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

© 1999-2001 By David Mattison

Updated: 2001.08.19.



NAME: Taber, Isaiah West.
VARIANT: I.W. Taber & Co.
LIFE DATES: 1830-1912.
BIRTHPLACE: New Bedford?, MA.
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: San Francisco, CA ; California ; Alaska.
WORK INTERVAL: ca. 1870s-1890s.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: A photograph of the mirage known as The Silent City, Glacier Bay, Alaska, was reputedly taken by E.H. Husher, an I.W. Taber & Co. photographer who was visiting the area in July 1889. This image was published in Chapter 10 of Badlam's aptly titled The Wonders of Alaska (1891). R.G. Willoughby also photographed the same mirage, but the landscape depicted in Willoughby's mirage is totally different from the Taber photograph.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: The Alaskan (Sitka), 1889 07 27/3; Badlam (1891).


NAME: Tanner, Gordon.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Nanaimo.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 86 Prideaux/1895.
WORK INTERVAL: 1895.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL95.


NAME: Tarver, [James ?].
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Nanaimo.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1864 12.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: According to a newspaper reference he took
some very good photographic views of the principal buildings of   Nanaimo.... Among them are the [Vancouver Coal] company's station, the Episcopal church and parsonage of the Wesleyan chapel, Mr. Franklin's residence, the railway station, &c. The views although taken by an amateur, are very well executed, quite equalling the ordinary professional efforts.
A James Tarver was employed as a clerk in Stipendiary Magistrate W. H. Franklyn's (1816-1874) Nanaimo office between May 1865 and some time in 1866. A J. Tarver was secretary to the Nanaimo Fire Brigade in December 1865, and moved away to the United States in July 1867.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: BVIPA GR-1372 (Colonial Correspondence); Colonist, 1864 12 19/3; Nanaimo Gazette, 1865 12 18/2; 1867 07 20/2.


NAME: Tashiro, Jackson.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Port Essington.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897-1900.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; HEN00.


NAME: Tashiro, R.Z.
VARIANT: Tashiro, R.L.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Claxton ; Port Simpson.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: circa 1892-1900.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked at Claxton (1892-1895) and was working at Port Simpson by 1900.
COLLECTIONS: PABC; BCPM.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "R. Z. Tashiro" (signature) and "Japanese Photographer" (stamp) or "R. Z. Tashiro Fort Simpson, B.C." on front of print mount.
REFERENCES: WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN00.


NAME: Taylor, L.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Columbia.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1900.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN00.


NAME: Tegart, W.M.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver ; Sault Ste. Marie, ON ; Regina, SK ; Prince Albert, SK.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 59 Cordova St./1890?-1891 ; Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./1890? ; Regina/1896 & 1898 ; Prince Albert, Sask./1898.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1890?-1891.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: The City of Vancouver Archives photos contain the 59 Cordova St. address and some photos embossed with the Sault Ste. Marie address. Dempsey has him in Prince Albert in 1898 as an itinerant, while the Saskatchewan Archives have a photo dated 1896 but with the Vancouver address.
COLLECTIONS: CVA; SA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "W. M. Tegart, 59 Cordova St., Vancouver" or "W. M. Tegart, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont." on print mount.
REFERENCES: Telegram, 1891 03 25/2; Dempsey (1978).


NAME: Thom, Adam B.
VARIANT: Thom, Alexander B.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Rocky Mountains ; Vancouver ; Glacier ; Selkirk Mountains.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR: Winnipeg, MB/1884-1894 ; Regina, SK/1894-1897? ; Brandon, MB/1897-1900+ ; Wawanesa, MB/1898.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR: Winnipeg until 1894.
WORK INTERVAL: 1886-1889.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: The son of Dr. A. Thom of Winnipeg, Adam was educated in Scotland. He formed a partnership with Fred V. Bingham (Bingham & Thom) in 1884 with headquarters in Winnipeg. The partnership was dissolved in 1886. Thom travelled widely and visited Vancouver in February 1887; he was at Glacier House the same time as Lord Stanley in October 1889.
COLLECTIONS: BVAA; BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: print surface may be numbered, captioned and marked "Thom, Winnipeg."
REFERENCES: Vancouver News, 1887 02 16/4; World, 1889 10 28/1; Dempsey (1978).


