This photograph has six people, two mules and a dog in it, but it is always the cow that catches people’s attention. In the Great Plains of the United States it was commonplace for early settlers to build simple houses out of sod to shelter their family until they could afford more substantial homes. In this case, the Rawding family built their soddy into the side of a hill, so the grazing cow is both on the hillside, and on the roof of the house. The people in the image are (left to right) Emma (Leadbetter) Rawding, Sylvester W. Rawding, daughter Bessie, and sons Philip, William, and Harry.

This public domain image was taken in 1886 by Solomon Devore Butcher (1856-1927) near Sargent, in Custer County Nebraska. We profiled Butcher in our post of his photograph of Broken Bow Hardware. Butcher is listed in the 1900 census in West Union, Nebraska, and in the 1910 census in Kearney, Nebraska, still active as a photographer.

Here we see young Emma Baldwin, standing next to her favorite horse, Mex. We can tell Emma is not quite of ‘full age’ yet, and certainly not married, by the shortness of her dress. Why, if she weren’t wearing boots you could see her ankles! Her father, Captain Theodore Baldwin, was commander of Fort Verde in Arizona (where this picture was taken) from 1885 to 1887, so we know the photo dates from that period. Her clothing is consistent with that date. We see Emma is also wearing a soldier’s forage cap, but she is too distant for us to see the insignia; it may have belonged to her father, or it might have been from Edgar Mearns, who took the photograph.

Dr. Edgar Alexander Mearns (1856-1916) was an Army Surgeon, photographer, and naturalist. He is particularly well-known as an ornithologist, and has been honored by having his name included in the Latin nomenclature of several species. He accompanied several expeditions, including Teddy Roosevelt’s trip to Africa 1909, and Frick’s 1911 Expedition to Africa. We also know Mearns was at Fort Verde in March 1887 because he took a photograph of Major C. B. McLellan’s camp on Clear Creek near there. We do not know for sure if Mearns was stationed at Fort Verde as camp surgeon, or if he was passing through on one his other endeavors, but this public domain photo may well have been taken that same month.