Camera Workers: The British Columbia, Alaska & Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950 - F - Volume 1 (1858-1900)

© 1999-2001 By David Mattison

Updated: 2001.07.22.


NAME: F.D. Rice & Co.
WHERE ACTIVE: Greenwood.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1899.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This company was operated by F.D. Rice and A.M. Rice.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL99.


NAME: Fardon, George Robinson. Image Courtesy of BC Archives - Call Number: G-03088.
LIFE DATES: 1807 __ __-1886 08 20.
BIRTHPLACE: Birmingham, UK.
PLACE OF DEATH: Victoria.
WHERE ACTIVE: San Francisco ; Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Government St./1861-1863 10 ; 68 Government St./1863 ; Langley St. at Yates St./1863 10-at least 1871 07.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1858?-ca. 1872.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Fardon emigrated to New York and is believed to have followed the gold rush to California in 1849. He operated a daguerreotype studio at 146 Kearny St., San Francisco, in 1855-1856 and then at 200 or 203 Clay St. in 1857-1858. His studio was listed for sale in May 1858 and it is presumed he moved up to Victoria shortly thereafter.
The first indication of his photographic work in Victoria comes in January 1861 when he was assessed for taxes. An 1863 ad for his move to Langley St. mentioned that he had been in business for three years or since 1860. Primarily a portrait photographer--many photos of early political figures were taken in his studio--, Fardon also practiced landscape work.
He published an album of views of San Francisco in 1856, the first of its kind in North America. His landscape photographs of Victoria are very few; some of these were displayed at the London International Exhibition of 1862.
Between July 1865 and July 1866 when Fardon was in England, his studio was managed by Noah Shakespeare. The date of Fardon's retirement from photography is unknown but a photo taken in July 1871 by Benjamin Baltzly shows the sign for his studio on Langley St. Fardon was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA (cartes-de-visite and prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "G R Fardon, Photographer Victoria V.I." on verso of carte-de-visite; "Fardon" embossed on front of carte-de-visite; some cartes-de-visite have a blank scroll design on the verso; "G.R. Fardon" embossed on front of print mount.
REFERENCES: HOW63; MAL68; MAL69; MAL71; (San Francisco) Evening Bulletin, 1858 05 24/2; Chronicle, 1863 11 28/2; Fardon (1977 reprint); Schwartz (1978 12); Fardon (1999 reprint); Mattison (1999a); Mattison (1999b); BVIPA GR-1304, file 229 (probate); BVIPA Visual Records Photographer File.


NAME: Fenton, Faith.
VARIANT: Freeman, Alice (real name); Brown, Mrs. John Nelson Elliott.
LIFE DATES: 1857-1936.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE/WHEN ACTIVE: Stikine River Trail, BC; Dawson; Yukon Territory/1898-1905 (departure for Toronto).
STATUS: Photojournalist.
SUMMARY: Faith Fenton, whose real name was Alice Freeman, was a special correspondent of Toronto Globe who accompanied the Yukon Field Force to Dawson. Settling into Dawson, she married in 1 January 1900 William Ogilvie's physician and secretary, Dr. John Brown. They left Dawson in 1905 and moved to Toronto.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: personal papers, photos auctioned 1997 06 12, Waddington's, Toronto.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Backhouse (1995); Downie (1996); Waddington's auction catalogue, 1997 06 12.


Ferguson, A.G. see Vancouver Camera Club.

NAME: Ferguson, David.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 130 Cordova St./1893.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1893.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He operated the Beaver Photograph Gallery.
COLLECTIONS: see Beaver Photograph Gallery.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Beaver Photograph Gallery.
REFERENCES: News-Advertiser, 1893 02 21/1; World, 1893 03 23/6.


NAME: Fewster, E.M. (Miss).
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 45 Cordova St./1897-1898.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 621 Howe St./1899.
WORK INTERVAL: 1897-1899.
STATUS: Retoucher.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: She worked for the Wadds Bros.
REFERENCES: WIL97; WIL99.


NAME: Finley, William Burton.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster ; Nanaimo.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 725 Fifth Ave. (New Westminster)/1898 ; Commercial St. (Nanaimo)/1899-1900.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Napanee, between Tenth and Eleventh Ave. (New Westminster)/1898 ; Newcastle Townsite (Nanaimo)/1899-1900.
WORK INTERVAL: 1898-1903.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He moved from New Westminster to Nanaimo and subsequently to Kamloops from Victoria in August 1902.
COLLECTIONS: NM.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "W.B. Finley, Nanaimo, B.C." on front of print mount.
REFERENCES: HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; Nanaimo Free Press, 1900 01 03/1 (ad, Finley Studio); BVIPA Visual Records Photographer file.


