Category: Photographers

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1896 Photo of J. Earle Brown by H. Randall, Ann Arbor, Michigan

I purchased this card mounted photo with others at a flea market in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in about 2000. It is 7.25″ x 5″.

If you are a relative of J. Earle Brown or the photographer Herbert Randall, I would be willing to part with this photo. Please contact me via email at erinfamilyhistory.com@gmail.com and let me know how you are related and/or what your interest is in obtaining this item.

J. Earle Brown, June 1896
The photographer, Herbert Randall, signed the portrait at bottom-left
The Subject
“Very truly, your nephew, J. Earle Brown, Ann Arbor, Mich., June 1896”

J. Earle Brown was born 27 January 1872 in Clinton County, Michigan to Ezekial and Louise Tallman Brown. His father was a farmer and teacher.

In 1896, at the age of twenty-three, J. Earle Browne graduated from the University of Michigan. That June, the above photo was taken at the Ann Arbor studio of Herbert Randall.

J. Earle seems to have been restless after graduation. He first opened a law office in Bay City, Michigan. By 1897, he was in Alaska, where he spent the next two years. Upon his return to Michigan, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Lansing. That was short-lived, as by 1899 he had opened a law practice in St. John’s, Michigan. At some point later, he opened a practice in Lansing while maintaining the one in St. John’s. He was city attorney for St. John’s at some point during this era.

At the time of the 1900 census, J. Earle Browne lived at Mrs. Wiggin’s boarding house in Bingham, Michigan, a village a short way from his office in St. John’s. Three years later on 18 February 1903, J. Earle, then thirty-one, married Mrs. Wiggin’s daughter, Cecelia M “Birdaline” Wiggins, aged twenty-four. Sadly, Birdaline died 25 June 1908 from Cerebrospinal Meningitis at age thirty. She was buried at Mount Rest Cemetery in St. John’s. J. Earle and Birdaline had no known children.

Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan, 17 Jun 1916, Sat, Page 5

Two years after the death of his wife, J. Earle was enumerated as a roomer in the 1910 census in the St. John’s household of Bert Vanseler. Also in the household were Bert’s mother and sister. J. Earle was working as a lawyer and his marriage status was widowed.

In 1912, J. Earle Brown was a delegate to the Democratic national convention.

Eight years after the death of Birdaline, in 1916, J. Earle Brown remarried. His new wife was Miss Maud Stewart, a thirty-six-year-old stenographer for the state insurance department and a native of England. J. Earle, then forty-four, was a partner in the law firm, Brown, Walbridge, Kelley & Seelye in Lansing. A newspaper article about the wedding described the couple as “popular in Lansing,” and J. Earle as “well-known.”

The wedding was a small affair, taking place in the parlors of the Hotel Tuller in Detroit at 4 o’clock on 17 Jun 1916. Among the few friends and family in attendance at the private ceremony were Judge and Mrs. Dean W. Kelley of St. John’s.

J. Earle Brown closed his St. John’s, Michigan practice in 1916 and settled permanently in Lansing with his new wife. 1920 saw the Browns living in Lansing at 323 W. Hillsdale Street. They rented this home and Maud likely had the job of keeping it. She was no longer working as a stenographer. J. Earle was still practicing law with offices in the 608 American State Savings Bank building. The Brown’s home on Hillsdale no longer stands. Parking lots occupy the entire 300 block odd-numbered addresses as of 2022.

By 1930, Mr. and Mrs. Brown owned the home J. Earle would spend the rest of his life in. 1132 S. Genessee in Lansing still stands and is well maintained. The neighborhood is quaint and quiet-looking with many mature trees. Homes there look to have been built in the 1910s to 20s. The Brown’s house is a craftsman style one, with an eyebrow dormer.

By 1940, J. Earle Brown was apparently not practicing law. His profession was general manager of a refrigeration company. He was sixty-eight years old.

Gravestone of J. Earle Brown
by Find-A-Grave contributor Linda Hughes

J. Earle Brown passed away at the age of seventy on 13 June 1943. He died at home from a heart attack. His remains rest at Deepdale Memorial Park in Eaton County, Michigan.

Maud left Lansing shortly after the death of J. Earle. She died of a heart attack at her home in Eaton County, Michigan at the age of seventy-nine on 5 March, 1957. She rests next to her husband at Deepdale. Their simple stones bear only their names and the phrase, “God is love.”

Sources
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Unlabeled Photo by Marshall of Big Rapids, Michigan Photo

Experts have dated this photo to 1907-1911.
The back has no label, but shows the shadow of another photo it was once stored with.

