Friday, January 15, 2016

Uncle Brud's Travel Kit


Uncle Brud, 1913, aboard the
S.S. Kronprincessin Cecilie
Uncle Brud traveled a great deal for a variety of reasons. As a young man he spent time away at college learning all of the accounting skills that made him a successful banker.

Brud was very health conscious and  seemed to be on the "sickly" side so he spent time at sanitariums/health resorts like the one in Battle Creek Michigan.

And he loved to travel for adventure such as the great American west and a trip to the Panama Canal and Cuba in 1913, a year after the death of his father J.W. Moran.



So when I look at Brud's travel kit, I wonder about all of the places it's been that we'll never about.


Monday, January 11, 2016

Brasfield and Moran, 1924-25

Found these two photographs and few others stored in a Loveman's Department Store Box and were annotated for Kent from his mom, Ria Moran.  The first photo features Richard Brasfield, Nathan "Bub" Moran and his young sister Louise.  Taken late 1924 or early 1925.  I'm guessing that Richard is Richard Duane Brasfield, son of Roy West Brasfield and Johnnie Costen Bobbitt, born in 1919. He married Ruth Anne Bowlin in 1942 in Nashville, TN. He studied medicine and became a physician specializing in Cancer Research at New York City Hospital.  Dr. Brasfield passed away in 1970.  

left to right:
Richard Brasfield, Marion Louise Moran and Nathan "Bub" Moran

The second picture was taken in the side yard of Moran Place, about 1925-26, and features Bub and Louise Moran. Bub and his sister were very close.  Even when he was away at college and early in the military he kept pictures and letters from his sister Louise in his footlocker.



Loveman's Department store.  

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Mrs. Charles R. Morehead, 1891

1891, Mrs. C.R.Morehead, El Paso, Texas
Theo C. Marceau, fotographer,
826 Market St. Phelan Building
San Franciso, CAL

In keeping with yesterday's theme I'm posting a picture that may or may not be Mrs. Charles Robert Morehead, aka Lemire Morris Morehead.  The back of the photo is stamped  "C.R. Morehead, El Paso Texas" and "Mrs" is written in pen before the stamp. It is also annotated "1891."  So does that mean the picture is of Lemire Morehead or did she stamp the photograph to show ownership?  I've written about Charles and Lemire back in 2012.  You can see a picture of her as a young woman in that blog post.  I know she was living in Los Angeles during the later part of her life and that's where she died in 1910.  

This 1891 picture was in a group of several other pictures including the one marked "Cousin Turner to Cousin Fannie."   It's interesting to note that Lemire and Charles named their daughters Ida and Fanny.  We're certain that John W. Moran and Sophia Gunn Moran named two of their daughters after the Moreheads.   Fannie Lemira Moran was most likely a nod to Lemire Morris Morehead as well as Lemire's daughter Fanny and their other daughter was named Ida Morehead Moran and most definitely was named after Charles and Lemire's daughter, Ida Morehead!

Theo C. Marceau was a well known San Francisco photographer.  The following comes from The San Francisco News Letter, July-Dec. 1896:

A WELL-KNOWN NAME.
The signature at the foot of these lines has become a
household word in San Francisco. Photography, as
there are few cities in the world that can beat us at it.
practiced here, has indeed become one of the arts, and
course, but patient study and care in every detail has
Our atmosphere may have something to do with it, of
achieved more than anything else. Theo. C. Marceau,
Phelan Building, can improve upon nature in his photo-
whose beautiful studio is at 826 Market street, in the
graphs, and when one considers how handsome our women
especially, find satisfaction in posing before his cameras.
are, that is saying a great deal. A single glance at some of his work will suffice to prove what we say. Ladies,
the person, divine their moods, and know how to catch
One must be an artist to know how one will look at one's best; one must be able, as it were, to fathom the nature of
work done is perfect. All the latest styles of photography
them upon the plate that will hold them forever. This Mr. Marceau does, and he is surrounded by such efficient assistants in every department that every detail of the
absolutely lifelike. Considering the quality of his work,
can be had in his studio. His color work is simply beauti- ful, and adds something to his pictures that makes them his prices are very low, reputation, in his case, bringing
him all the patrons he can desire.