Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 128

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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From the original number of 20 members, the increase has been to the present number of 200 sub- scribers and eighty singing members.

The performances, which were formerly given in Bedford Hall, Athenaeum, the Lyceum, etc., are now

given only at the Academy of Music. Among them have been the following operas: "Doctor of Alcan- tara," " Martha," "Elixir of Love," " Maritana." " Pinafore," " Pirates of Penzance," "Fra Diavolo," "Chimes of Normandy," and others.

The Bulwer is an Eastern District dramatic so- cicty, very select in its general tonc and membership, and its performances are given at Bedford Hall, The president of the society is Mr. E. A. Spooncr. Among the members well known for their talent are David Buckman, Thomas W. McCormick, Frederick C. Ash- ley, David J. McFadyen, John R. Wood and Alexander Smith. The society has been in existence for some time, and promises well for future success.

The Amaryllis Dramatic Association is composed of young residents of " the Hill," and was organized on October 9, 1882. Its aim is social amnse- ment. The officers are as follows: President, HI. Daners: Vice-President, J. Moore, Jr .; Recording Secretary, C. A. Goodwin ; Financial Secretary, D. Burke; Treas- urer, J.T. Wortmann; Sergeant-at-Arms, J. Glouster ; Executive Committee, J. Smith, C. Banton, W. Snediker and F. Atwater.

The Prospect Heights Dramatic Club is also of recent organization, composed of ladies and gentlemen of Sonth Brooklyn. Their performances are given at Athletic Hall, on Seventh street, near Fifth Avenue.

The Arcadian Dramatic Association .- First meeting held September 13th, 1882, in response to a call in the newspapers by Thos. C. Faulkner. It was organized with six members, viz .: Thos. C. Faulkner, H. S. Bellows, F. M. Stoops, Ira H. Moore, H. W. Noble and C. F. Wilson. Its first performance was the " Poor Gentleman." given at Bedford Hall, January 3, 1883. The most important plays thus far given are : "Merchant of Venice" and " Love's Sacri- fice." The present membership is 50. First Board of officers: H. S. Bellows, President; F. M. Stoops, Secre- tary ; Thos. . C. Faulkner, Treasurer ; H. W. Noble, Stage Manager. Present officers are : Charles B. Mor- ton, President ; George Woodruff, Vice-President ; Arthur Genns, Secretary; E. Jay Jennings, Treasurer; Dramatic Committee : Win. Dinsmore, W. H. Butler, I. H. Moore, T. C. Faulkner, F. M. Stoops, J. HI. Arnold.

The Amphion Musical Society was organ- ized at No. 40 Bedford Avenne, E. D., in October, 1880, by fifteen gentlemen who elected Richard Walsh, President; W. O. Sumner, Vice-President; Alfred F. Gray, Treasurer; Mark H. Burch, Secretary; and C. Mortimer Wiske, Musical Director. " The object of the society is to cultivate choral music, and to provide a

1165

THE AMATEUR DRAMATIC ASSOCIATIONS OF BROOKLYN.

suitable resort for social intercourse." Meetings are held once each month at the society's rooms, corner of Clymer street and Division avenue ; and, during the season, two concerts are given at the Brooklyn Acad- emy of Music. The membership of the society is limited to 410, of which sixty is reserved for the chorus -- a limit long since reached. The present offi- cers are: Jos. F. Knapp, President; Wm. M. Sey- mour, Vice-President; M. H. Leonard, Secretary; Jos. Applegate, Treasurer; and C. Mortimer Wiske, Musi- cal Director.

Amateurs who have become Profes- sionals .- Among the members of Brooklyn so- cieties who have graduated from the amateur stage and become professionals are the Misses Edith Kingdon (of the Amaranth), Adelaide Fitzallan (Kemble), Sara Jewett, Gertrude L. Kellogg, Maud Granger (Amaranth), Misses Congdon, Kate Newton, Meta Bartlett, Mrs. Fanny Foster, Mrs. Lloyd Abbott, and Messrs. William Griffith and William E. Wilson. Miss Fitzallan is with Kate Claxton's com- pany, and Mr. Wilson is with John McCullough.

