Saturday, January 17, 2009

S. Bigelow's Photographic Rooms Over N. L. Polk's Drug Store in Collinsville, CT



The search was for the early photographer named S. Bigelow who was active in Collinsville, Hartford County, Connecticut, sometime between 1861 and 1869. It resulted in information about N. L. Polk who owned the drug store downstairs from the Bigelow's photography studio.

This is an authentic antique cdv or carte de visite of an unidentified young lady, photographed between 1861 to 1869 in S. Bigelow's Photographic Rooms, Over N. L. Polk's Drug Store, in Collinsville, Connecticut. The lady scholar is in a dark dress with a wide lace collar and a velvet neck band. She is holding a book, has a brooch at her throat and a long gold chain. Judging by her hair style, her wide lace collar and the pose of her hands, this may be a cdv image made of an earlier daguerreotype from the 1850's. The oval image measures about 1 1/2" x 2" and is mounted on a white or off-white thin card board mount which measures about 2 1/4" x 4" with square corners and a double gold pinstripe around the edges. On the reverse is: "S. Bigelow's Photographic Rooms, Over N. L. Polk's Drug Store, Collinsville, Ct".

The bases for dating of the photo between 1861 and 1869 is the style of the cardboard mount with its gold border and the U.S. Federal Census.

The photographer named S. Bigelow remains elusive in censuses and databases. On the 1860 Federal Census in Connecticut, Hartford County and town of Canton, Collinsville P.O. is: Nathan L. Polk’s Apothecary Store where he and his family were living. Nathan L. Polk was born about 1813 in Connecticut. His wife is Mary A. Polk born about 1812 and children James Polk and Jane Polk, twins born in 1849, all in Connecticut.

At this writing, S. Bigelow has yet to be found in 1860 and note the establishment is called an Apothcary Store, an earlier name for a Drug Store. S. Bigelow would have set up shop above the Drug Store after the 1860 census and before the 1870 census, thus the 1861-1869 date for the cdv. By the 1870 Connecticut Census for Collinsville, neither Bigelow nor the Polks are there.

On the 1870 Federal Census for New Jersey is: Nathan L. Polk, Druggist, born about 1814 in Connecticut. He and his wife Mary A. and two children James and Jane are living in Point Pleasant, Brick Township in Ocean County, New Jersey. James Polk is working in his father’s Drug Store.

The search which began for a photographer named S. Bigelow, led to genealogical data about the family of Nathan L. Polk of CT in 1860 and NJ in 1870. (Image Ser. 1011A)

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