C Edwards Studio Inc

Douglas Cornwell asked a question

To Whom It May Concern:
Perhaps this is a strange question. I have an old family photo album with photos dating back to the 1800s. One photo of my Grandpa Cornwell, Willet Cornwell, at age 4 or 5, includes sisters, Mae and Jennie. They are children of Samuel and Minerva (Bellinger) Cornwell. I would estimate the date of the photo around 1890. It is identified with C. Edwards as the photographer.

This would be helpful if I knew the family was nearby your area of Madison, Minnesota, because, as I have tracked them down, they are elusive as to their movements between 1880 and 1892. In the 1880 census, Samuel and Minerva were in Michigan, in their respective parents' family homes. By Nov. 1880, the oldest girl, Mae, was born. She would be about 10 years old in that photo. Jennie, born 1882, would be about 8 years old.

If I could, I would attach an image of the photo so you could take a look at it.

I could be barking up a tree and your 2017 studio is absolutely no relation to one in 1890, but I thought I might check. But the fact Madison, MN, is close to the South Dakota border is of interest because I lost track of the family, particularly Sam's mother and father, George and Eliza Cornwell. By the 1900 census, George and Sam's brothers were in the Dakota Territory, but Sam and family had apparently returned to central New York, as the family is listed in the New York 1892 state census. Since the 1890 census has pretty much been destroyed by fire, I am using other means for digging up my ancestry, particularly during those years between 1880 and 1900. So I apologize if this is an imposition on my part. But as I always say, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Thanks.

Douglas Willet Cornwell, grandson of Willet Cornwell who appears at age 4 or 5 in a C. Edwards Studio photo, presumably around 1890.
My email: bibsinger@gmail.com
cell: 561.642.1940