LOUIS C. BEHMAN.

L OUIS C. BEHMAN, prominent among the successful young business men of Brooklyn, was born in this city, June 4, 1855. His father was Henry William Behman; his mother was Ernstina Kurtcman.

When old enough, he began attending school in the public schools in the city, completing his education at Zion's Academy, in Brooklyn. He very early developed a rare capacity for the conduct of business, and while yet very young engaged in a market and provision business in Brooklyn ; continuing in this occupation with reasonable success for about three years.

One of his principal amusements (none ever interfered with his business) was attending the theatres of the city.

In 1876 he went to Philadelphia and engaged in the theatrical business ; after remaining there about one year, he removed to Baltimore, and engaged in the same occupation. After the lapse of six months he returned to Brooklyn, and, with Mr. Richard Hyde, continued the business he had conducted in Baltimore und Philadelphia. In May, 1877, he and his partner leased what was known as the Volks' Theatre. In 1878 they purchased

the building, changed the name to " Hyde and Behman's Theatre," its present name. In 1880 they leased the Olympic Theatre, Fulton street, Brooklyn, changing its' name to the Standard Theatre. In 1881 they purchased the Grand Opera House in Elm place. In 1883 they built the New Park Theatre, on the corner of Broadway and Thirty-fifth street, New York City, one of the finest theatrical edifices and best endowed properties in the city. Mr. Behman is now the proprietor of several of the best traveling theatrical companies of the times, exhibiting in all the principal cities in the nation. They are also the proprietors and originators of " Muldoon's Picnic," one of the most successful comedies on the road. It is gratifying to say, that in all his business relations Mr. Behman has been suc- cessful to a marked degree, and his success has brought him into consideration and respect among the citizens of Brooklyn. This is exhibited by the fact that in 1882 he was elected Alder- man of the Eleventh Ward, a position which he still occupies, discharging its duties very creditably to himself and to the sat- isfaction of his constituents.

THE TREE PLANTING AND FOUNTAIN SOCIETY was organized at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, lay 16th, 1882, by a number of prominent citizens, whose object in the formation of the Society was to promote the planting and protection of trees, the eree- ion of drinking fountains; and, otherwise, to render he city of Brooklyn attractive. Thus far this beneficent

organization has not met the encouragement which it deserves; the members, however, have not lost faith in the ultimate results of their efforts, and are prepared to push forward. The original board of officers was re-elected for 1884 :- John W. Hunter, President; David M. Stone, Vice-President; Gordon L. Ford, Treasurer; Richard M. Montgomery, Secretary.

1166

PHOTOGRAPHY IN BROOKLYN.

P HOTOGRAPHY, like chemistry, owes its origin to the alchemists of the middle ages, who, in their search after the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life, discovered silver chloride, which they named horn silver, which blackened on exposure to light. Long afterwards, Scheele experimented to determine the effeet upon it of the different rays of the solar spectrum, and discovered the actinic rays. In 1802, Thomas Wedge- wood published a method of producing pictures by the action of light on white leather or paper, made sensitive by a film of silver salts. M. Niepce followed in 1814 with a process for making pictures permanent on a sil- ver plate, coated with bitumen and oil of lavender by developing with a solvent composed of oil of lavender in the oil of petroleum. M. Daguerre's invention was a film of iodine on a silvered plate, and lie developed the image by exposure to mercurial vapor, and fixed it with soda hyposulphite and hot distilled water. Niepce and Daguerre had been experimenting independently, but in 1829 they entered into partnership, and in January, 1839, gave to the world speeimens of the work, which received the name daguerreotype. Henry Fox Talbot, in a communication to the Royal Society, February 21st, 1839, described the details of his calotype or photogenic process, in which the image was produced on paper, made sensitive by silver chloride and devel- oped by gallic acid ; this produced a negative pieture, with lights and shadows reversed when viewed by transmitted light, while the correct result was obtained by light through the negative upon other sensitive paper beneath. By this process copies could be made with ease and rapidity. Daguerre's process produced a positive, with lights and shadows in their proper re- lations. Continned experiments perfected the new art. Dr. Draper was the first to succeed in taking por- traits from life, in America. Fizcan made a further im- provement by using a salt of gold as a fixing agent. Silver bromide was found to be mneli more sensitive to the action of light than the chloride, requiring only about one-thirtieth the length of exposure.

