This American gothic pose of the couple is that of:

Volney Beckner Tooker and his wife, Helen Annette (Weed) Tooker. 

At first note of this picture it appears that perhaps the gentleman in the photograph had lost his arm in the Civil War.  Volney had served in that war, but family information said he returned home unharmed.  The only thing that die happen at the time he came home from the Civil War is that he brought small pox home to the family, which all survived. The empty sleeve in the photo is the result of a hunting accident at a later time. Volney was shot through the hand which had to be amputated.  Gangrene set in and his arm was cut off at the shoulder.  An early census says Volney was a wagon maker and a later once says a painter. (Painter actually meant a fancy sign painter.) Volney and his wife left Plymouth County, Iowa, to live with a daughter in Illinois. 

"In 1878, the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Merrill, was organized by Rev. Hiram T. Snyder with the Eastman, Yerger, Calhoun, Patterson, and Tooker families among the first members." quote from Northwest Iowa Pioneers

“Mr. and Mrs. V. B. Tooker left this morning for Greenville, Ill., where they expect to make their future home with their daughter, Mrs. Anderson. Mr. and Mrs. Tooker are old residents of LeMars and have made their home with
their daughter, Mrs. Geo. Striegel in this city for a number of years.” LeMars Sentinel newspaper, April 6, 1899.

Volney died in Illinois later in March 1901.

Mr. Levi Lovell

Levi Leon Lovell
Born: September 28, 1857, in Panama, Chautaqua Co., New York
Married:  March 27, 1879, in Hinton, Plymouth Co., Iowa
Died: September 4, 1931, in Ravenna, Buffalo Co., Nebraska
Burial: Ravenna Highland Cemetery, Nebraska
Father:  Stephen P. Lamb
Mother:  Melissa Margaret Stevens