Early Photographers & Unidentified Photos

FAYETTE COUNTY, TEXAS

We've had another successful photo identification on July 12, 2023!

The States Right Democrat, La Grange, February 12, 1859

Ambrotypes.

THE Ladies and Gentlemen of La Grange and Fayette county are respectfully informed by W. B. Clark, that his room is now open over Cavanagh's store, for a short time only. Those wishing a true and correct likeness of themselves or friends, are invited to give him a call.
Prices moderate.
Feruary 12, 1859.

 

SEE UNIDENTIFIED PHOTOS BY THESE FAYETTE COUNTY, TEXAS PHOTOGRAPHERS

M. Cadwell, Flatonia

Gustav Froelich, Round Top

F. D. Foytik, Fayetteville

Herzik, Schulenburg

Legler, Schulenburg

Joseph J. Machann, Lyons

Martin, John and Anna, La Grange

W. A. Meiners, Waldeck

Louis Melcher, O'Quinn

Charles A. Meyer, La Grange

Moeller & Kunz, Schulenburg

Louis Muenzler, Industry/Fayetteville

Arthur Nichols, Warrenton

C. Petersen, La Grange

Friederike Recknagel, Round Top

Louis Rice, La Grange

Will A. Robinson, La Grange

Tauch & Pannewitz, Schulenburg

H. Tauch, Fayetteville

Wm. Tauch, Schulenburg

Wallace & Hooben, La Grange

R. J. Zimmermann, Schulenburg


Fayette County Photographers

Location

Name and Approximate Time in Business in the 1800s

Engle

Louis Melcher, 1900-1902, also at O'Quinn and La Grange

Frank Fojtik, 1908

Fayetteville

Henry Tauch, 1892-1902

Reiner J. Zimmermann, 1869-1870, later in Schulenburg

Flatonia

Moses Cadwell, 1870-1899
Frank J. Schlueter, 1891

High Hill

Nicholas B. Gorsuch, 1869,1873

La Grange

Adolphus Behn, 1847
Samuel T. Blessing, 1856
W. B. Clark, 1859
Crayton Studios [C. C. Creighton], 1940s-early 1970s
H. H. (or W. H.) Gilliam, 1866
Luck, 1900
John R. Martin, 1868-1870
Louis Melcher, 1895, 1914-1921, also at O'Quinn and Engle
Charles Meyer, c 1895, later in Giddings
Charles Joseph Migurski, 1888-1898, co-owner Russian Eagle Photo Gallery, early 1890s
Frank C. Mills, 1890-1891

C. Petersen, 1872-1914
Leo Petersen, early 1900s
C. Prealinouz, 1866-1867
Carver W. Rains, 1900
Louis Rice, 1887-1907
William A. Robinson, 1893-1894
John Scott, 1872
V. P. Sargeant, 1866
Stanislaus Szmidensky, 1880
Mat S. Wallace, 1869-1870
Wallace & Hooben, 1867-1868

O'Quinn

Louis Melcher, 1892-1899

Melcher and Meyer, 1895

Oso

W. F. E. C. Henausin, 1869

Joseph D. Sloan, 1869-1872

Round Top

Gus Froelich, 1872-1910

Schulenburg

L. M. Herzik Studios, c1907 -
Moeller & Kunz, 1893
Gustav A. Pannewitz, 1889-1891
Tauch & Pannewitz, 1886-1899

Wm. Tauch, 1883-1891, 1902
Wm H. Thomas, 1878-1880
Reiner J. Zimmermann, 1876-1900, previously in Fayetteville

Waldeck

W. A. Meiners, 1898-early 1900s

Warrenton

Arthur Nichols, 1898, then in nearby Industry from 1900-1914

 

Winchester

W. B. Clark, 1866

Unspecified community

W. H. Bannifer, 1873
L. Boehm. 1883
T. C. Bolton & T. E. Mitchell, 1895
A. H. Butler, 1872
J. E. H. Chapman, 1894
Willy Chukinger, 1900
Arthur Cordes, 1900
E. H. (or C. H.) Doolittle, 1871
Mrs. C. L. Fouzer, 1893
F. M. Hall, 1872
Harper, 1883
Janes & Banta, 1871-1872
Maximillian T. Jesse, 1871
Joiner & Cox, 1873
William Karechel/Kauechel, 1896

William Keudell, 1884-1892
Ed Knox, 1891
Larn & Miller, 1889
J. M. Layton, 1872
Ernst Leifs, 1875
Frank B. Lovejoy, 1895
Alfred Otto, 1900
W. N. & J. T. Park, 1875
Rice & Potash, 1887
George F. Roesberg, 1873
A. Snell, 1882
P. R. Stamps, 1871-1872
F. Strebel, 1895-1896
P. Vivier, 1860
Wallace & Karnes, 1871-1873

Sources:
Haynes, David. Catching Shadows, A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993.
Lotto, F. Fayette County, Her History and Her People. Schulenburg, 1902.

