Texas Photographer

This site is dedicated to providing a very modest list of Texas Photographers to assist anyone trying to identify old photos taken in Texas.

H. R. Marks

H. R. Marks, Austin, Texas. Harvey Roberts Marks (1821-1902) operated in Austin between 1870-1902. After Marks died his assistant George Berner operated the business until well into the 20th Century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

W. M. Tauch

William M. Tauch was born at High Hill on February 2, 1860, the son of Henry and Augusta May Tauch. He married Elizabeth Heimann and had three children: Erna, Waldine, and Werner. Tauch worked as a photographer in Schulenburg during two different intervals, in between which he tried farming, ranching, and operating a cotton gin. He appears on the Fayette County tax rolls as early as 1883.He bought an advertisement in F. Lotto's Fayette County, Her History and Her People, which was published in 1902. William's sister, Agnes, married Gustav Pannewitz with whom Tauch was partnered by 1886. Pannewitz was born in Germany in 1860 and immigrated in 1870. By 1900 Pannewitz was living in Shiner where he later gave up photography and served as postmaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

William M. Tauch and Gustave Pannewitz.

William M. Tauch was born at High Hill on February 2, 1860, the son of Henry and Augusta May Tauch. He married Elizabeth Heimann and had three children: Erna, Waldine, and Werner. Tauch worked as a photographer in Schulenburg during two different intervals, in between which he tried farming, ranching, and operating a cotton gin. He appears on the Fayette County tax rolls as early as 1883.He bought an advertisement in F. Lotto's Fayette County, Her History and Her People, which was published in 1902. William's sister, Agnes, married Gustav A. Pannewitz with whom Tauch was partnered by 1886. Pannewitz was born in Germany in 1860 and immigrated in 1870. By 1900 Pannewitz was living in Shiner where he later gave up photography and served as postmaster. He died in Shiner in 1914. (Information from the web site Unidentified Shulenberg Photos maintain by Rox Ann Johnson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Moritz Mau

Mau’s Studios, Yorktown, Texas. ca. 1900. Maybe Moritz Mau was name of photographer. He was there about 1900-10 based on other photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Rose and Zahn

Rose and Zahn, Galveston, Texas. Philip Rose (1848-1926) and Justus Zahn In the late 1880s, the Justus Zahn moved to Galveston, Texas. Justus Zahn went into business with Philip H. Rose, a well known local photographer. In 1888, Zahn bought out his partner and opened his own studio at 418 Tremont (23rd) Street. For the next fourteen years, Justus Zahn was considered the foremost society photographer on the island.

Justus Zahn. Justus Zahn was born October 19, 1847 in Marburg, Germany. His father, Franz Zahn, was a Supreme Court Judge at Cassell. His mother was Caroline Bernstein who was also born in Germany. Zahn attended schools in Marburg and Cassell before enrolling in universities at both Marburg and Leipzig.

At age 22, he travelled to America for the first time to visit his maternal grandfather in Hoboken, New Jersey. Zahn returned to Germany briefly to fight in the Franco-Prussian War but later relocated to Chicago and established a photography business. He eventually moved to St. Louis and then to Belleville, Illinois where he met and married Elise Kreppelt. Her passport photo from 1922 is shown at left. Thanks to Mike McDonald and Debie Bates Lamborn for access to the photo.

In the late 1880s, the Zahns moved again — this time to Galveston, Texas. Justus Zahn went into business with Philip H. Rose, a well known local photographer. In 1888, Zahn bought out his partner and opened his own studio at 418 Tremont (23rd) Street. For the next fourteen years, Justus Zahn was considered the foremost society photographer on the island.

Both Paul Naschke and Joseph Maurer were apprenticed to Justus Zahn early in their careers. Each went on to open his own successful photography studio.

Sadly, the 1900 Storm had devastating impact on Zahn’s life and business. After selling out to Joseph Maurer in 1902, he moved his wife and two daughters back to St. Louis where he reopened a photography studio. In 1909, he relocated to Bowling Green, Missouri and continued to live there until his death on August 22, 1918. Acknowledgement: From the Rosenburg Library Museum, Galveston, TX. http://rosenberg-library-museum.org/displays/treasure/2013/03-zahn/zahn.htm with additional information from Mick McDonald an Debbie Bates Lamborn.

