Murdoch's Art Parlors Windsor Ontario

[Lonecrowe]

My uncle had this picture in  his old photos and doesn't know who it was.  I'm guessing it was one of 2 people in our family that it was passed down from.  So I've searched far and wide to match this up with an exact time period.  So far my conclusions have been around 1880's. 

It is cardboard and the corners were rounded. 

The man looks to be around 40 but that is a guess. 

I found one other picture by the same parlour online about a year ago but didnt bookmark it mainly because it didn't give any more clues.  I found references in old documents and directories for Windsor for Murdoch brothers that were involved in photography.  But it looked like a different business entirely.  Was hoping some experts could glean some information from this for me.  Much appreciated.

[chinakay]

Wow, this is an odd one.

The lady's dress contains absolutely nothing that's dateable....there is no discernible style that I could use to point even to a decade in general. It's a strange dress, probably homemade and looks like it might be homespun as well, that just doesn't fit anywhere.

The design on the back is an odd one too but there a couple of very small elements in it that suggest late 1880s. Little fanlike designs in corners were popular in around that time period and this card shows a couple even if the general design is peculiar.

My guess, and you may get others

Cheers,
China

[Lonecrowe]

Thanks for the reply.  I know there isn't much to go on.  What can you  guess by the age of the people.  It looks like she is starting to gray a little as well as him on the top.  I'm thinking late 30s early 40s?  I'm trying to see who this could be in our family tree. 

[chinakay]

Well, people aged harder in those days but I'm thinking maybe 45ish.

Just to add some confusion...people exchanged photos with friends as well as family in those days...so these people may not be relatives at all

Cheers,
China

[Lonecrowe]

He shows some family resemblance so I'm willing to say he's a relative. 

[jim1]

Agree with China however it may be earlier in the decade.She looks dressed in the Quaker style or maybe one of the other denominations that favoured this plain dress style.

jim

[clachar]

This may not be much help, but the Murdoch family moved to Windsor from Scotland in 1855.
Originally they were printers and were still in the printing business in 1871. By 1881 both James and William Murdoch had taken up the photography business, younger brother Stanley joining later.
I have seen photos marked only W A Murdoch (William) so the ones marked Murdoch Brothers may be a little later. The photo would not be earlier than 1875 and may be nearer 1885. I'm not sure when they started calling the business as the "Art Parlor" but I think it would later on once the business was better establsished.