But the greatest improvement was the collodion pro- cess, invented by F. Scott Areher, in which a glass plate is coated with gun-eotton dissolved in aleohol and ethier with a soluble iodide, generally of cadmium ; it is next immersed in a saturated solution of silver nitrate, when the iodides in the filmn become silver iodides, sensitive to light. The image is developed by pyrogallic acid or protosulphate of iron, with acetic acid ; the plate is protected from further change by soda hyposulphite or potassium cyanide. This method was in general use until quite lately. The dry collodion

process differs only in coating the plate with tannin instead of the liquid fixing agents, and adding nitrate of silver to the developing medium.

The bromo-gelatin emulsion process has been recently introduced, in which collodion as a medium of carrying the sensitive salts is replaced by gelatin. The emulsion is made of gelatin, treated with the bromides of am- monium and zinc, with nitrate of silver, and developed either by sulphate of iron with alcohol, acetic acid, and potassium oxalate, or with pyrogallic acid, ammonia. and bromide of ammonium. Plates thus prepared are permanent and exceedingly sensitive, allowing “ instan- taneous photography" under favorable conditions, and the images may remain undeveloped for an extended period. Vogel's Collodion Emulsion treats the gelatin emulsion in an organic acid with pyroxylin, also in an organie acid. The advantages claimed for the new process are its keeping qualities and ease of working.

Thongh years of experiment have elaborated and perfected details, the same principle pervades all methods, which includes the production of the image on a surface made sensitive to light, its subsequent de- velopment, and the removal of the unaltered film by a fixing agent. At present the methods used in practical photography are limited to two in number : the posi- tive, where the lights and shadows appear in their proper plaees ; the plate is backed with black varnish, and the desired pearly-white deposit obtained by devel- oping with proto-nitrate and sulphate of iron, with nitric and acetie acids; second, the negative, where the image is produced on glass with lights and shades reversed when viewel by transmitted light, and a thicker deposit than in the preceding method, while positive impressions are printed through the negative upon sensitive material beneath.

The wet and dry collodion processes and the gelatin and collodion emulsions are variations of the last- named process.

At the present day, photography is the leading method of portraiture, of reproducing landscapes, and all objects animate and inanimate, with a wide appli- cation in astronomy, microscopy, and many of the ia- dustrialarts. It is fast rising from the realm of science to that of art ; our leading photographers combine the art-idea with a wonderful perfeetion of finish, that leaves little to be desired in the result.

As far as aseertainable, the first Daguerrean artist in Brooklyn was J. STANBERY, whose gallery was located near Fulton Ferry in 1844 or '45, but few years after the publication in France of Daguerre's inven- tion ; which shows the rapid spread of the new process

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Stankes Causal.

1167

PHOTOGRAPHY IN BROOKLYN.

through the civilized world. Next came ATKINS' gal- lery, also located near the Ferry. In 1849, a studio was opened, where St. Ann's Buildings now are, by GABRIEL HARRISON, whose most interesting biography will be found on a preceding page. In 1844, he took up daguerreotyping with Plumbe; went afterwards with M. M. Lawrence, and was unsurpassed as an operator. In 1850, he opened, at 283 Fulton street, the finest gallery that had then been seen, with elegant furnishings and spacious rooms. He executed the largest daguerreotypes that were ever taken with success, winning medals at the World's Fair in London and in New York. The art-idea was apparent in all his works.

