The Evans Signatures

One of the more interesting facets of the Evans story is the signature that appeared on his (and his studio's) portraits.  While 2 particular signatures are most common, there are a few variations that are worth looking at.  Note that my research into the signatures is still very much ongoing and what follows contains a bit of conjecture on my part.

The 1917 - 1920 Signature

This is the original Evans signature and lasted until sometime in the middle of 1920.  Unlike that of many other Hollywood photographers of the time, it is simple, yet distinct.  The signature also appears on portraits taken as early as 1914, although not added until Evans established his studio and could better exploit them.








The 1920 - 1922 Signature

In mid-1920, Evans changed his signature to this slightly fancier version.  The E is very similar to Evans' actual signature, but much more neatly written.




The Honeymoon Signature

At the beginning of 1922, Evans married Rosalie Knight and spent the next 6 months on a honeymoon trip to the continent.  Of course, during this time the studio continued with business as usual.  To indicate that the portraits taken at this time were done by other photographers, an Evans Studio signature was used.  It's possible it was also used briefly after his death.      



Post-1922 Signatures

After Nelson's death, the official studio logo was used on photographs.  It may have also been used on prints of earlier photos that were sold by the studio during this period.  





Sometime in the mid 20s, the studio changed its name to Nelson Evans Studio.  By this time, the studio clientele included fewer and fewer actors, so this signature is fairly rare.  It, too, may have been added to earlier photos. 



 
Odd Variations

I've come across 2 signatures that I still can't quite fit into the picture (excuse the pun).

This one I've only seen twice, both on portraits of Viola Dana.  However, I've also seen one of the photos with his regular signature.  The photo was published early in 1922, so it could be a replacement signature as Evans was away on his honeymoon. 

This one is a true mystery.  I've seen it appear on photos that I've also seen with one of his other signatures.  It's possible that this is the signature that was used while he was serving in the military in 1918.  Or it could be another post-1922 signature, used exclusively on earlier photographs.

Note that the E is very similar in style to the signature of George Cannons.  Cannons was a British photographer who came to Los Angeles around 1924 and worked for Mack Sennett.  There's no evidence that he ever worked for the Evans Studio, so we may never know why the signatures are similar.  Perhaps it is just coincidence.






As I had said earlier, this is a work in progress.  I am still looking for a signature that would fit into Nelson's brief time in the military between late 1918 and early 1919.  Expectation is that it would be similar to the one used during his honeymoon.  I am also looking into the signatures of another photographer in hopes of proving that Evans did an apprenticeship before opening his own studio.  Hopefully, I will find enough positive evidence that I can share something soon.

Part of the Family

My research into the life of Nelson Evans occasionally goes in odd directions, but none quite so surprising as the turn it recently took.  Part of my Memorial Day weekend was spent at a reunion of my dad's family.  As seems to be typical of reunions, some of the family brought along photo albums.  One of these albums contained genealogical research one of my cousins had done.  Now, I've done my own share of such research into my family, so I was a bit surprised when I saw among my cousin's research the surname of Hysel.

As told in one of my earlier posts about his marriage history, in 1909 Nelson had eloped with Helen Hysell to Michigan.  Since both were living apart by the end of the year, it appears that the marriage ended in annulment, if not divorce.  I knew that Helen's family was originally from the southeastern part of Ohio, not terribly far from the area my own family resided at the time.  However, I didn't recall anyone by the name of Hysell or Hysel in my family tree.  That bit of mystery was solved on another page of my cousin's research: there I saw the name spelled as Hisle, which was familiar to me.  But could it be the same family?

When I was back home the next day, I started to investigate.  Fortunately, I had already traced the Hysell and Hisle families back to the late 1700s.  Taking a closer look at the earliest ancestors in both lines, it quickly became clear that there was indeed a connection: both families were living in the same county at the same time, both came from the same town in Virginia, and both were using the Hisle spelling.  However, I still needed to find the common ancestor.  Again, that proved a bit easier than I was expecting, helped by the fact that my great-great-great-great grandfather's name was Nimrod.  Going by birth dates, it seemed possible that he was the brother of the earliest ancestor I had found in Helen's family tree.  And it turns out that I was correct: the common ancestor was Leonard Hisle, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather and Helen's great-great-great grandfather.

I don't think this discovery changes my approach to my research into Nelson's life, but it certainly makes me more curious about Helen, someone I already found interesting.  Knowing that she is a (very) distant relative seems like reason enough to start finding out more about her, too.