George A. Cox, one of pioneer photographers
Travelling photographers began arriving in 1840s
Photography was invented by 1840, and Peterborough was visited by travelling photographers in the 1840s. However, photographers willing to invest in photography studios and cater to the general public occurred in our area closer to 1860.
Since writing in 2015, in Postcards from Peterborough and the Kawarthas (published by Trent Valley Archives) a chapter about Peterborough photographers between 1870 and 1920 I have continued to research the earlier years.
Robert Thompson, Robert Smith, George B. Sproule and Robert D. Ewing, all discussed in that chapter, began their remarkable careers in the 1860s. Ewing and Thompson both had extensive advertisement in Dr. Poole’s 1867 history of Peterborough. R. M. Roy, a professional photographer in Peterborough by 1892, took photos here by 1888 and claimed to have used every photographic innovation since the Civil War, 1861-1865. Fraser Dunford identified 27 local photographers working before 1870, and his list was published (also by the Trent Valley Archives) in the Heritage Gazette of the Trent Valley in August 2001.
Of the four photographers who Fraser Dunford identified being here in the 1840s, Robert Milne, was here in 1849. When he was leaving, the Weekly Despatch, forerunner of the Peterborough Examiner, published an address of appreciation.
“Dear Sir, Having had the opportunity of availing ourselves of your professional services, we cannot permit you to leave Peterboro, without expressing our high estimation of your talents and ability, and our cordial wishes for your success and prosperity.” This was signed by the following prominent local citizens: The Rev. Robert J. C. Taylor; James Wallis; Thomas Benson; James Edwards; D. McFarlane; John Hall; A. MacPhail; James Hall; Walter Sheridan, District Clerk; William Bell; Wilson S. Conger, Sheriff, Colborne District; A.S. Fowler, J.P.; George Frederick Orde; Thomas Fortye; W.H. Wrighton; Robert Nicholls; F. Ferguson; John Rousby; Daniel Griffith; Charles Perry; Robert Ridley; James Ryan; F. Almond; Elias Burnham; John J. Hall; and J.L. Hughes.
Milne’s thanks was also printed in the Weekly Despatch: “Gentlemen: I sincerely thank you for this unexpected mark of your esteem. I feel happy to know that I have given satisfaction and hereafter, in the exercise of my profession, I hope I may experience from others, as much kindness as I have received during my residence with you.” Milne ran a family photography business in Hamilton during the 1850s and 1860s.
Recently I have encountered other advertisements in the local newspapers that filled in useful details about early photography in Peterborough.
In my 1995 history of the Peterborough Agricultural Society, called Winners, I noted that “George A. Cox, later one of Canada’s richest men, was commended in 1860 “for unquestionably the best photographs ever shown at the fair.” At that same exhibition, J. Thompson was commended for his ambrotypes. Was George A. Cox (1840-1914) a talented amateur or could he be considered a professional photographer, selling his photos to the general public. It now appears that he was seriously into photography for much of the 1860s, at least.
In an advertisement, titled “Things to be Remembered,” dated 21 February 1861, George A. Cox claimed: “In returning his sincere thanks for the very liberal patronage he has received when commencing business, would respectfully intimate that he still continues to practice PHOTOGRAPHY in all its different branches, in a manner that cannot be surpassed. He would also like it remembered that it was to him THE DIPLOMA was awarded at the last Fall Show for the best specimens of Photography which includes not merely Ambrotypes but all the different styles of pictures taken by means of light, without regard to the chemical agency employed. And he is still determined to maintain the decision not only of the judges, but of all who may favor him with a call that the place to go when you want A FIRST-RATE PICTURE! is to Cox’s Excelsior Sky Light GALLERY, in Burnham’s Block, over Maloney’s store. – and, last, though not least, if you want to get a picture that will stand the test of time, and one worthy of our flourishing town in this advanced age, you must go to Cox’s Gallery and GET A GENUINE PHOTOGRAPH! the only place in Town they can be got. So all who wish to live with posterity go and get a good picture and case For 50 Cts. And upwards.
“A large assortment of Cases always on hand. Entrance same as to the Montreal Telegraph.”
This is a remarkable advertisement for several reasons. George A. Cox was ambitious and confident, was selling photographs and still continued his main employment as the telegraph agent for Montreal Telegraph Company. The Burnham Block was on George and Simcoe, across from the farmers’ market, and what is now Peterborough Square.
The space that he was using for his gallery had been a photographic studio, a “Sky Light Daguerrian Gallery”, for Samuel Stanley Peck (1829-1901). Peck was born in Prince Edward County, lived in Peterborough from 1857 to 1860, near Minden by 1860, a storekeeper and postmaster in Minden by 1861, and Peterborough county warden, 1869. As C. P. Mulvany’s researcher noted in the 1885 history of Peterborough County, “The Village of Minden has also been for a lengthened period the residence of S. S. Peck, Esq., whose talents and energy have contributed, in no small degree, to the progress made by the entire district.”
S. S. Peck was one of the founders in 1874 of the provisional county of Haliburton. As the first County Clerk and Treasurer, he “proceeded to at once to business and took the necessary steps to borrow some money.” One of the first financial transactions was a grant or bonus of $55,000 to the Victoria Railway to extend its rail line through Haliburton; the line crossed diagonally from south-west to north-east.
After a second marriage in 1878, Peck moved to Sonoma, California, where he raised chickens.
It is possible that Peck continued a photography hobby, perhaps while he was a storekeeper in Minden. Still, it seems his photography career was mainly in Peterborough.
By 1865, Jacob H. Brumwell (1821-1928) from Smith Township was running his photographic gallery in the space previously occupied by Peck and by Cox. Brumwell had a long life and was best known as a builder and then a carpenter. In 1875, according to the Historical Atlas, his property was part of lot 12, on the east side of the Communication Road in Bridgenorth. In 1885, he began a sawmill on Lake Chemong in Bridgenorth.
By 1865, Cox was still in the telegraph business, was an insurance agent but he and a partner were running a bookstore that included photography. This was located in the Hopkins Block, on Simcoe Street.
The photographic studio on the second floor of the Burnham Block appealed to three photographers between 1857 and 1865, all of whom had amazing careers, but none was best known as a photographer. Photography was highly technical and chemical and those who excelled at it were apparently good problem solvers.