In 1852, Harrison hung out the first crude picture taken by the photographic process, thien in its infancy; two years later he was successfully using the new method. He was succeeded by WILLIAMSON, who had for many years an excellent reputation for his dagner- reotypes, and stood at the head of his profession. Abont 1860 MORAND established himself in a gallery over Tice's on Fulton street, where he remained for a number of years. Harrison again engaged in photo- graphy, and a little later TRUXALL had a fine place on Fulton avenue. In 1863 DOUGLASS opened his studio on Fulton street, corner of Washington, where he still remains. W. S. PENDLETON, of 336 Fulton, com- menced there in 1868. The PEARSALLS began their apprenticeship twenty-five years ago with an uncle in Williamsburgh ; in 1872 G. FRANK E. PEARSALL opened his studio at 298 Fulton street; and, two years

after, ALVA PEARSALL established himself at Fulton and Flatbush avenucs. At about the same time DURYEA succeeded Williamson in St. Ann's Buildings, and GARDNER opened a studio at 278 Fulton. WM. F. BOWERS has been located since 1873 at 340 Fnlton street; HERMAN WUNDER, on "the Hill," at 722 Fulton, from 1875; and CHARLES E. BOLLES, at 271 Fulton, from 1878. Otlier prominent artists are HENRY W. BIFFUR, on Fourth street, E. I) .; RICHARDSON BROS., and MRS. E. RICHARDSON, Broadway, E. D.

Our best artists have devoted labor and thought to the improvement of photography, and have introduced a decided art-element into that which was a mere science in its beginnings. The advance that has been made during the last fifteen years is marvellons. Life- size portraits combine great delicacy and richness with absolute accuracy; while-still life is reproduced with perfect fidelity. Success has attended the practice of instantaneous photography, as well as the use of the electric light as an illuminator. Technical difficulties have hitherto prevented the preservation of the natural colors in photographic pictures, although much experi- ment has been devoted to the attempt.

Charles S. Rawson, 255 & 257 Fulton street, artist photographer, established 1853, Pennsylvania; was sitnated at Milwaukee, then Albany, and in 1859 re- moved to his present location.

Richardson Bros. (P. & R. D.), 105 & 107 Broad- way, photographers; established 1879, at present loca- tion.

G. FRANK E. PEARSALL.

MR. G. FRANK E. PEARSALL, the well-known photog- rapher, at No. 298 Fulton street, is a native of New York City, having been born in Cherry street, November 23, 1841. His father was John A, Pearsall, a life-boat builder and a man of enter- prise, who was the first in his life to use steam power; and who died of pneumonia at the age of thirty-three, having contracted a cold while out on Long Island Sound in a yacht. His mother was of the numerous and respectable Long Island family of Duryea.

Left an orphan at a tender age, Mr. Pearsall spent a portion of his childhood in the family of an aunt living in Saratoga, N. Y., and during a few years attended the public schools there and in New York. When only eleven years old, he began to learn the rudiments of his profession with his uncle, T. Duryea, once a photographer of Williamsburgh. Two years later his uncle re- moved to Australia, where he has since resided. With the as- sistance of their mother, Alva A. Pearsall, then aged fifteen years, and G. Frank E. Pearsall, aged thirteen, continued operations in the gallery formerly of their uncle about a year, when the elder of the two went to the West Indies, leaving the home interests in the care of his mother and younger brother, who kept the establishment open a year longer. About this time Alva A. Pearsall returned, and soon the two brothers bade adieu to Brooklyn, spending the greater part of the following eight years in Cuba and various towns in the West Indies, in Carracas, Venezuela, and elsewhere, only visiting Brooklyn occasionally

and never remaining long. Returning at the end of the period mentioned, Mr. Pearsall was employed by Gurney, the cele- brated New York photographier, from 1862 to 1868. During the year 1868, in connection with his brother, he conducted a veloci- pede school and dealt in velocipedes on Broadway, New York, at the corner of Twenty-third street. The following year lic was again in Mr. Gurney's employ.

