Emblazoned on the side of this two story brick building, next to the image of a towering top-hatted and over-coated sharply dressed man is: “Wear Well and Fit Well - Clothing - Bennett Bros”.

The silhouette of a lone man, back to the camera and parcel under his left arm, dots the bottom corner of the photo. Is he coming or going? Perhaps he’s just passing by.

The sign on the front of the store reads: “The $5.00 Champion Brooder - J.A. Bennett and Sons”. On the far left, a partially obscured sign shows tantalizing clues: “McCarty … Retail … Er … Sash … Dings … Or … Finish.” The photographer’s stamp on the bottom right reads: “Thos. Lafleur & Co Cornwall, Can.” Written on the back of the photo is “For C.A. Bennett).

Here is the photo cropped of its mat.

There was indeed a photographer named Thomas Lafleur (1860-1951) in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada which is a city on the eastern most point of Ontario bordering New York State. He is listed as a photographer in the 1901, 1911, 1921, and 1931 Census of Canada listings.

There are dozens of newspaper archive entries for a “Bennett Bros” that appears to be a flour mill in Hamilton, Ontario (about a five hour modern day drive), but I don’t think that is it. I scoured many different Bennett families in Ontario on Ancestry, but I wasn’t coming up with any hits.

Then I decided to expand my search to the neighboring cities and towns across the boarder in New York State. A newspaper search for “J. A. Bennett and Sons” filtered for New York yielded good results.

The articles list some news from Gouverneur, New York, about 65 miles from Cornwall, Ontario. It confirms that “J. A. Bennett & Sons” are “manufacturers of the Champion Brooder” (an incubating system for raising chickens). It references moving their office to the former office of “Starbuck & McCarty”, which appears to have been a lumber mill and manufacturer on Prospect St. (later turned into a lace factory of all things).

A second article stated that “J. A. Bennett & Sons … purchased from the Bank of Gouverneur the planing mill, sash, and door property of the late firm Starbuck & McCarty”. The McCarty name matches the partially obscured sign shown in the photo. It is not clear if the building shown in the photo was actually part of the old lumber mill or not.

Next I turned my attention to a search for “Bennett Bros” in Gouverneur and got many hits. Here is just a sampling.

My current thinking is that the sign on the side of the building was just an advertisement for the clothing store(s), owned by sons in the Bennett family.

A 1900 U.S. Census for Gouverneur shows a James A. Bennett born in 1842 living with his family on Battery St. working as a “Mfgr Poultry Shop”. That same census shows his oldest son (most likely), James E. Bennett, living next door working as a “Merchant Tailor”.

A 1910 U.S. Census shows the older James Bennett living at 16 Depot St. in Gouverneur. He works as a “Millwright” at a “Saw and Planing Mill”. Living with him is a 37 year old son, working as a “Manufacturer” at a “chicken brooder”.

I believe this Find a Grave entry for James A. Bennett (1841-1920) belongs to the J. A. Bennett referenced in the photo. Note that one of his sons, Colbert Austin Bennett (1879-1953), is likely the “C. A. Bennett” written on the back of the photo.