Walter Meiners, photographerWalter A. Meiners, Waldeck

 

Walter A. Meiners (1873-1954) was a farmer and photographer at Waldeck. His grandparents were German immigrants Ricklef (1814-1902) and Anke (1816-1908) Meiners. His parents were John and Laura Weber Meiners.

Walter Meiners taught in the Waldeck School in 1897 and still listed his occupation as teacher in the 1900 census. He was on the tax rolls as a photographer in Fayette County by 1898 and had a studio in a building separate from his home on his property. He is shown here on a card with his logo. His ornate wicker photographer's chair remains in the family.

Meiners married Julia Heller Goerner in 1906 in Waldeck where they raised their family of five children. He was listed as a farm laborer in the 1910 census and we believe he had given up working as a photographer by this time.

Sources:
Haynes, David. Catching Shadows—A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers. Texas State Historical Commission, 1993.
Photo and biographical information contributed by granddaughter, Elva Meiners Keilers

 

Identified on 11/05/22 as Otto Reinhard Speckels
Please contact Sidney Levesque
Now identified as Ida Weyand Thomas
Please contact Sabra Sauer
This photo, found in a Victoria antique shop, has been identifed on 11/25/07 as Wilhelm H. Folterman, 1840-1921, who is buried in the Waldeck Cemetery.
Thanks go to Judy Matejowsky for working on this one.
Submitted by Sabra Sauer

Arthur A. Nichols, Warrenton & Industry

Arthur Nichols was born in Illinois in 1874. He appears on the tax roles in Fayette County in 1898, but was living in Austin County by 1900 where he had a photography studio in Industry. In 1907 Nichols took Louis O. Muenzler of Willow Springs as an apprentice. The following year Muenzler bought a house across the street from Nichols and set up his own shop. Nichols is still listed as a photographer inhis own shop in the 1910 census. In 1914 Nichols sold his studio building and home and moved to Columbus where he worked as a railroad machinist and later as a salesman.

Sources:
Haynes, David. Catching Shadows—A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers. Texas State Historical Commission, 1993.
Industry-West End Historical Society. Historical Accounts of Industry, Texas 1831-1986. New Ulm Enterprise Print, 1986.
1910, 1920, 1930 Census

Woodmen of the World Gathering in Fayette County

Gathering of Fayette County Woodmen of the World camps. The communities of Cedar and Carmine can be seen on two of the flags. There is a large obelisk in the center of the photo and a band was present. Was this at a cemetery? Members of the Menking family were probably taking part in this gathering, which likely took place between 1900 and 1914.
Please contact Sue Menking Standford if you have information about this photo.
This young woman was a friend or relative of the Voelkel, Albers or Schuhmann families.
Please contact Sidney Schuhmann Levesque
Now identified as Paula C. Albert Gruesen.
She was the daughter of Johan "Carl" and Pauline Henniger Albert and married Pierre C. Gruesen.
Please contact Sidney Schuhmann Levesque
These are friends or relatives of the Menking family.
Please contact Sue Menking Standford

 

Louis Melcher, O'Quinn

Born in 1870, Louis Melcher was one of the ten children of John Carl Melcher, a merchant at O'Quinn, and Wilhelmine Clementine Gebert. Louis married Ida Loessin and they lived at O'Quinn, El Campo, and Engle where he had a saloon. He was on the Fayette County Tax Rolls beginning in 1892. On April 28, 1892 The La Grange Journal reported "Mr. J. C. Melcher at O'Quinn south of Cedar is building an addition to his store which his son, Louis, will occupy for a photograph gallery." Melcher died at O'Quinn in 1948.

Sources:
La Grange Journal obituary, March 1914
Fayette County Texas Heritage. Curtis Media, Inc., 1996
Lotto, F. Fayette County, Her History and Her People. Schulenburg, 1902.
Haynes, David. Catching Shadows, A Directory of 19th-Century Texas Photographers. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993.
   
This is a friend or relative of Clara Surman Heinsohn
Contributed by Tommy Heinsohn and Rox Ann Johnson
   
Ida and Marie Ramthun.
Successfully identified by Sandy Otto!
Ida married August Fahrenthold and Marie married Conrad Lindstrom. The photographer, Louis Melcher, was married to their father's first cousin.
Contributed by Rox Ann Johnson
Successfully identified as Augusta Margaretha Minna Loessin and Richard Hermann
Contributed by Sandy Otto
Friends or Relatives of the Loessin, Vogt or Willrich Families
Contributed by Sandy Otto

See More Unidentified Portraits by Photographers in These Communities

Fayetteville

Flatonia

La Grange

O'Quinn

Round Top

Schulenburg

Waldeck

Warrenton

 

See Lavaca County Unidentified Photographs

Fayette County Photographers Index

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