NAME: Fleming, Edgar.
LIFE DATES: 1860? __ __-1938 03 18.
BIRTHPLACE: London, Eng.
PLACE OF DEATH: Victoria.
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Government St./1887 ; 61 Government St./1889-1892 ; 50 ½ Government St./1893-1900.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 61 Government St./1890 ; 59 ½ Government St./1891 ; 8 James St./1892-1893 ; Munro St. (Esquimalt) ("Viewfield")/1894-1899 ; 104 Pandora Ave./1895 ; Macaulay Point/1897; 1899 ; Lampson St./1899-1900.
WORK INTERVAL: 1887-1900.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He began his career as a partner in Inchbold & Fleming, then joined his brother Harold in the Fleming Bros. Edgar had worked for the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Co., Regent St. W., London, prior to emigrating to Victoria. Although engaged primarily as a portrait photographer, Edgar did do outdoors work; in July 1896 he joined Rev. W.W. Bolton's expedition exploring Vancouver Island. An earlier expedition saw artist T.B. Norgate taking photographs with a "kodak". Edgar was married on April 30, 1890.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA (including Visual Records accession 198703-003, Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition, 1896).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Inchbold & Fleming and Fleming Bros.
REFERENCES: MAL87; WIL89; HEN90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; Voters List, 1900 (Esquimalt); BVIPA GR-1304, file 151/38 (probate); Colonist, 1887 07 09/4; Overland Monthly (1897 11); Times, 1938 03 19 (obit.); BVIPA Reference Room VF.


NAME: Fleming, Harold.
LIFE DATES: 1865? __ __-1934 11 30.
BIRTHPLACE: London, Eng.
PLACE OF DEATH: Victoria.
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 61 Government St./1889-1892 ; 50 ½ Government St./1893-1900.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 61 Government St./1890; 59 ½ Government St./1891 ; 8 James St./1892 ; 8 Yates St./1893 ; Munro St. (Esquimalt)/1894 ; 104 Pandora Ave./1895 ; 40 Toronto St./1897 ; 59 ½ Superior St./1898-1900.
WORK INTERVAL: 1889-1900.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He was a partner with brother Edgar in Fleming Bros. studio. He was married in 1895 to Mary Edith Mesher of Woolwich, England.
COLLECTIONS: see Fleming Bros.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Fleming Bros.
REFERENCES: WIL89; HEN90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; BVIPA GR-1304, file 386/34 (probate); Colonist, 1895 01 01/8 (marriage); Colonist, 1934 12 01 (obit.); Who's Who in BC (1931); BVIPA Reference Room VF.


NAME: Fleming Bros.
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 61 Government St./1889-1892 ; 50 ½ Government
St./1893-1900.
WORK INTERVAL: 1889-1900.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Operated by Edgar and Harold Fleming, the building in which the studio was located is still standing at 1014 Government St. (upstairs).
Primarily portrait photographers, the brothers landscape work included departure activity at the Victoria Harbour docks during the Klondike Gold Rush. Edgar also accompanied a Vancouver Island exploring expedition as its photographer in 1896.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "Fleming Bros. Albion House, Victoria, B.C." in gold on front of print mount; "Fleming Bros. 61 Government Street, Victoria, B.C." or "Fleming Bros. 50 ½ Government St. Victoria, B.C." or "Fleming Bros. 50 ½ Government Street Victoria, B.C." on front of cabinet portrait.
REFERENCES: WIL89; HEN90; HEN90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00.


NAME: Fletcher, T.J.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Nanaimo.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1888.
STATUS: Commercial (itinerant).
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He was a member of the Great Eastern Photographic and Advertising Co.
COLLECTIONS: see Great Eastern Photographic and Advertising Co.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Great Eastern Photographic and Advertising Co.
REFERENCES: Free Press, 1888 08 01/4.


NAME: Forbes-Mackie, K.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 59 ½ Government St/1894.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1894.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This person was employed by the E.J. Eyres.
REFERENCES: WIL94.


