Mystery Monday - Unknown Civil War Era Couple in Trenton, NJ (Victorian Era)

This couple sat for photographer Moses in Trenton, NJ between 1864 - 66 as evidenced by the revenue stamp on the back of the photograph.  As is so often seen they are unidentified and it is left to the viewer to imagine who they might be and what life they may have lived.  They are sharply dressed; the wife in a military style dress, the husband in a common suit for the times.

The photographer is Morris Moses, born in England 16 Jul 1826.  Married in Trenton in 1855 to Ellen Wisey.  Listed in Trenton censuses between 1850 - 1880 listed as a photographer.  He died on 11 Dec 1891 and is buried in Riverview Cemetery (FindAGrave).

Fashionable Friday - 1860's (Victorian Era) Woman Wearing Hooded Cloak & Fur Muff

I suspect this lovely young woman was considered quite fashionable when she posed for this Carte de Visite (CDV) in the 1860's (most likely between 1864 - 69) for photographer A. W. Tice of Ellensville, NY.  She is wearing a full-length hooded  cloak over a hoop skirt which was perhaps made of silk taffeta.  Covering her hands is a fur muff.  There appears to be some sort of hair covering or adornment over her hair in the back.  

The photographer's full name was Alfred Wurtz Tice who appears to have lived and worked in the Ellensville are for quite a number of years.  He wasborn 19 Oct 1829 in New York to John & Huldah Tice. In 1854 he married Irene Miller.  Several Ellensville City Directories between 1861 and 1871 report him as "A. Wurts Tice, photographer, Canal opp Liberty sq., h Canal."  In 1900 Tice was still living in the area according to the Ulster County census at age 70 with his wife June (2nd wife?).  He still listed his occupation as photographer.  Tice died 5 Feb 1909 and is buried in the Fantinekill Cemetery in Ellensville, NY according to Find-A-Grave.

Wedding Wednesday - Starchy Hooper, Nebraska Couple

There's a lot to look at in this wedding photo of a young couple in the late 1890's or very early 1900's in Hooper, Nebraska.  The unidentified married couple are sitting side-by-side and their body language is a bit stiff. Although he is leaning his knee into hers, he seems rather tense, note how his hands are fisted.

The bride's dark colored dress is a little unusual with the floral bodice insert and high neckline as well as cuffs and belt.  The dress also has puffed up sleeves at the shoulders and beautiful trim sewn on the lower sleeves as well as in several tiers along the bottom of the skirt.  One can assume this dress was to be used over and over again as her Sunday best. Her bridal bonnet/headpiece was quite lovely and typical of the very early 1900's with the beautiful sprigs of flowers and trailing vines.   She is not holding a bouquet, but does have a small corsage which adds to all the busyness. If you look closely  you can see her wedding ring as well as the groom's.

The woman standing behind her I am going to assume is her sister because there is a striking resemblance.  She appears quite tall and trim and is also wearing a dark dress and corsage. She personifies the Gibson Girl look of the time.  Both the groom and best man are wearing boutonnieres that match the bride's headpiece and the best man has the most unusual striped bow-tie.

The cabinet card itself is most unusual and is the first I have seen like it.  The background is a striped paper and the photographer's mark is deeply embossed.  I had much trouble reading the photographer's name and after much research on the Internet I finally discovered that he is Peter Wilhelm Traulsen.  Traulsen was born 13 Sep 1862 at Tating, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.  He attended school in Germany and served three years in the German army.  In 1887 he emigrated to the United States from Hamburg with his two brothers, Herman and Claus.  Upon his arrival he worked as a painter in Minton, Iowa.  In 1891 he moved to Hooper, NE where after a short time he took up the trade of photographer.  He opened a studio in Hooper  and became one of the area's leading photographers of the late 19th and 20th centuries.  On 14 Jun 1896 he married Wanda Augusta Kruger, also from Germany, and they had three children.  Peter Traulsen died 30 Nov 1926 and is buried at Hooper Cemetery in Dodge County, NE.

Sources:
1.  NEGenWeb Project -Darrell Moyer,  http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/asc/photog/obits-notes.htm
2.  Find-A-Grave
3.  Ancestry.com

Wedding Wednesday - Blushing Belleville, IL Bride & Dashing Groom

This beautiful bride and her handsome groom had their wedding photograph taken in Belleville, IL by photographer Fred B. Merker or possibly his brother Charles who worked for him.  The bride's dress is stunning with the tiers of lace down the skirt and the style of the high neckline is quite unusual as well.  Maybe is just me, but it almost makes her head look too large for her body!  Her bridal bonnet is gorgeous with a large lacy bow and a flowery sprig in the front.  It also has trailing vines that were very popular in the early 1900's.  She is not holding a corsage but does have what appears to be a small book in her hand, perhaps a prayer book.

The groom is extremely handsome in a dark three piece suit with long tails.  He has a white bow tie and his boutonniere matches the sprig of flowers on the front of her bridal bonnet.  I do not like his body language with the way he is holding his arm - it almost appears as if he is pulling away from her. 

