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    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh
    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh
    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh
    Ebook132 pages24 minutes

    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh

    By Warren F. Broderick and James E. West

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    About this ebook

    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh captures a vivid picture of a long lost way of life in upstate New York. Filled with unforgettable photographs by James E. West, the book artistically portrays the proud people, quiet streets, and breathtaking panoramas of eastern Rensselaer County from
    1880 to 1915. For the first time, these historical photographs
    from the West collection are presented in a single volume. A
    native of Grafton, James Emmett West set up a photographic business in 1878, began working in earnest in the Grafton-Berlin-Petersburgh region, and traveled in his
    horse-drawn wagon, f ully equipped with a studio and darkroom.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 7, 2006
    ISBN9781439617922
    Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh
    Author

    Warren F. Broderick

    Warren F. Broderick, who works for the State Archives in Albany, owns land in Grafton and is actively involved in promoting the use of documentary sources in American history research and writing. The James E. West Collection, consisting of nearly 1,000 images, was acquired in 1983 by the New York State Library in Albany, and for Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh, Broderick has selected some 200 of the very finest images. He has also written five books, edited or contributed to several others, and authored many journal articles on historical subjects, including Herman Melville and Native Americans in literature.

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      Book preview

      Grafton, Berlin, and Petersburgh - Warren F. Broderick

      photographers.

      INTRODUCTION

      James Emmett West was born in Grafton, Rensselaer County, New York, on March 30, 1852. His father, Reynolds Palmer West (1819-1897), and his mother, Hannah (Tilley) West (1829-1910), operated a general store in Grafton. The photographer’s grandparents were Francis West (1794-1836) and Olive (Reynolds) West (1801-1870). His great-grandfather was Nathan West Sr. (1777-1858), a prominent early settler who served as the town’s first justice when it was established in 1807. Nathan West, whose wife was Sarah Scriven (1779-1851), emigrated to Grafton from Hopkinton, Rhode Island, in the late 1700s with his parents, Francis West (1735-1803) and his wife Mary (Lawton) West (1738-1812). In 1793, the elder couple obtained a lease from the patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, for 113 acres of land and constructed a substantial wooden dwelling still standing on Shaver Pond or Agan Road. The old West homestead later became the home of noted scholar and literary critic Granville Hicks for many years.

      James E. West probably worked in his father’s general store as a boy, but how and why he first became interested in photography remains a mystery. His earliest work seems to date from the mid-1870s. He set up a photographic business in Berlin in 1878 and began working in earnest not only in that town and in neighboring Petersburgh, but in New Lebanon, a few miles to the south, where both a well-known Shaker community and mineral springs were located. He appears to have supplemented his income in the early years of his career with haying and other outdoor tasks.

      In a June 8, 1878, diary entry, James wrote that he went to Lebanon Springs to see Miss Bristol. I think we have an affinity for each other. On March 18 of the following year, James married Kate Bristol (1855-1923) at Lebanon Springs, Columbia County; she was a daughter of Alvin Bristol and Eliza (Olds) Bristol of New Lebanon. While James maintained a permanent residence in Grafton, he lived for short periods of time in Berlin, Petersburgh, and New Lebanon, and traveled between these places with his horse-drawn photographic wagon, fully equipped with a studio and darkroom.

      The West family resided in nearby Hoosick Falls in the early 1900s and for a short time in Whitehall, Washington County, about 65 miles to the north by road. Their only child, Maude Marinda, born in Grafton in 1880, married Leon Closson in 1922, outlived her husband by 24 years, and preserved her father’s photograph collection at the family home in Grafton. Maude and Leon Closson raised four children: Sylvia Maria, Katherine, John Leon, and James Harrison Closson.

      James E. West worked as a professional photographer until his death in Grafton in 1937. Most of his income derived from his very skilled studio portraits, and he also produced and sold photographic postcards. Most of his work was done locally in rural eastern Rensselaer County. West

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