Lets kick this picture around a bit.

[Delmonico]

1888, family named Keyser, near Westerville Custer County Newbrassky.  Picture 10754 of the Butcher Collection, type the number here in the search

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/psquery.html

and bring it up to about 2 meg.  Several interesting things in this one.


(Thought I had the link in the first time, sorry)

[River City John]

well, let's see.
Man on the roof of the soddie has a Cardigan sweater on.
The woman dressed herself and her daughter in the best outfit they owned, made out of that pretty print bolt of cloth they were able to afford last fall.
Boot uppers must have been very thin leather judging by their degree of collapse on the pair on the man in front. He has a saw-handled pistol in that crossdraw, hard to tell, but looks like a S&W or similar, but the scale of the grip makes it look like a smaller top-break, say .38 or .32? Not sure on that.
Nice to see that in 1888, a fine Plains rifle with it's powder horn are still prized.
The boys, like boys have always been, seem to find running wild barefoot and with their straws. Shades of 'Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer'.

[Delmonico]

I'm really starting to like the look with the sweaters.




A lot of pictures in the collection with matching clothes, notice though very different styles.




Boots are a bit shorter in the tops also.  Besides the pistol which I'm still not sure of, the whole gun rig seems a bit unusual, looks like the holster was wet moulded like a lot of modern leather holsters.



Shirt on this boy is a bit unusual also.



Lots of barefoot in the Butcher collection.

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[Ol Gabe]

Interesting pic, thanks Del.
The Elk rack adds a nice touch as does the apparently newly-installed double hung window. What flavor of shotgun do you think it is Del? Glad to see that the old dog ain't eating any poop.
Best regards and good viewing!
'Ol Gabe

[French Jack]

That elk rack gives you a visual cue when you are trying to find that soddy in the middle of a monotonous landscape.  Shirt on boy seems to be a bit outgrown-- arms got too long for the sleeves.  revolver holster also appears to be a flap style with the flap folded back to expose the grip.  Belt tab looks like it may have a twist in it at buckle.  Shotgun is definitely not a Parker or L.C. Smith-- could be Remington, or one of the many imports.

[Grizzle Bear]

The two men appear to be brothers.

The guy in the roof is wearing a sweater, the one standing seems to have some sort of canvas jacket.

They still have the muzzleloading rifle, but also have a cartridge shotgun.

Pistol looks too small for the holster.

Holster has a flap which is tucked into the strange belt.  (Just figured the belt out.  It is too small, and has an extension with another buckle.)

Belt had cartridge loops, but I think they are for the shotgun, not pistol.

Big black hairy dog behind the woman.  (If I was homesteading in lonely, possibly hostile country, I would certainly have a dog!)

Soddie appears to be of fairly recent construction, lots of grass still sticking out between layers, but it is already drooping and headed for collapse.  Poor job, because they don't know better, or a rush job, because the either expect to upgrade soon or move on?

Straw hat on the ground belongs to the woman, too big for any of the children.  (Oops, had picture zoomed up too big.  Two straw hats, one for the mother and one for the little girl.)

Older boy has bib-front shirt.  (Which is soon to become too small to fit him.)

I'll bet Nebraska doesn't have any elk with antlers like that any more!

Amusing that they got shoes on the little girl, but her brothers are both barefoot.  Usually the other way around, guys want their shoes to tramp through the woods, but women like to run around the house barefoot.

Can't figure out what the wheel in the foreground is.  Looks substantial, not a toy, but it's just dropped there in the yard.  If they had any heavy-duty farming equipment, you'd think they would've got it in the picture.  The prominent firearms make me think they are earning their living by hunting, however.

Grizzle Bear

[River City John]

Wonder if the wheel in the foreground is a pully? for a well or similar? hard to tell.
I'd say you're right, Griz. He looks more like a hunter than a sod-buster.

[Grizzle Bear]

What it looks like is a cast-iron pulley for the wide leather belts they used for power take off from steam tractors.  But these guys just don't look prosperous enough to have such a device.

Is a puzzlement!

GB

[Delmonico]

There are a few Elk that size today, hard to get permits, harder to get permission to hunt on the better private lands.  I do know a cosies who could get permission if he could draw a permit, he has to bring his dutch ovens also as part of the deal.