NAME: Thomas, Edward C.H.
VARIANT: Thomas, H. Edward C.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Kamloops.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Victoria St. (over Slavin's store)/1899-1901.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1898-1901.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He arrived in October 1898 and took over W.R. Lang's studio. He left to farm in Washington in 1901. His most important series of photos is the Passion Play performance by Kamloops Indians on June 21, 1901. The set of 13 views was sold for $2.
COLLECTIONS: KM; PABC.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "E. Thomas, Kamloops, B.C." on front of print mount.
REFERENCES: HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; Voters List, 1900; Semi-Weekly Inland Sentinel, 1901 06 25/4; Letter, Kamloops Museum-Archives, 1981 11 03.


NAME: Thompson, John E.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 76 Cordova St./1888 11-1890.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 116 Water St./1888-1890.
WORK INTERVAL: 1888 11-1890.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He established his studio in a tent at the rear of 76 Cordova St. and promptly got reported by the fire inspector. He requested clemency from the City Council but it is not known if his appeal was granted. He was still in business in May 1890.
COLLECTIONS: CVA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN89; WIL90; CVA, City Clerk, Inward Correspondence, Q-Z, p. 1043-44; World, 1890 05 03/4.


NAME: Thompson, Stephen Joseph.
LIFE DATES: 1864 05 27-1929 08 07.
BIRTHPLACE: Bailieboro, ON.
PLACE OF DEATH: Vancouver.
WHERE ACTIVE: Port Hope, ON ; New Westminster ; Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Columbia St. (Hamley Block)/1885?-1890 ; 620 Columbia St./1890-1898 ; 610 Granville St. (Vancouver)/1897 12-1900+.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Agnes St. (Spring Villes)/1889-1890 ; 221 Columbia St./1891-1894 ; Burr Block/1895.
WORK INTERVAL: 1885-1900+.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Arriving in New Westminster from, it is believed, New York City, he set up a partnership with one or both of the Bovill brothers as Thompson & Bovill. By 1889 he was operating on his own. He established a branch studio in Vancouver in December 1897. For a while after the New Westminster studio had been destroyed by fire on September 11, 1898, he maintained a Vancouver and a New Westminster studio. He was married on December 29, 1897 to Constance Victoria Clute in New Westminster.
Thompson was a prolific and versatile photographer who was equally at home in portrait and landscape work. He photographed extensively along the Canadian Pacific Railway throughout the 1890s. Thompson visited the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Two years later he was commissioned to obtain views of farms around Edmonton. In 1898 he accompanied an official expedition to northern BC and Wrangel led by the Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Louis Coste.
COLLECTIONS: ABA (prints); BVAA (glass negatives); BVIPA (album and prints);  OOA; QMCP (album).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Thompson identified his negatives several different ways. The most common are explained here: before relocating to Vancouver negatives titled and marked "S.J. Thompson, Photo., New Westminster, B.C."; after moving to Vancouver negatives titled and marked "S.J. Thompson, Photo., Vancouver"; at some point Thompson began numbering his negatives (these numbers may begin in the 300s and proceed to at least the 1350s); after opening a branch studio in New Westminster negatives numbered, captioned and marked "Thompson, Vancouver and New Westminster"; some negatives not captioned but marked "Thompson Photo."; some negatives numbered (e.g., "T747" or "765T"), captioned and marked "Shaw Bros. Ltd." (Vancouver firm). The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (Archives) has a print with "S. J. Thomson" [sic] on the verso (ABA print PA10-89).
REFERENCES: MAL87; WIL89; WIL90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; World, 1893 07 10/1; News-Advertiser, 1895 08 07/6; 1897 12 19/8; 1897 12 30/6; 1898 02 27/8; 1898 04 15/8; Province, 1929 08 07/1 (obit.); Who's Who In Western Canada (1911); Letter, Joan Schwartz to Mattison, 1978 01 04; Mattison (1987b); Letter, Mrs. E. French (great-niece), London, ON, to Mattison.


NAME: Thompson & Bovill.
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Columbia St. (Hamley Block)/1885?-1887?.
WORK INTERVAL: 1885?-1889.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This was the partnership of S.J. Thompson and one or both of the Bovill brothers.
COLLECTIONS: BVAA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: print surface may be numbered (possibly two different series), captioned and marked "Thompson & Bovill Photographers, New Westminster, B.C."
REFERENCES: MAL87; WIL89; Times, 1888 09 29/1.


