Meet the Newlyweds

Found in an antique store in Sonora, California: the photograph of the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Brockman from West Point...Nebraska.

While there is a West Point in northern California—only an hour's drive north on state highway 49 from Sonora—that isn't the West Point this couple claimed as home. Theirs was a wedding celebration in West Point, Nebraska. And that makes all the difference in how we are going to find them.

The picture itself—we saw the photographer's imprint enlarged, yesterday—isn't quite the customary size for a portrait from that era. Cabinet cards generally measured about four and a quarter by six and a half inches. This specimen, in contrast, was set in a frame measuring about six by nine inches. The photograph alone measures three and seven eighths by five and a half inches.

What may have thrown me off, too, was my assumption that this photo was taken in the late 1800s—say, around 1890. Not just because of the measurements, but also because of the style of clothing, I now tend to think this was a commemoration of an event happening much later than that decade. My main clue, however, might have been the fact that searching for such a couple by name in the 1890s hasn't worked out too well for me. But that's a story for another day.

Above: Wedding photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Brockman, taken in West Point, Nebraska. Photograph currently in possession of the author until claimed by a family member.