.
  • ​Minnie: The tiny infant, under a year old, resting in her mother's lap in a bright white gown.

​The note on the back also reveals a lovely social connection. The E.H. Powell family were neighboring farmers in Barry County. This photo wasn't kept by the Packwoods themselves; it was a token of friendship gifted to the Powells, who carefully wrote down the names of their neighbors so they wouldn't be forgotten.

While the photo captures a moment of growth and prosperity—Jesse and Amanda would go on to have several more sons—historical records reveal a poignant twist. The little boy on the left, Homer, would tragically pass away from illness in April 1911 at just 18 years old.

​He was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Exeter, where his parents would eventually join him decades later. Knowing this transforms the photograph from a simple antique find into an incredibly rare and precious record of a young boy's life, preserved forever by the neighbors who loved them.


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