Philip Rose exemplified the entrepreneurial photographer who restlessly strove for greater professional renown, access to sitters, and more advanced equipment. Born and trained in Cincinnati, given his first professional opportunity in Galveston, Texas, exploiting connections and a growing national reputation to secure backing for a photography palace in Providence, Rhode Island, and culminating his career with a Fifth Avenue studio in Manhattan managed by his friend W.H. Sands, Rose parleyed modest prospects into a firm place in the ranks of the great portraitists of the late nineteenth century.

Probably working as a studio boy with James Landy, Rose left Ohio at age fifteen or sixteen. He first appears in Galveston working as a camera operator for Solomon T. Blessing's photographic studio in 1874. Artist Louis Eyth ran the studio operation, while Blessing concentrated on the photographic stock business with his brother John Blessing. Eyth knew the aesthetics of portraiture, Rose the mechanics of photograph making. In three years he absorbed the artistic aspects of picture taking, and Blessing invited him into a full partnership in the studio. The firm became Blessing & Rose, located at 174 Tremont. While portraiture comprised an important component of the studio's work, Rose found himself doing architectural photography, event work, and the conversion of people's daguerreotypes into paper prints.
Rose became a force in national photographic associations in 1880, serving as an officer from Texas in the Photographers' Association of America. He used the national networks to secure equipment and expertise. In 1883 he journeyed east to view the state of the art and to contract with photographic supply companies. It was this trip that stimulated the ambition to relocate to Rhode Island's chief city, Providence. In Rose's eyes it was underserviced by photographers, offered substantial promise of society, celebrity, and event work.
Rose arrived in Providence in 1886, opening a palatial studio--Ye Rose Studio--in the five-story Conrad Building. He kept his Galveston studio open in a partnership arrangement with Justus Zahn. Zahn would buy Rose out of the partnership in 1888. In 1891 he received the PAA Cramer award for dry plate portraiture, and second place in large format, 14x17 airbrush pictures.

Rose's fame burgeoned in the 1890s and the studio became an inevitable stop for performers touring New England. A fellow photographer, William A. Sands, convinced Rose to form a partnership, and "Rose & Sands" became an alternate name for Ye Rose for the latter half of the 1890s. Sands soon originated a plan to open a branch studio in Manhattan, which he would oversee and manage, while Rose would visit periodically for photo sessions. This branch studio opened on Fifth Avenue in 1899. It carefully avoided advertising any interest in the celebrity trade in its street displays. An observer in 1900 remarked "Rose & Sands fill their case with 'private' work." Three-quarter length poses with dark backgrounds predominated. The New York studio sought Society trade, while the Providence branch continued its emphasis on theatrical work. Yet having a studio so near the theatrical center of the country insured that performers would avail themselves of the photographers' skill when they heard Rose was in residence. The Manhattan studio closed after three years of business because of the saturation of business in Manhattan. Sands returned to Providence, "Rose & Sands" dissolved, "Ye Rose Studio" maintained its business in the Conrad building, while Sands teamed with William A. Brady to organize "Sands & Brady" studio in Providence. This partnership would also prove short lived. In 1908 Sands was a freelancer working at a small studio at 333 Westminster.

Rose's fashionability as a theatrical photographer waned during the first decade of the 20th century, but he compensated by becoming the favorite photographer for New England's ministers. Into the 1920s, three men and two women kept the business running. Philip Rose worked until his death in 1926.

Acknowledgement: From the website Photography and the American Stage by Dr. David S. Shields, McClintock Professor, University of South Carolina. http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/

 


N. A. Callaway

Photographer N. A. Callaway’s ad in the 1884 San Antonio Light newspaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lina Fuchs in picture was born about 1868, she is likely in her early 20 so photo ca. late 1880s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Henry White Stephenson

(1858-1924)

Born July 22. 1858, in Knoxville, TN to Benjamin J. and Isabella Baken Stephenson. His father was a druggist. He was boarding in San Antonio in 1877. Photo at right from Stephenson & Nazor photography studios in San Antonio, Texas, probably in 1892-1893, because H.W. Stephenson had a photography studio at 132 W. Commerce St., San Antonio, TX, from 1892-1893 and it is believed that this photo comes from that time. Newspaper ads show he was earlier in Laredo, TX, 1890-91.

