John C. Mottice and brothers

This tintype photo was in the possession of Grant Mottice's son Robert N., and in an envelope labeled, "Tin-type of John C. Mottice and brothers." Although the image is in rather poor condition, it is one of the oldest Mottice photos I have.

So, if the identification of the photo is correct, which one is John Mottice, and which 3 of his 6 brothers are pictured with him? Moreover, when was it taken?

The only other photo of John C. Mottice is this one. Matching him to one of the four brothers looks to me as though he is the brother standing on the right. Others may look at the pictures and disagree, but I see similar hair and beard, and very similar eyes.

With John C. identified as the rightward standing brother, that leaves the two seated brothers -- who are clearly younger -- and the other standing brother who appears to be about the same age as John C.

Here are the age comparisons between John C. and his brothers. A positive number means John is younger; a negative number means John is older:

Peter -- +9
James W. (or James B.) -- +3
Calvin -- -1
William Henry Harrison -- -3
Milton T. -- -6
Kinsley -- -7

The Peter who was 9 years older than John C. died in 1857 at the age of 28. That means John C. would have been 19 at the time of Peter's death. In the photo, John C. looks much older than 19, and the other standing brother does not look 9 years older than John. So I'll assume that Peter is not in the picture.

I will also guess that Calvin is not pictured, either. Calvin died at the young age of 18 -- also in 1857 -- and so my earlier observation that John looks older than 19 in this photo would seem to rule out Calvin as well.

This leaves James, William, Milton, and Kinsley for the remaining three brothers. The two seated brothers both look younger than John C., so I'll assume they are Milton and Kinsley although I have no information on which to speculate which is who.

The last standing brother is then either William or James. Which one? I think he looks marginally younger than John, so I'll say it is William H.H.

Now what about the date of the photo? There is evidence that they all served in the Ohio National Guard during the Civil War. Since at the end of the war John was 27, which looks like a reasonable age for him in the photo, I'll speculate that this was a post-war picture for the brothers who served. So the date is potentially 1865-66.