NAME: Ford, ___________.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Bennett, BC.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1898.
STATUS:
SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: KHS
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Print surface captioned and signed "Ford".
REFERENCES: KHS photo no. 23 (Yukon Archives no. 906; BENNETT).

NAME: Ford, Giles Wheeler.
VARIANT: Ford, George.
LIFE DATES: 1830 08 23-1871 05 17.
BIRTHPLACE: Ohio.
PLACE OF DEATH: Steilacoom, WA.
WHERE ACTIVE: Olympia, WA ; Steilacoom, WA; Victoria?.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR: Olympia, WA/1858-1859; Steilacoom, WA/1858-ca. 1870?.
WORK INTERVAL: 1858 (BC only).
STATUS: Itinerant; Commercial (visit).
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: A news item, which gives his name as George Ford, mentioned his imminent departure for Victoria from Steilacoom where he had been taking daguerreotype portraits for six weeks or since the middle of July 1858. He had moved to Steilacoom from Olympia. There was no newspaper evidence that he did make the trip to Victoria on the steamer Constitution in September. Ford opened a gallery the following year in Steilacoom with Erastus A. Light (1822-1899) as Ford & Light. The partnership did not last a year.
Ford was married on July 4, 1860 to Mrs. Elizabeth Simmons Affleck and spent the rest of his short life in Washington Territory. Although he listed himself as a photographer in the 18870 U.S. census, he appears not to have practiced the craft after 1860. Ford is buried in the Fort Steilacoom Cemetery.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Puget Sound Herald, 1858 07 23-1859 05 27; Palmquist & Kailbourn (2000).


NAME: Ford, Lillian M. (Miss).
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 620 Columbia St./1893-1894.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Tenth St. near Sixth Ave./1893 ; Seventh St./1894 ; 540 Tenth St./1895.
WORK INTERVAL: 1893-1894.
STATUS: Retoucher.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: She worked for S.J. Thompson; no occupation was given in the 1895 directory.
REFERENCES: WIL93; WIL94; WIL95.


NAME: Forest, Alexander.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Fort St., S. side near Government St./1869.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR: Government St./1869.
WORK INTERVAL: 1869.
STATUS: Unknown.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked as an "employee" for Frederick Dally.
REFERENCES: MAL69.


Fougner, Ivar see Fougner, Iver.

NAME: Fougner, Iver.
VARIANT: Fougner, Ivar.
LIFE DATES: 1870 04 24-1947 07 30?.
BIRTHPLACE: Lillehammer, Norway.
PLACE OF DEATH: Bella Coola.
WHERE ACTIVE: Bella Coola.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1896?-1900+.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Educated in Norway and the U.S., Fougner taught in Minnesota and then joined the first group of Norwegian immigrants to Bella Coola in 1894. He was the colony's first teacher (he was awarded a teaching certificate after attending Normal School in Vancouver) as well as the first secretary of the colony's governing body. He was Indian Agent for the region from 1910 to 1936 and assisted in Red Cross activities during World War II.
In a diary entry dated December 31, 1895, Fougner wrote "I must get a kodak or camera." He also noted the arrival of Simon Baugen in February 1896 and wrote "disappointment is surely in store for him; he is likely to leave the valley again." Throughout October and November 1896 Fougner wrote of his own plans to tour the US with magic lantern slides; on November 17 he visited Baugen but did not state for what purpose. Fougner noted on December 26 "I think I shall have him [Baugen] take the old camp and the interior of my cabin before he leaves." On March 17, 1903 Fougner ordered a $25 "Cartridge Camera" from Vancouver, but he "had quite a debate with myself whether it was wise to send for so expensive an instrument or not." The camera arrived on May 2 and by September he reported to his diary that he had been "successful beyond expectations."
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: I. Fougner diary (BVIPA E/C/F82a); Province, 1947 07 31 (obit.); Times, 1947 08 01 (obit.); Fish (1982).


NAME: Fox, W.W.
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: BC ; ON.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1890.
STATUS: Amateur?.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Four photographs published in the August 2, 1890 issue of Dominion Illustrated; three are BC scenes, the fourth shows Indian berry pickers, Lake Superior.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Dominion Illustrated, 1890 08 02.


NAME: Francis, E.K.
VARIANT: Francis, E.W.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Calgary, AB ; Revelstoke.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1891-1894.
STATUS: Commercial (itinerant?).
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Established in Calgary in 1885 with A.M. McKinnel (Francis & McKinnel), Francis used the city as a base from which to operate in the communities along the Canadian Pacific Railway line into BC.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; Kootenay Star, 1891 08 15/4; Dempsey (1978).


