New Treasures from My Mother #1 - Zora and Ned Staples

Zori & Ned Staples c.1897, St Paul,MN

My mother brought me a baggie of really old photos and memorabilia today from my grandmother's boxes. I thought I had already discovered all of the family treasures that were in my immediate family's possession, but I was wrong. The one that jumped out immediately is this photo of Zora Edith "Zori" Hewitt Staples and her son. As I blogged in the past, I have always wanted to find a photo of Zori. (Aunt Cleo wrote about her here.)

I am in touch with her great granddaughter thanks to Ancestry.com. Tragically, they lost all of their family photos when their home burned down in the Sycamore Fire of 1977. I immediately emailed her to share this great news. She was ecstatic and happened to be planning on visiting her mother (Zori's granddaughter) on Thursday, so this will be a fantastic surprise!

The boy in the portrait is Zori's son Edwin Herrick "Ned" Staples who was born in 1895. I tried to narrow down the exact year of the photo by researching the photographer. Thanks to the Minnesota Historical Website's list of photographers, I was able to find quite a bit about this photographer. Alfred U. Palmquist, also known as A.U. Palmquist, was born in Finland on 21 June 1850 and died 23 March 1922.  He was well known for his images of Sitting Bull which can be found all over the Internet, including at the Library of Congress, Amazon and various auction sites. He worked in Minnesota from the 1870's to the 1900's and had a number of locations over the years. This photo has the address of 88 West Fourth Street, which, according to the listing from the Minnesota Historical Society below, was his location from 1891-1899. Since he was at this same location for quite awhile, I will have to hazard a guess that the photo is c.1897 when Ned would have been about two years old.

Locations:

     Studio: Palmquist & Lake

     Address: 32 West Seventh Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1873

     Address: 25 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1874

     Studio: Alfred Palmquist & Company

     Address: 28 East Seventh, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1876-1881

     Studio: Palmquist & Jurgens

     Address: Seventh and Robert, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1883-1885, 1888

     Address: 225 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1890

     Address: 88 West Fourth Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1891-1899

     Address: 10 West Sixth, Saint Paul, Minnesota

       Dates of operation: 1900s

It is wonderful to have finally discovered a photo of the young Zori and to be able to share it with her descendants. I hoped to one day see one, but I never would have expected it to come from my own collection!
[Update - Apparently, this is the only known photo in existence of Ned.]

Sepia Saturday #65 - The Pride of St. Paul



Cliff and Martha Purdy - St Paul, Minnesota, c.1940


This Sepia Saturday photo is of J. Clifford and his wife Martha (Block) Purdy. On the back of the photo is written, "The Pride of St. Paul" and it is stamped, "Ellsworth Purdy Photography". Without my knowledge of Cliff's ties to Minnesota (he was born there), the inscription would have been confusing since Cliff and Martha lived in Seattle, Washington. Many of Cliff's Purdy relatives were still back in Minnesota, so this may have been taken during a road trip out to visit them. I am not sure about the year it was taken. I would guess it is between 1935-1945. Does anyone recognize the car?
I love the unusual design of the photo and Cliff's "style"!
Cliff was the brother of my great grandmother Blanche Purdy Moore. Unfortunately, this much-loved couple didn't have any children, so I have inherited many photos of them. The uniqueness of this one makes it my favorite.

(Sepia Saturday is a blogging prompt to encourage bloggers to post their old photos with written commentary. The photos don't have to be sepia. Please visit the link for more fabulous SS posts.)