Posted 7 years ago
frank1956
(26 items)
I believe judging by his shoulder board that this Naval Office holds the rank of a 1st Assistant Engineer per Navy regulation January 29, 1864-January 14, 1865. The image is nice an crisp.
The back mark reads:
Photographed by
Miller & Freeman
58 Main Street,
Charlestown, Ms.
Being curious as to what navigable water ways might belocated in or near Charlestown, Ms I did a search and got back https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_Mississippi
Not Charlestown, maybe a typo error at printers???
There are several Charlestown's, but none in Mississippi interesting!!!
Ms is a typical abbreviation of Massachusetts.
Charlestown, Mass is now part of Boston.
I have seen the Ms. abbreviation (for Mass) used by several other photographers.
scott
Scott,
I would have never though Massachusetts, as I am from Mississippi and Ms is our abbreviation. Who would have thought???
I thought the same thing up until just a few years ago. I purchased a Civil War era cdv at an antique mall because I THOUGHT it was a Mississippi image.
I don't remeber the city-- but not one I'd recognize from either Mass or MS. Research of the photographer showed it was Mass. Since then I am cautious with these!
More often than not, I see 19th century Mississippi photographers abbreviate the name as "Miss"
I have seen several Mass cdvs with the "Ms" abbreviation.
scott
The two letter abbreviations are USPS and standardized in 1963.
The USPS standard (for mailing letters) for Mississippi was "Mi." until 1874 when it became "Miss".
Mass was "Ms." until 1874 when it became "Mass."
Michigan was "Mic. T." (for Michigan Territory), it became "Mich." after statehood (and standardized in 1874).
Here is the full USPS chart and breakdown by years:
https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/state-abbreviations.pdf
scott
You can also further refine the date on this image. The use of a revenue tax stamp on the back would put it at 1 AUG 1864 at the EARLIEST.
scott