Francis, E.W. see Francis, E.K.

NAME: Franz Ferdinand's (Archduke) photographer.
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1893 09.
STATUS: Institutional (visit).
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) visited Victoria and Vancouver in 1893 on the Empress of China. The Vancouver News-Advertiser reported that the archduke was so impressed by his drive around Stanley Park that his photographer was to make a separate trip to take photographs.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Colonist, 1893 09 06/3; News-Advertiser, 1893 09 07/8.


NAME: Frederick, E.K.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 326 Cordova St.?/1899.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1899.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN99.


Freeman, Alice see Fenton, Faith.

NAME: Freeman, Barnabas Courtland.
LIFE DATES: 1870? __ __-1935 12 17.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH: Cape Mudge.
WHERE ACTIVE: Skidegate.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: A Methodist missionary at Skidegate, he came to BC from Prince Albert in 1893 and was stationed at Skidegate, Port Simpson and Port Essington. In a letter to C.F. Newcombe, Freeman talked about making prints for the anthropologist using bromide paper. Freeman probably used a camera as well as an enlarger.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: BVIPA MS-1077, v. 3, file "Freeman, B.C., 1897-1902" (letter, Freeman to Newcombe, 1897 12 02); Province, 1935 12 17 & 20 (obits.).


NAME: French, L.B.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Alaska.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1889.
STATUS: Amateur (photojournalist).
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: In July 1889 he and fellow newspaper reporter Miner W. Bruce visited Pacific (Muir?) Glacier, Glacier Bay, Alaska, in the hopes of photographing the Silent City mirage which R.G. Willoughby claimed the have successfully photographed a year earlier. The Willoughby version of the Silent City appears in Badlam (1891) "by the kind permission of L.B. French."
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Sitka The Alaskan, 1889 07 20/1; Badlam (1891):between 132-133.


NAME: French, May (Miss).
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Columbia St. (Hamley Block)/1890 ; 441 Columbia St./1891 ; 620 Columbia St./1892.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Columbia St./1890 ; Eliott St./1891.
WORK INTERVAL: 1890-1892.
STATUS: Retoucher.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: She worked for S.J. Thompson.
REFERENCES: HEN90; HEN91; WIL92.


NAME: French, W.J.
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1878.
STATUS: Commercial?.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He photographed a large group in front of and on the second-floor balcony of the Colonial Hotel, New Westminster (BVIPA HP092991).
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: BVIPA photo nos. HP044967 (B-09764) and HP092991 (F-04358; online).


NAME: Fujiwara, F.D.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Dawson, Yukon.
WORK INTERVAL: 1897 (Yukon).
STATUS:
SUMMARY: He may be related to F.S. Fujiwara who operated as a photographer in Vancouver, BC, between about 1910-1941.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: LOC (prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Letter, Michael Cirelli, 1996 08 21.


NAME: Fulton, Christopher.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster ; Victoria ; Williams Creek District.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Columbia St. (Columbia Hotel, New Westminster)/1862 08 06-23; 1863 03 25-04 25 ; Government St./1862 10-12.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR: same as business address for New Westminster/1862 & 1863.
WORK INTERVAL: 1862 08-1864 01.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Like many early photographers, Fulton had a checkered career. He operated out of the Columbia Hotel in New Westminster for a brief period in 1862, then was reported to be heading for Douglas, Hope and Yale to give the residents of those towns an opportunity to have their portraits taken. He relocated to Victoria in October 1862 and was in partnership with J.W. Vaughan of the Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery.
Following the dissolution of that partnership he returned to New Westminster in April 1863, made his way to the gold creeks of the Cariboo and was taking photos at Camerontown and Richfield by that August. He evidently returned to New Westminster for the winter and ran an ad the following January for the sale of his equipment. He went back to Camerontown and was managing a billiard and bowling saloon there in 1865-1866.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Columbian, 1862 08 20/3 (ad); 1862 08 23/3; 1863 04 25/3; 1864 01 23/2 (ad for sale of equipment); Colonist, 1862 10 30/2 (Vaughan & Fulton ad); 1862 12 19/1 (Vaughan & Fulton dissolution); 1863 08 19/3 (photographing in Richfield).