Homestead Act: The Challenges of Living on the Plains
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What's for Lunch?
Analyze the Rawding Family Photograph

The Sylvester Rawding Family
Mag Me!Sylvester Rawding family sod house, north of Sargent, Custer County, Nebraska, 1886.
The 1885 Census lists the Rawding family members
as Sylvester, wife Emma, son Harry (age 15),
son Philip (age 17), daughter Bessie (age 16)
and son Willie (age 7).
Sylvester Rawding brought his family to Nebraska in the 1880s. In 1886, they brought their lunch outside on a muddy day so that photographer Solomon Butcher could capture the family on film. Sylvester was a Union Army Civil War veteran, wounded during a skirmish near Mobile, Alabama. He was struck over the right eye by a musket ball that was never removed.

Mag Me!But on this page it may be hard to see those details. So, we've given you a magnifier tool to help you analyze the photograph.

Click the link and see if you can find the following things:

  • Drag the Magnifying Tool and find out what the family is having for lunch.
  • Can you find the musket ball in Sylvester Rawding's forehead?
  • Then, take a look at the feet of each family member. Why do you suppose daughter Bessie has clean feet? How did she keep them clean?
  • Is the cow standing on the roof of this dugout soddy?

Use the Photograph Analysis Worksheet from the National Archives to help you analyze the photo.