In 1870 Mr. Pearsall established a photographic gallery at the corner of Fulton and Tillary streets, Brooklyn, removing, two years later, to his present location. Mr. Pearsall, as also his brother, Alva A. Pearsall, may be said to be in a great meas- ure self-taught in his art. To it he has devoted the best years of his life and much careful and well-directed thought; making, from time to time, several important improvements in plioto- graphic processes and apparatus. As an artist he takes high rank; he is a member of the National Photographic Association, and his name is known well and favorably to the profession throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. Pearsall is president of the Brooklyn Archery Club, and in 1881 was secretary and treasurer of the National Archery Association. He is also prominent in the Fountain Gun Club, and is a member of Commonwealth Lodge No. 409, F. & A. M., and of Orient Chapter, No. 138, R. A. M. He was married March 6, 1866, to Elizabeth Conrow, of Brooklyn. They reside at No. 23 Strong Place.

1168

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

MR. FRANK E. PEARSALL'S PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO.

The nature of the true artist is to be dissatisfied with all his attainments. His field, the eternal beauty, is illimitable. Every step in the development of his art suggests another step just beyond his grasp; all the accessories necessary to his work ex- hibit the interior working of his mind. Where our fathers would have been satisfied, and found nothing lacking, we would dis- cover many cruditics. The eity photograph galleries of twenty-

five years ago, with their bare walls and general uncouth sur- roundings, are to-day relegated to the obscure country village, while in their place are magnificent apartments, and the studio of the present keeps well in line with our progress in culture and art. The cut of the establishment of Mr. G. Frank E. Pear- sall, No. 298 Fulton street, Brooklyn, N. Y., aptly illustrates this fact.

The first floor, 22 feet wide by 128 feet decp, contains the reception room, dressing-rooms, offices, studio, laboratory and dark room. The reception room, 22 x 60 feet, is carpeted andl furnished with exquisite taste; the walls are handsomely frescoed, which, with the pictures adorning them, or resting upon easels, makes the entire effect pleasing to the eye, and gratifying to cul- tured visitors. The studio is a model of its kind, and to an artist an interesting and profitable study. It is 42 feet long by 22 feet wide, perfectly arranged with plate.glass sky and side lights, so located as to afford a right and left-hand light. The ceilings are frescoed, and the floor covered with an English Linoleum of appropriate pattern. The furniture is very elaborate, including many pieces not usually seen. The drawing accompanying 1bis article does not convey a full idea of what this studio is; any effect desired may be attained in this gallery. The second floor is supplied with complete arrangements for printing, toning and finishing.

Mr. Pearsall's work is noted for its delicacy, softness, cleanli ness and technical beauty. The rank held by him among photo- graphers is evinced by the fact that the majority of portraits illustrating this history are from his studio, and that a large amount of his patronage is drawn from New York City, despite the attractions of its renowned gallerics.

BROOKLYN ARTISTS.

addition to those mentioned in the foregoing article, we have the following artists, portrait painters, etc., residing in Brooklyn:

Brown & Son, 429 Fulton street.

Wm. M. Brown, 709 President street, painter of fruits, flowers and landscapes; born in Troy, N. Y., 1829; studied portrait painting in the studio of A. B. Moore, of that city ; established 1855, in Brooklyn.

Samuel S. Carr, 461 Twelfth street.

Richard Crefield, 628 Myrtle avenue, artist (figure) ; had seven years' study at Royal Academy, Munich, where he received a medal for work.

A. S. Dauber, 307 Navy street. M. F. H. De Haas, h. 148 Taylor street.

Carl Frank, 180 Sackett street. P. S. Harris, Garfield Building. C. D. Hunt. 45 St. James place. Jumes MM. Hart, 94 First place.

R. W. Hubbard, h. 121 St. James place.

C. W. Jewell, 1 York street.

J. H. Littlefield, 16 Court street.

Clinton Loveridge, 461 Twelfth street, landscape painter, member Brooklyn Art Club; served in army during nearly the entire War of the Rebellion.

Strafford Newmarch, 316 Gates avenne.

Julius Ruger, 16 Court street, portrait artist; born in Germany, 1840; came to America, 1847; worked as an engraver on gold until his nineteenth year, when he began the study of portrait drawing and painting. establishing himself in Brooklyn as an artist in 1864. J. B. Stearns, 389 Fulton street.

