Maplewood History: The Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley Trove – Part Two

By
Doug Houser
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6
110

In 1896, William Lyman Thomas Took a Little Trip – To Memphis. Images he brought back have recently surfaced as part of his daughter’s collection.

The trove, as I received it, was in a large box.  It consisted of two folders, each containing some images, but the largest number, 200+, were in the bottom of the box in no particular order.  Ms. Thomas was in the habit of writing her name on the backs of her images.  More accurately she wrote her name on the backs of most of her images whether or not her visage appeared on the front.  All well and good but I’m certain some of them are of her.  I’m just not sure which ones.

First, I went through and pulled out all of the images that I could identify or ones that had some information written on them.  Next, I tried to determine images that all appeared to be from the same role of film.  I gained some knowledge from this tactic.

Finally, I separated images according to which photographer’s studio in which they had been made. I gained a little knowledge from this but not much.  Just because some images were made in the same studio doesn’t necessarily mean they are related in any other way.  I’ll demonstrate later.

In this post, we’ll take a look at some images that all were made from the same roll as near as I can determine. They are all mounted on cardboard, all the same size.  All of the mounts have the same embossed, stylized-flower design around the edges.  There are 16 images.  All were made in June of 1896.  Ten are of Thomas’ trip to Memphis, June 5-11.  Six are of a gathering of family and friends in the yard of their Maplewood home.  These I will show in an upcoming post.

The images are not numbered so I have to guess in what order they were taken.  Keep this in mind as your detective skills are often better than mine.

OK. Here we go. It’s June 5, 1896.  I do not know the location of the landing in the first image.

This is the back of the first image. The writing at the top is probably Thomas’ own.  At the bottom is his daughter Emma’s signature which appears in one form or another on much of her collection.
This is the boat he got on. Of course, I have no way of knowing when he took this photo.  The image is printed reversed.
Notice the difference in handwriting. This has to be Emma’s. I have no evidence that Emma accompanied him on this trip. My guess is that she didn’t.
From the back: St (sic) Genevieve June 5-11-1896
This wonderful image could have been made on either the coming or the going legs of the trip.
This waterfront image is identified with just one word on the back, Memphis.
On the back: Library, Memphis. June 8, 1896.
Also on June 8, apparently WLT witnessed a fire. I searched the largest Memphis newspaper, the Commercial something or other with Newspapers.com on the 8th and 9th of June of 1896 but didn’t find mention of the fire.
This second fire picture is the last of the Memphis pictures. These were in his daughter’s collection so it is very likely he had others.
On the back: Chester Ill Penitentiary. This was no doubt taken on the same trip, but going or coming, who can say?
On the back: Kennett Castle. It is a mansion located below Festus that is visible from the river, if not in his image of it. I believe it survives today.

 

Also in Emma’s trove is a very large image of the Belle Memphis.  It is in a very fragile state and deteriorates when handled.  I scanned it and reassembled it in Photoshop.  It was from this image that I learned that Thomas’ Memphis trip was almost certainly to attend the annual meeting of the Missouri Press Association.  He was the treasurer for many years.

The Belle Memphis. I use Photoshop sparingly on a historic image such as this.  It would be possible to make this image look very good again but much would be lost or changed.
At the bottom center.
Belle Memphis

 

Is this right out of Tom Sawyer or what?  There will be much more from the Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley trove in the near future.  Once again we have Emma’s great granddaughter, Chrissie Hayes McConnell, to thank for sharing this with us all.

Be careful everyone.  With this pandemic, we are not out of the woods yet.  We are all tired of it but be strong.  We can outlast it.

Til next time.

Doug Houser       January 20, 2022

 

 

 

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. Again, thank you Doug!! The information here and the response link provided links to all your entries! Your stewardship, to see that these archives and legacy are well preserved, is monumental. You have a huge piece of your own legacy invested in helping us preserve ours. Many, many Thanks!

  2. These are fantastic! Are there plans to eventually share with the the MHS? They have a large collection of stories/photos related to riverboats.

    I was curious about the fire hose photos from Memphis. To me, it looks like could be a demonstration of modern-day fire fighting equipment insofar as the hoses are pointed upward in a fountain-formation rather than toward a building. It also looks like quite a crowd was gathered for the demonstration.

    • Hey Clark, All of these images will soon join the rest of the collection at the office of the State Historical Society of Missouri at UMSL, adjacent to the Mercantile Library.

      I agree that in the two photos that you mentioned, it does look more like a demonstration of the firefighting equipment than a fire. I appreciate your comments. Good to hear from you.

  3. Doug,
    What a treasure trove! What did Mr. Thomas do for a living? What kind of camera would he have been using? What was his motivation for the images he chose to take? What was the occasion for the crowd shot on the Belle Memphis? I am sure you have asked all of these questions.

    Have you explored the Herman T. Potts (?)collection at the Mercantile? I am guessing they would like to see these images.

    • Peter, You are only glimpsing the tip of the iceberg or you are holding the tail of the elephant, I’m not sure which. Mr. Thomas was a publisher. I am his biographer. Get a copy of my book, Maplewood History Volume Two from me or Scheidt Hardware in downtown Maplewood. Pages 17 through 38 are about Mr. Thomas and his family. I don’t know what kind of camera he used although I did research it. The crowd shot on the Belle Memphis was taken by a professional photographer. The occasion was the annual meeting of the Missouri Press Association of which, Mr. Thomas had long been the treasurer. It was held in Memphis that year, 1896.
      On this blog, I have, in the past, published 30 separate posts and hundreds of images about Mr. Thomas and his family. All of these images and documents have been donated at my urging to the State Historical Society of Missouri. You can see all of them at this following link. https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-shsmo-archives-material-from-five-maplewood-families/
      I have not seen the Herman T. Potts collection but I’ll take a look at it. If the folks at the Mercantile Library would like to see the William Lyman Thomas collection, it is probably less than 100 feet away from them at the SHSMO office also at UMSL.
      Thank you very much for your comments.

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