NAME: Thwaites, John E.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Dixon Entrance to Bristol Bay via steamships ; Ketchikan, AK.
WORK INTERVAL: ca. 1907-ca. 19__.
STATUS: Amateur; Commercial.
SUMMARY: He started out as a mail clerk on steamships transiting the coast, then settled in Ketchikan where he operated a photography business.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: BVIPA photos no. HP035427, HP035433, HP035436.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Thwaites (1970 06); Thwaites (1970 12); Letter, R.N. DeArmond, 1996 01 12.


NAME: Timms, Philip Thomas.
LIFE DATES: 1874 09 16-1973 08 08.
BIRTHPLACE: Toronto, ON.
PLACE OF DEATH: Vancouver.
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: n.l. 1899-1900.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 234 Fifth Ave./1899.
WORK INTERVAL: 1899-1900+.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Timms moved to Vancouver at the age of 24 in 1898 from Toronto and started in business as a picture framer. In an oral history interview late in life, Timms said he worked with S.J. Thompson. He achieved fame after the turn of the century as a photographer of street scenes in Vancouver. He was listed as a photographer in the 1899 directories, but no business address is given.
COLLECTIONS: BVA (glass negatives); BVAA (prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Camera Workers, Part 2.
REFERENCES: HEN99; WIL99; Oral history interview by I. Orchard, BC Archives TAPE 1337:1; O'Kiely (1971); D. Steele, "Biography of Philip Thomas Timms" (n.d.) [birth date]; BVIPA Reference Room VF.


NAME: Topley, Horatio Nelson.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Alaska/Yukon?/BC? Boundary ; Yukon.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Ottawa.
WORK INTERVAL: 1894 06.
STATUS: Commercial.
SUMMARY: A brother of William James Topley (1845-1930) who took over the Ottawa studio of William Notman in 1872, H.N. Topley often photographed for the Geological Survey of Canada. He photographed the Alaska/Canada boundary in the early summer 1894, as well as scenes in BC. Historian David R. Richeson found a Public Works letter register entry for the Topley Studio sale of $33 of views of the Yukon District in 1900 (OOA, RG 11, vol. 1998, entry March 26/1).
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: OOA (negatives and prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Colonist (Victoria), 1894 06 13/3, "Scientific Photography"; Hall (1967); Koltun (1980); Letter, David R. Richeson, 1985 01 17.


NAME: Towne, Bertram C.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE/WHEN ACTIVE: Oregon/1884-1895; Alaska (visit)/1887.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: First Street, Portland, OR/1884-1895.
WORK INTERVAL: 1884-1895.
STATUS: Commercial.
SUMMARY: Operated the San Francisco Gallery in Portland following William H. Towne's death in 1884. B.C. Towne also had a partnership as Towne & Moore with Elbridge W. Moore from 1884 to 1887. Following this partnership he worked under the name B.C. Towne Photograph Company from 1888 to 1895.
An 1887 view in Sitka, Alaska, is captioned "209. Scene in Indian Town" and can be viewed on the American Memory (Library of Congress) Web site
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: Oregon Historical Society; UWL.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Print surface may be numbered and titled; bottom of print mount "B.C. Towne, Portland, Oregon. Alaskan, Columbia River and Northwestern Scenery" (Sitka, Alaska, 1887).
REFERENCES: Mautz (1997); American Indians of the Pacific Northwest (American Memory, Library of Congress).


NAME: Tremayne, Herbert A.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Northwestern BC ; Stikine River ; Lake Lindeman ; Port Simpson.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897-1900.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: A purser on the steamer Strathcona, he photographed along the coast and up the Stikine River as far as Lake Lindeman. Two views of Port Simpson signed and dated 1900 are in Howay & Scholefield. He is of no apparent relation to Dr. Henry Ernest Tremayne (b. 1873), a physician who moved to B.C. from Ontario in 1906.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA; MWPA (Yelland Collection, 1979/53, album).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: "H. A. Tremayne" on print surface (halftone reproduction).
REFERENCES: Howay & Scholefield (1914):v. 1; 555 & v. 4; 1268-9; Hadley (1987).