R. W. Sawers, 375 Pearl street.

Warren W. Sheppard, 281 Ninth street, marine artist; established in Brooklyn, 1872; was born at Greenwich, N. JJ., 1855; son of Josiah Sheppard, a sail- ing ship-master ; his specialty is that of brilliant moon- light marine effects.

Jumes G. Tyler, 313 Fulton street.

THE

HISTORY OF THE PRESS OF

BROOKLYN AND KINGS COUNTY."

BY Hox. WILLIAM E. ROBINSON.

WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES, ETC., BY THE EDITOR.

T HE HISTORY OF THE PRESS OF KINGS County, like that of other eities and localities, records many early deaths of ambitions jour- nals.

The Long Island Courier t was the first paper published in Brooklyn, by Thomas Kirk, a job printer, book-seller, publisher and stationer. į Its first number appeared June 26, 1799. It was a weekly, and was the second paper published on Long Island. The first was the Long Island Herald, published at Sag Harbor, in 1791, by Daniel Frothingham. The Courier met with an early death seven years afterwards.

The Long Island Weekly Intelligencer was commenced May 26, 1806, by William C. Robinson and William Little. It was the first paper to publish a list of letters remaining in the Brooklyn Post Office ; but was discontinued at the end of the year for want of patronage. In June, 1809, Thomas Kirk, nothing daunted by the failure of the Courier, started

The Long Island Star, which was destincd for a longer life and an honorable career. In two years he

sold the Star to Alden Spooner, § formerly of the Suffolk County Gazette. In 1818, it was consolidated with the Long Island Farmer, of Jamaica, and pub- lished by Spooner & Sleight, retaining the name of the Star, the same edition answering for both Brooklyn and Jamaica. This connection was mutually dissolved in 1826. Mr. Sleight revived the Farmer, and Mr. Spooner continned the Star. In 1827, the Star was issued as a daily paper. The daily issue, though at- tempted several times, was not sueeessful for any length of time. In 1832, the weekly was doubled in size; and, in 1835, it was issued semi-weekly. In 1836, Colonel Spooner took his sons, Edwin B. and George W., into partnership, under the name of A. Spooner & Sons. In 1841, Colonel Spooner became Surrogate of Kings county, for four years, appointed by Governor Seward, and succeeding Richard Cornwell; and E. B. Spooner became sole proprietor. It was afterward published by E. B. Spooner & Son (E. B. Spooner, Jr.), and edited by Alden J. Spooner, recently deceased, and Robert A. Bureh. It was discontinued, June 27, 1863,

* In the preparation of this chapter, we have drawn largely upon a very minute sketch of the Local Press of Brooklyn, by Mr. W. A. Chandos Fulton, in the Brooklyn Standard.

1 t Furman gives the title of this paper as The Courier and New York and Long Island Advertizer, but Mr. Fulton says that "all the copies and documents elating to it, which he has seen, bear the title of the Long Island Courier.

# Mr. Kirk kept a small job printing office on the corner of Old Ferry 'now ulton and Front streets. He is supposed to have come to Brooklyn about the lose of the Rev lution, A shilling pamphlet edition of Maj .- Gen. Lee's funeral ration in honor of Gen. Washington, in December, 1799, was the first book pub- shed from Kirk's press, in Brooklyn. Ir. 1809, he commenced the Long Island tar, and removed his job printing establishment to Main street, next door to Kapelye & Mooney's dry goods store. Here he opened a large stationery and ook store, which he kept well supplied with the publications of the day, together ith a fine assortment of standard works. Besides conducting his paper, he sued several publications and reprints ; and seems to have done, for the times, a pod general business. In 1811, he sold the Star to Alden Spooner, and his store , Messrs. Pray & Bowen, and devoted himself to his job printing office, which removed to Fulton, just above Front street. About this time, he published a History of the Adventures and Sufferings of Moses Smith in the Miranda Expedition, etc., etc., at the expense of the author's brother, ex-Mayor Samuel mith, of this city, a curious little volume, now very rare.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 128

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360