Brimfield Find: Naval Officer? ID Help - San Fran

Hello all,

Hope all of you are having a lovely Friday!

Picked up this Cabinet Card at Brimfield yesterday to go into my military album.

Took a shot in the dark on it because I didn't find too much.

It looks to say San Francisco , 1889

But I'm un able to make out the underlined word.

Any help would be appreciated.
Unfortunately as much as I love military photos, I'm horrible at IDing them.


Warm Regards,
Scantic

 

Looks like the fellow's surname is Day. As for what follows San Francisco, I would suggest a misspelled "September" (without the p) the numbers being the 15th and the year 1889.

 

I was thinking possibly "Admiral Day"

And possibly "San Francisco Sentiments 1889" at first, but I think you are correct. And the "18" portion does resemble a 15 much more than an 18 lol

 

Well, that middle word ends in an "a" and the writer seems to leave off the cross line on his t's. Looking at the way he drew the F in San Fran, I'm thinking his first initial is F. And that his middle name may start with a Y (I know, that's weird.) But look at the way the y in Day is written.

This is going to take some serious noodling.

 

Can you tell if he is US Navy? He looks it to me, but I've been so wrong in the past. lol

 

I don't know. That belt and its buckle look more fraternal than military. But then I've been wrong in the past too!

 

Looks like the belt and buckle are correct for US naval officer of that period. I checked pictures of Admiral Dewey on Google and sure enough he's wearing a belt very similar. Then I came back here and zoomed in on the buckle. Sure enough, US Navy anchor on it.

Now, the rest of the uniform is not admiral rank from what I saw. Different stripes on the sleeves, but this guy should be an officer, for sure.

 

Thank you! I'm currently trying to figure out which possible medals are on his uniform. With that bit of info, it will def help!

 

Okay - 3 stripes of equal size plus a star on his sleeve makes him a Commander according to this chart.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ranks/officers/o-rank.html

 

I'm thinking possibly "LT. Commander"

 

Haha that was almost at the same exact time. You may be right! Maybe not LT. Commander by that chart!

 

Do you remember where your chart was published? Maybe the stripes have changed at some point.

 

Unfortunately it was just from PickShark lol I was searching US Navy Ranks.

Like you said, may be modern ranks. Possible LT. Commander didn't exist back then.

 

It looks like he has a nice sword as well. With a possible lion head on the end of the handle.

 

Given his rank, I figure he went to the Naval Academy. So, hoping there was an easy way to find lists of graduates by year on line, I just did some searching. No such luck. There is a Wiki page of graduates, but only those of greatest public visibility or who attended high rank or awards. Our Commander Day did not appear there.

 

I was lucky, I went yesterday and it was the perfect day for it. 73 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I was glad I wasn't there to deal because I don't know if I could have handled the frigid morning but walking around was pretty fun. I read some reviews of people who had gone earlier in the week who were disappointed. Lots of that re-production cast metal stuff, as well as faux asian stuff. I did see a lot of it, but there was also a good deal of paper, which is what I love. So I had a good time rummaging through peoples stuff with a couple of friends.

 

I'm finding some mention of a Commander B. F. Day who was stationed in the Pacific in the 1880s. Apparently his home was in Ohio. So far have not figured out what the B. F. stood for. Not sure whether this was the same guy in the photo or not. He was stationed on the steamer Mohican.

Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy from 1883:
https://books.google.com/books?id=o80cAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq="commander+b.+f.+day"&source=bl&ots=xJNTltOK5d&sig=nQ6DiSShJkHh32iHuHSosZaMPtw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qX1WVbm6MIedsAWjlIGwBg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q="commander b. f. day"&f=false

Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1890:
https://books.google.com/books?id=nyjl0QaJxv8C&pg=PA374&lpg=PA374&dq="commander+b.+f.+day"&source=bl&ots=WQQicnZwcf&sig=-NjTw1KcxEqF1EidbOrgw1d0kZo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qX1WVbm6MIedsAWjlIGwBg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q="commander b. f. day"&f=false

Hudson's Army and Navy List (appears to be 1880s):
https://books.google.com/books?id=dGtMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq="commander+b.+f.+day"&source=bl&ots=ocsHbJRd4L&sig=aRRldICRwF_BePpnkuw22_i2iWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qX1WVbm6MIedsAWjlIGwBg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q="commander b. f. day"&f=false

In an 1889 report published in the Serial Set of the U. S. Congress (which is a compilation of Congressional documents):
https://books.google.com/books?id=hp8ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq="commander+b.+f.+day"&source=bl&ots=tq1fE0_gKN&sig=8epJy2OTv2rTZPHVegHXp_BwiQE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qX1WVbm6MIedsAWjlIGwBg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q="commander b. f. day"&f=false

An 1885 newspaper article showing that the Mohican was in San Francisco:
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18851014.2.62.1

 

Very interesting finds, Fig! I just wish I could rationalize one of the handwritten letters into a B.

 

I know... it just isn't a B, at all.