The pully has me baffeled, I need to study it more.

What I really noticed about the kids bib shirt is it had a banded collar, I don't remember ever seeing one with that collar before, fold down or sailors collars yes.

[Grizzle Bear]

Mom might have made it for him, so he'd have a "grown up" shirt.

GB

[Delmonico]

That was my guess, but it is interesting.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That wheel looks like a heavy duty steel implement wheel. My father had an old water wagon with similar ones on the front and larger ones on the rear. The one in this picture looks to have a vee frame on both sides. Maybe it was acquired to attach on the bottom of some type of skid to aid in transporting large game, assuming they were hunters. It wasn't valued too much or it wouldn't be laid out in the elements. Possibly they used it in the past or were intending to do so.

[Dr. Bob]

Look closely at the boys shirt.  I see nothing to indicate that it is a bib front.  No buttons on the bib.  More important, no break in the collar to indicate that it has a placket front.  Could it be a "dress shirt" that buttoned in the back?

The jacket that the man has on is real interesting. 

Could the young age of the girl be the reason that the dress is a very different style??

[Delmonico]

I see different styles with the same material in lots of photos, even among sisters of the same age, both kids and adults.  Maybe they just want to be a little differant.

That shirt almost looks like it has a button on the kids right down low in the corner, he is washed out a bit, and the "button" if that is what it is looks like maybe white or ivory.   It also looks pulled up a bit like a button on bib.  But yes, there seems to be no break in the collar.  Would love to have a better look at that shirt and know the origions.



Yeah I kinda liked the coat on that fella as well as the sweater on the other one.

[Pitspitr]

I'll bet Nebraska doesn't have any elk with antlers like that any more!

Amusing that they got shoes on the little girl, but her brothers are both barefoot.  Usually the other way around, guys want their shoes to tramp through the woods, but women like to run around the house barefoot.

Can't figure out what the wheel in the foreground is.  Looks substantial, not a toy, but it's just dropped there in the yard.  If they had any heavy-duty farming equipment, you'd think they would've got it in the picture.  The prominent firearms make me think they are earning their living by hunting, however.

You'd loose that bet. Maybe not many i n the wild but there are quite a few fence in elk within 2 miles of my mouse that would beat that rack quite a bit.

They've got 2 sons and their "baby" is a girl 'spose she's just "spoiled"

The wheel looks like to me the kind of guide wheel used on some of the plows used for harvesting sod for sod houses. It looks too big for that though unless it's just real close in the forground.

[Delmonico]

I was thinking along the same lines Jerry, I've been hoping someone who knew more about these things would stop by.  I think the size is because it's in the foreground.

[Ozark Tracker]

I think Pitspitr is right, it's probablly a gauge wheel of some sort used on drawn equipment, take a look at the picture below.

[Wild Eye Wheel]

Sorry I can't add anyhting about the wheel, but I think I know why Mom's hat is on the ground.
When she sat down, Butcher didn't like how it shaded her face, Dad and Uncle (?) both have their hats hiked-up or turned up to show their faces.  She just tossed it aside, so they could get the picture done before the youngin's could get too antsy. 
As a Dad of 5 boys, 3 pretty close in age, I know the importance of wanting to be different from the others in the family.
The level of that want increases as you climb the ladder of age, little brother might not mind looking like big brother, but big brother thinks its for the birds.  In this instance, the little one's dress is simpler than Mother's, not only did she have to make it, but Mom also has to help her get dressed.

[Delmonico]

Good ideas, these high resaloution picures bring out such detail we can really study them in depth. (In case you didn't know,over 99% of the Butcher Collection is scanned from 6X8 glass plate negatives.)  These are so much better than the touched up photo's we often see printed in books.

Sad more negatives wern't saved.

The heavy planting of Cottonwoods behind the house are also interesting, I'd guess they were planted 5 years or so before the picture was taken.

[gospel micah]

Howdy check this photo out. Its from the same websight. Theres a men with a skinny belt on he does not have a jacket on. And i dont see any kind of holster on it. And the photo is from the 1800s theres a bunch of people in the photo  check it out.http://memory.loc.gov/award/nbhips/lca/100/10065v.jpg