I really love it when a Sepia Saturday prompt really makes me think or leads me to a new discovery. In this case, it’s definitely a new discovery and the prompt helped me link up a few pieces of an old puzzle. In the trunk of photos from Grandpa’s house, there was a large-ish photo (about 8×10) of a native tribe’s band. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my great-great grandmother would’ve had such a large photo of a band like this, and left the mystery behind since there were SO many more to work on. Here enters this week’s prompt where I nail two categories, National Costumes and Hidden Meanings. Below is a photo of the Ogonomowok (or Oconomowok, spelling is different from the drum to the banner) tribe band. It’s the only photo in my collection that really fit, so I figured I’d go with it, even if it was a mystery. I started zooming in on the faces, and poked around the newspaper archive to see what came up for the band. There’s an article from June 14, 1917 in the Altoona Tribune in Pennsylvania stating that the tribe band participated in a parade ending the Great Council of the “Improved Order of Red Men.” Great grand uncle Alfred Herbert Powis (b. 28 Oct 1892 in Blain City, Clearfield, PA; d. 6 Jul 1926, Clearfield, PA), affectionately referred to as “Herb,” was in a number of bands throughout his life, and the trunk had a bunch of photos of him posing with his trumpet. Looking closer at the photos, it looks like the man standing up, 5th in from the left, is Herb! I’ve added another photo in for comparison’s sake to see if you agree or not. In the other photo, he’s very clearly identified with an “X” over his head. The second image is dated as, “Herbert, 1918, overseas,” so it seems that these two were taken within a year or so of eachother.
As far as Hidden Meanings, Herb was 100% British, the first son born in America of two parents from England, so I was stumped as to why he was in a Native American costume. The band members do have different colored costumes, so I wondered if perhaps people with Native American heritage were in the darker uniforms, and ordinary band members were in the lighter uniforms, or if the band was just for fun and had little to do with the tribe other than the namesake. The Wikipedia article linked above though, clued me in that the organization was a fraternal society established to promote Liberty and defy the tyrrany of the English Crown, using rituals and regalia modeled after Native American tribes. In fact, Wikipedia goes on to point out, the organization was Whites Only until 1974! So, the “National Costume” is a “Hidden Meaning” in and of itself. Turns out the photo was absolutely nothing that I assumed it to be at first glance. I won’t get into how I feel about an organization of white men using Native American dress and terms to form a fraternal order – that’s something for another post.
In closing, I want to thank Sepia Saturday for challenging me to explore these old family photos and bringing about new discoveries!
Click either image to view the news clipping full size
Hahahaha yes, exactly. Wow, that was awful.
I love Sepia Saturday for the same reason. So you can check one thing off your list now – those two photos are definitely the same man. The eyes, the square chin – yep, that’s Herb.
Thanks!! I was tryng to verify with the order if he was a member or not, but he died so long ago and his obituary doesn’t mention IORM. Might be a bit of work to find out if he actually was a member or just standing in with the band for the parade.
I’m glad you solved your mystery. They do look like a group of white men dressed up.
Attitudes have changed thank goodness.
It is always great to hear of how Sepia Saturday posts can lead to new discoveries. Fascinating discovery.
Glad you solved the Puzzle, congrats on your research. Sepia Saturday does take us down many different paths
I’m so glad you enjoy our prompts. We’ve some great ones coming up! This is an interesting post: I’m glad you did the detective work.
Quite fascinating. Sort of makes me think of the “Indians” in New Orleans who participate in Mardi Gras. Always African Americans.
I’m tickled pink that you have solved the mystery of the photo and that you allowed your mind to explore the different possibilities. Well done.
That turned out to be an interesting mystery when solved.
I showed my brother an old photograph of a band our grandfather was in yesterday. He was fascinated by it and sent me the link of your photo. It is the same one! My grandfather, Edward Taylor is to the right of the bass drum. Thank you so much for all the information on this group. I have often wondered what he was doing dressed up as a Native American. My grandfather was 52 when my dad was born in 1928!