I bought this image in about 2000 at a flea market in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was in a box among other images. There are other Michigan images, but this is the only one from Big Rapids.

The photographer was William Eliphalet Marshall (1852-1923). He seems to have spent his entire life in Michigan, having been born in Ottawa County in 1852 to farmers. His mother was from Canada.

Mr. Marshall was operating his Big Rapids photography studio by at least 1900 and until at least 1910. At some point around the mid-1910s, he relocated to Grand Rapids where he seems to have had a studio.

I have found a great-granddaughter of William E. Marshall who is collecting images taken by her ancestor and will be mailing this to her next week.

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T.W. Spencer, Photographer, Circleville, Ohio

Several photos I’ve scanned of the Schlotman family are by T.W. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is not a member of our family tree that I’m aware of. But I’ve found that it often helps to date photos by looking into the photographer. Here’s some of what I found.

Detail of a map of Ohio, showing Pickaway, Fairfield, Hocking, Fayette, Ross, Vinton, and others.
(worldmapstore.com)

Thomas Worthington Spencer was born 31 Mar 1816 in Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio to Jesse and Catherine Beidler Spencer. Ross County is south of Pickaway, where he later had his studio. After the death of his father in 1840, twenty-five-year-old T.W. married Caroline Karshner in Hocking County on 20 Jun 1841.

Sources on Ancestry.com have newspaper clippings attached to Thomas W. Spencer about a murder he was accused of committing in Columbus in 1851, at which time he was a cattle dealer. There is no information about the resolution of that case and, if he was convicted, what his sentence was. But, there is a ten year gap in the known children he had with his wife and then a move to Carroll County, Tennessee before 1860, where Thomas worked as a watchmaker. By 1864, T.W. was back in Ohio, where he was a photographer and jewelry dealer on Main Street in McArthur, Vinton, Ohio. Shortly thereafter (1864-1866), he found his way to Circleville in Pickaway County, where he would live the rest of his life. Spencer’s Photograph Gallery was located over May & Conn’s China Store on West Main Street.

In addition to being a jeweler and photographer, Thomas Spencer was an inventor, patenting a time-lock for safes.

Two of Thomas’ sons, Oscar H. Spencer (1843-1928), and Philander Chase Spencer (1847-1912), were also photographers.

Thomas W. Spencer engaged in the photography trade in Circleville until September 1896, when he sold out to G. Edwin Thornton. He died the following year on 25 Jan 1897. Wilson’s Photography Magazine described him as one of the oldest photographers in Ohio. He was buried at Circleville Cemetery.

The Pickaway County Historical & Genealogical Society has a collection of local photos, including some by Spencer.

SOURCES
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G. Willard Shear, Morenci, Michigan Photographer

A carte de visite of D.F. Schlotman and friend Oscar Johnson is by G.W. Shear of Morenci, Lenawee, Michigan. It is undated, but I suspect it was after D.F.’s marriage in 1875 due to his facial hair. The photo attached to a framed marriage certificate shows D.F. with a mustache but no chin hair. The Shear photo shows a goatee.

G. Willard Shear as a young man

In an attempt to date the photo, I looked into G.W. Shear and here’s what I found:

His name was George Willard Shear, known as G. Willard Shear, and he was born in New York in about 1851.

He began his photography career in 1874 in Adrian, Michigan, studying under “the highest masters of the art” (Raether, 313). At some point after this, he had his studio in Morenci, about twenty miles from Adrian.

At some point after completing his photography training, Shear studied portrait painting in Detroit. He later became known for his skill in photo enlargements in india ink, crayon, and watercolor. Back then, photo enlargement didn’t result in a good-looking image suitable for display. Photographers would paint or draw over the print to enhance the image. No doubt his training in portrait painting helped him succeed in this area.

A view of Castleton, New York from the Hudson River in Shear’s 1888 book, Panorama of the Hudson

A book on Ohio photographers lists Shear as having a studio in Lima from 1879-1888. Later, he was engaged to photograph panoramic views of both banks of the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, which resulted in a book, “Panorama of the Hudson,” published in 1888. Then, Shear became the official photographer for the Florida division of the L&N railroad and, simultaneously, a professor at a photography school there.

In search of health, Shear moved through the Carolinas, Virginia, and then Wisconsin by 1902. In 1910, he was in Texas. By 1920, he was in Fulton County, Ohio.

I have been unsuccessful in finding death information for Shear. I found his name an index for probates in Ohio, but didn’t find the date or location of his death. It was likely before 1930, as I failed to find him in the census for that year.

Sources