A young couple pose for their wedding portrait in Mankato, Minnesota. The photographer is the Snow Art Gallery. The reverse of the photograph has an inscription that states “Mrs Fred Drury”. Presumably, Mrs Drury is the woman seen in this image. John R. Snow, the proprietor of the Snow Gallery, was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1868. At nine years old, he and his family moved to Maine where he finished common school. After graduating, he went to work in a sardine and lobster factory. He left Maine for Wisconsin and it is there that he began his photography career as a tent photographer. He travelled in this capacity and covered the area between Wisconsin and Kentucky. He later had studios in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Zumbrota, Minnesota. He bought a studio in Mankato in 1893. His addresses in Mankato included 118 East Jackson (1893-1902), and 313 South Front Street (1912-1919). The 1910 US Census lists both John and his wife Margaret as Mankato photographers. Their son, Cecil J. Snow (1894-?), worked as a photographer in Mankato in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
A YOUNG WEDDING COUPLE IN MANKATO, MINNESOTA
HANDSOME WHITE HAIRED AND WHITE BEARDED GENTLEMAN IN PLAINWELL, MICHIGAN
This handsome older gentleman with white hair and a white beard, is named Adrian Manley (1826-1906). The U.S. census of 1880 reveals that he was married to Elizabeth Manley and that he was employed as a clerk. He and his wife lived with their son Leny, a twenty nine year-old laborer. The 1900 census finds Mr Manley in his seventies living with his wife and two grandchildren, Wane (age 8), and Sylvia (age 6). Adrian Manley’s death certificate lists his occupation as a farmer which likely indicates that farming was his primary work for most of his life. The photographer who produced this photograph was John Morrison Brigham (1863-1933) whose studio was located in Plainwell, Michigan. Brigham attended Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso, Indiana. He studied photography in Plainwell and owned his first gallery there. In 1898 he moved to Battle Creek, Michigan where he opened a photography studio that became very successful. In 1885, Brigham married Ida M Potter of Mankato, Minnesota. Photo Beacon (1897) printed a review of some of Brigham’s work and it was not complimentary. The reviewer simply wrote, “lots of dead eyes”.
ELMER: A BEAUTIFUL BOY IN MANKATO, MINNESOTA
Elmer poses for his portrait at the studio of William Nerold in Mankato, Minnesota. Nerold was a photographer in Minnesota during the 1890’s and according to the Minnesota Historical Society, he had a studio in Mankato in 1895. This cabinet card effectively presents an image of young Elmer that captures his remarkable facial features.
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 