Unfortunately, the couple is unidentified  and the cabinet card has been trimmed on all four sides, most likely to fit into an album or frame.  Due to the embossed, foil stamped photographer's mark on the bottom of the card - note the monogram in the middle - I am adjusting the date this photo was taken to around 1896.  

The photographer, Fred B. Merker, was born 3 Mar 1851 in Belleville, St. Clair, IL to German immigrants, Phillip and Elizabeth (Rouscolb) Merker.  The parents were married in St. Clair County on 28 Jan 1841, the father a farmer.  A year before Fred's birth in the 1850 Turkey Hill, St. Clair County census, Philip aged 32 and Elizabeth aged 25 were living with their children George 8, Louis 6, and Charles 3.  Another son William was born about 1853 and Phillip died before 1860 leaving Elizabeth to raise her children alone.  I found most of the Merkers through the rest of the censuses up until 1930. Elizabeth was last found in the 1900 census.

Fred Merker was a photographer by 1880 (age 28) and on 3 Oct 1883 married Elenora Susan Dunn.  They had one child Hazel born about 1885.  He operated his studio in Belleville until at least 1910. The 1891 City Directory listed his studio address as 25 East Main. Note on the photo (left) that brother Charles was a photographer at his studio, George was a constable, Louis a tollgate keeper, and William was secretary and treasurer of the Belleville Carriage Works. Sometime before 1920 Fred and Elenora retired to West Palm Beach, FL. He died in FL on 27 Feb 1930 and is buried at Green Mount Protestant Cemetery in St. Clair County, IL.

Sources:

1.  Ancestry.com
2.  Find-A-Grave
3.  Illinois Statewide Marriage Index

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Edna Wallace Hopper

I just love these two cabinet cards taken in 1898 of Edna Wallace Hopper (17 Jan 1872 or 74 - 14 Dec 1959) who was a famous American stage and silent film actress and her dog.   She was born to Walker and Josephine Wallace in either 1872 or 74, but refused to give her exact birth date and no one could find out for certain because her birth records were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  In these photographs she is wearing very typical 1890's garb while posing with her beloved dog. Her hat is quite impressive and you will notice she is wearing a long chain around her neck that appears to be a dog whistle.  Also on her hip is an object that I was quite curious about, but I found something similar today and believe it to be a vintage scent bottle (see picture). The photographer is Benjamin J. Falk (1853 - 1925), who was one of the leading celebrity photographers in New York City at that time. He opened his studio at 13 and 15 West 24th St. N.Y. Madison Square in 1892.  He also had studios at twenty-third street and Broadway (on the present site of the Flatiron Building) and the Waldorf Astoria at West 33rd Street.

vintage scent bottle

Edna was no stranger to drama in her personal life. Her father was the head night usher at the California Theatre.  According to Wikipedia, while she was still young her parents took in a wealthy boarder, Alexander Dunsmuir (1853 - 1900) co-heir to the Dunsmuir coal and shipping fortune.  Unfortunately her mother fell in love with their boarder and ran off with him and left Edna, her father and her sibling. Wally sued for divorce and Alex's parents disapproved so their marriage was on hold.  Alex apparently was an alcoholic and began to drink heavily.  In the spring of 1886 he disappeared in San Francisco on a drinking binge for ten days. After his father died in 1889 Alex bought the estate of Souther Farm now known as Dunsmuir House, near San Francisco at a cost $350,000 and deeded it to Josephine. Alex and Josephine were married on 21 Dec 1899 in California and honeymooned in New York City.  

Edna Wallace Hopper 1898 NYC

Edna had gone to New York to train for the stage. While there she had married DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935) on 28 June 1895. They appeared together in comic operas including John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, but divorced in 1898, the same year these photos were taken.  They were a somewhat mismatched couple on stage and in life; DeWolf was tall for the times at 6 foot 3 inches and Edna was less than five feet and weighed 85 pounds. By the time her mother married Alex Dunsmuir, Edna was already a star on Broadway. She met with them while they were in New York.  Unfortunately, Alex was very sick with alcohol withdrawal, worsening each day and died on New Year's Day in a New York City Hospital.  Josephine, now a widow, returned to her new San Leandro estate where she died of cancer on 22 Jun 1901.

By this time Edna had achieved great fame starring in her most famous role, Lady Holyrood in the popular London inportation Florodora.  Although she did not play one of the renowned Florodora Sextettes, she shared in the wide adulation of the many male admirers who mobbed the backstage door after each performance.  She remained very active on stage over the next decade including starring in George M. Cohen's Fifty Miles from Boston in 1907.  In 1908 she married Wall Street broker Albert O. Brown.

1910

During the 1910's and early 1920's her career slowed down but took a different direction.  She was one of the earlier stage actors to have a facelift and had the operation filmed.  Over the next eight years she made personal appearances and tours showing the film and giving beauty tips.  Over the years she would put her name on a line of products noted for keeping her youthful looks - Edna Wallace Hopper Cosmetics.  