NAME: Trueman, Richard Henry.
LIFE DATES: 1856 __ __-1911 02 22.
BIRTHPLACE: near Brampton, ON.
PLACE OF DEATH: Vancouver, BC.
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver ; Revelstoke ; Sandon ; Kaslo ; Grand Forks.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 302 Cordova St./1890-1893 ; 624 Hastings St. W. (Delbruck Block)/1898-1899 ; 730 Pender St./1900.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 925 Hornby St./1892-1893 ; 302 Cordova St./1894.
WORK INTERVAL: 1890-1910.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He began as a tinsmith in Brampton, but had purchased a photo studio by 1886 and called it the Popular Photograph Parlor. He sold the studio in 1888 and moved to Brandon, Manitoba, to homestead with his wife Minnie (d. 1893). Trueman returned to Ontario and there met and formed a partnership with young Norman Caple from England. The two are supposed to have met in Toronto.
Trueman & Caple travelled the Canadian Pacific Railway line for about a year and then set up headquarters in Vancouver. After the partnership was dissolved, Trueman remained in Vancouver but is not listed in the directories of 1895-1897. He was, however, travelling through the Prairies and appears to have spent most of the time in Medicine Hat between 1894-99. The newspaper references stated he was from Vancouver. He continued to travel extensively and up until two months before his death was managing his Revelstoke branch studio.
Trueman was a superb landscape photographer and was one of few West Coast photographers to print his negatives on platinum paper. The first modern public exhibit of his work was produced by the Peter and Catharine Whyte Foundation, Banff, in 1981.
R.H. Trueman signature, 1908
COLLECTIONS: BVA (glass negatives); BVAA (prints); BVIPA (prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: negatives usually numbered, captioned and marked "R. H. Trueman & Co., Photo., Vancouver, B.C." or "Trueman, Photo, Vancouver, B.C." or "R. H. Trueman & Co., Vancouver, Kaslo, Sandon & Revelstoke."
REFERENCES: BVIPA GR-1415, file 1915 (probate); WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00; various Vancouver newspaper references; Letter, Hugh A. Dempsey to Mattison, 1980 04 09; McDougall (1981); McDougall (1981-82); Hadley (1984).


NAME: Trueman & Caple.
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 302 Cordova St./1890-1893.
WORK INTERVAL: 1890-1893.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This was the partnership of R.H. Trueman and N. Caple. Their catalogue, published about 1891, listed views numbered from 500 to 985 in three sizes: 8 x 10 in., 5 x 8 in., and 4 ¼ x 6 ½ in. (cabinet portrait size).
COLLECTIONS: BVAA (prints & glass negatives); BVIPA (prints); OOA (album); OONG (prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS: label on verso of print "Trueman & Caple, Photographers, Views on C.P.R. From Atlantic to Pacific, Great Variety of Indian Scenes..." or "Trueman & Caple, Photographers, Vancouver, B.C." stamped in purple ink on verso of print mount or print surface numbered, captioned and marked "Trueman & Caple, Photo, Vancouver." Some prints are numbered and captioned or only captioned.
REFERENCES: WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; Trueman & Caple (1891?).


NAME: Tyrrell, Joseph Burr.
LIFE DATES: 1858 11 01-1957 __ __.
BIRTHPLACE: Weston, ON.
PLACE OF DEATH: Agincourt, ON.
WHERE ACTIVE: Yukon.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Dawson, Yukon/1898; 1899?-1907 ; Church southwest corner 6th Ave./1903.
WORK INTERVAL: 1898 (visit); 1899?-1906?
STATUS: Institutional (visit); Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Trained in law, he eventually switched careers and jointed the Geological Survey of Canada. Until 1898 he worked mainly throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1893 he travelled through the Barren Lands of the Northwest Territories. Following the discovery of gold in 1897, he was sent to the Yukon to conduct further detailed surveys that would build on his predecessors' work (G.M. Dawson and R.G. McConnell). After Tyrrell's return to Ontario, he retired from the GSC and went back to the Yukon to stake his own claims and work at various geophysical occupations (mining engineer, surveyor, mineral valuation). By 1903 his business was known as Tyrrell & Tyrrell (J.B. and James W.).
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: POLK1903; Hall (1967); Coutts (1980); Pan for Gold Database.