In March, 1903, he arrived in Parral, Mexico where he was doing phtography. He married Teodora Galicia who was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. White, Ben and Stella. A document found on Ancestry.com is a Mexican Marriage License (the legal document of marriage) between Henry White Stephenson and Teodora Galicia. The legal document was made by a Judge Rodolfo Valles in the City of Hidalgo del Parral at 5 pm on the 23 of January 1904. It states that Heny is 41 years old, a US citizen, single and a photographer and that Teodora is 30 years old from Sanada(?), state of Zacatecas. The witnesses are Ambrosio Lorenzo Dyer, Martin P. Llynes, Jesus Galicia y Rodolfo Valles.

He has three children from an earlier marrige.

Henry, a widower, died in Laredo at the age of 66.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo at right is of Ino Fuchs. Ino Fuchs was born about 1872, if in her 20s this would be ca. 1892. She could be younger however. H. W. Stephenson operating in Laredo, TX, "at the Bridge" in 1890-91.

 


Thomas Jefferson Harper

Photographer Thomas Jefferson Harper was born in Des Arc, Arkansas, August 20, 1858. He died March 10, 1941, in Dallas, TX. His wife was Ida Felica Donaldson Harper (1870-1950). J. B. Willyerd was the photographer that ran the business in Bryan. He held many patents related to photography. In 1900, Harper was working in Galveston. This subject of the photo, Charlie Perlitz, was born in 1876 so I would put the photo between 1890 and 1895. According to the Bryan, Texas “Eagle”, Willyerd sold the business in Bryan in 1895 and moved to Galveston, TX.

Harper’s obit, “Thomas Jefferson Harper, 82, veteran Texas and Dallas photographer whose portrait graced the windows of many a downtown store on Father's Day as the countenance of a Typical American Dad, died Monday at his residence, 2401 Knight, after an illness of six weeks.

Dallas News
03-11-1941”

 

 

 

 

John B. Willyerd, listed as "Operator" was born in October 9, 1864, in Illinois. He died June 17, 1911, and is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Montgomery County, Texas. He married Lizzie E. ? in 188.3

 

 

 


Hamilton Biscoe Hillyer

(1835–1903)

Hamilton B. Hillyer, photographer, the son of Rev. John Freeman and Mary Adeline (Biscoe) Hillyer, was born in Georgia (probably at Penfield) on August 14, 1835. He entered Texas with his parents at Galveston on December 1, 1847. The family moved to Goliad in 1848, where John Hillyer established Hillyer Female College, and to Gonzales in 1852, where he taught at Gonzales College. H. B. Hillyer was sent away from school in Goliad to improve his health by working as a cowhand on a large cattle ranch. For the next five years he worked cattle and studied independently.

He learned the daguerreotype process from his father, and produced his own daguerreotypes by 1857. He obtained material and a manual for making ambrotypes from a New Orleans firm and produced examples of this art by 1858. He is credited with making some of the earliest photographs on paper in Texas. Hillyer opened a gallery on Pecan Street (now Sixth Street) in Austin in 1867 or 1868. In July 1869 he documented the overflow of the Colorado River in the earliest known stereo photographs of Austin. He designed and built a gallery at the corner of Hickory Street (now Eighth Street) and what is now Congress Avenue and used it from 1872 to 1876. From 1876 until 1887 his studio was located at 916 Congress Avenue. Hillyer supplemented his business in Austin by sending out tent studios to many small towns. He moved to Dallas in 1887 and operated a studio on Elm Street until 1889, when he moved to Belton to join his son, C. Ernest Hillyer, in a studio there. From 1898 until his death in 1903 Hillyer and his second wife owned a studio in Bowie.

 

Hillyer's photographs won many awards at state fairs. For many years, as official photographer for the state of Texas, he produced composite photographs of the state government. There is some indication that twelve of his mammoth-plate (twenty by twenty-four inches) photographs were exhibited at the 1884–85 World's Fair at New Orleans. He served as vice president of the National Photographic Association (1872) and published technical articles in The Philadelphia Photographer and Texas Farm and Ranch.

Hillyer was married to Mary Emma Storey, with whom he had four children, from 1858 until 1885. After her death he married Alice Danforth Turner, also a photographer, in 1887, and they had two children. Hillyer was a lifelong Baptist and a member of the Washington Fire Engine Company in Austin. He was active in the State Horticultural Society and founded agricultural growers' associations in both Belton and Bowie. He died on December 10, 1903, and was buried in Bowie Cemetery.

From The Handbook of Texas.

Picture at right was taken 1891.
Hillyer and Son, Belton and Taylor, Texas.