She separated from her second husband Brown and he died in the 1930's.  She went on to become the only woman of the thirty-six member board of L. F. Rothschld & Co..  She traveled daily by subway to her office to handle investments until shortly before her death in New York City from complications of pneumonia on 14 Dec 1959 at the reported age of 94 leaving no immediate survivors.  She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California.

Sources:

1.  Wikipedia
2.  Shades of the Departed:  http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/2011/08/todays-shades-old-photograph.html#links
3.  Find-A-Grave:  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19073997

Sepia Saturday #113 - Vaudeville & The County Fair

Edmund Burroughs 1901 - 1903

You ever have a photo and you're sure you know right where it is but then can't find it?  Well, I looked all over for this one, spent over an hour looking on my computer because I was sure I'd scanned it.  Then I looked for another hour in my hard copies before I finally found it.  This is my only claim to an actor for this week's theme at Sepia Saturday. Whew!  I was getting a little desperate, I don't think my Mr. Edmund Burroughs seen here was a film actor but he will have to do.  He sure looks mighty impressive though!

The back of this large cabinet card which measures 10 3/4 by 5 3/4 says "Edmund Burroughs as "Tim the Tamer" with Neil Burgess, County Fair Co - 1901-02-03."  The photographer was J. B. Wilson, 389 State St. Chicago.

When I first read this I assumed he performed at a real county fair.  My research on Edmund Burroughs has unearthed that this was actually the New York stage production of Neil Burgess.   The story is about a elderly woman Auntie Abigail Prue who is in danger of losing her farm because she cannot make her mortgage payments.  She enters her horse, Cold Molasses at the county fair and wins $3000.

I found very little information on Edmund,  however more information was forthcoming on Neil Burgess.   Once I began researching I found a wonderful story.  Born J. W. Knell,  he was an well-known actor, playwright, Vaudevillian comedian and female impersonator who specialized in elderly "widders" as in Abigail Prue. According to Frankie Jaxon in "The History of Drag and the Art of Female Impersonation" "his success brought him popular adulation, critical respect, and unprecedented wealth as the highest paid actor, comic or tragic, of the time--all for cross-dressing and female impersonation."

He was also quite an inventor. He used his plays to showcase his inventions of patented advances in treadmill and panorama stage machinery according to Kimberly Poppiti in her article "Galloping Horses: Treadmills and Other Theatre Appliances in Hippodramas.  "The County Fair" which was written by Charles Barnard for Burgess included a staged horserace scene that used Burgess's invention which allowed the horses to run at full speed on stage.  This same device was used with great profit for Burgess and his partner Barnard when it was used in the chariot race scenes in Ben Hur.   "The County Fair" first opened in the fall of 1888 probably in Philadelphia.  It began a long run in New York City in 1889 being reviewed by the New York Times twice during the opening week.  For more information on Neil Burgess, his plays and his patented inventions, see Poppiti's page at http://ww4.usitt.org/tdt.index/extras/41-4horses.html.

3 Aug 1901 The NY Dramatic Mirror

Burgess was born from different acounts either 1846, 1849 or 1851 in Boston, Massachusetts. Around 1900 he was living in  Monmouth County, New Jersey with his wife Mary Stoddard, an actress from a family of distinguished and wealthy actors, who he married in 1882, and his son Neil Jr. aged 7.  Neil and Mary owned a large estate on Navesink Avenue in Highlands, NJ. According to reports Mary died in 1905 and Burgess was brokenhearted.  As stated by Jaxon,  "tragedy sucked the comedy out of Neil Burgess." Bad investments and poor health further demoralized Burgess.   He returned to his profession for awhile, but died in 1910.  He and Mary are buried at All Saints Memorial Church Cemetery in Navesink, Monmouth County, NJ. Click here to view his headstone which atop sits a wonderful bust of him (Find-A-Grave).

14 Sep 1901 The NY Dramatic Mirror

Neil Burgess

**UPDATE:  After a comment from Linda at The Paper Collector about Neil's wife Mary, I went back and looked at the Find-A-Grave stone and realized her name is spelled "Stoddart" not Stoddard as is mentioned on the other sites I credited.  That is not unusual in itself as people often changed the spelling of their names.  I did another Google search and found this mention that Mary E. Stoddart (who was married to Neil Burgess) was the niece of J.H. Stoddart, (James Henry 1827 - 1907) who was from Yorkshire, England and made his American debut in 1854.  This information is from the webpage "E J Phillips 1830 - 1904 People Family and Theatrical Colleagues."  This author has created an extraordinary collection of data on people and places in the early theatre years.

Sources:  Wikipedia, eNotes, Find-A-Grave, The NY Dramatic Mirror, Kimberly Poppiti, "Galloping Horses: Treadmills and Other Theatre Appliances in Hippodramas, Frankie Jaxon, "The History of Drag and the Art of Female Impersonation, Ancestry.com, Google Books