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This is my newest daguerreotype purchased April 2026.
It is a copy with a sad story. Julia Benton Cobb (1818 -1850) died during childbirth in late 1850. The original daguerreotype was taken 1847-1850 including, son,William Benton Cobb (1847-1934). Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The baby, William, lived and helped his father with farming, barrel making (wooden staves and headngs), and local politics in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. I think he looks like the Gerber baby in this pose.
Later in life, he was bequeathed a generous sum from a cousin who had married Aaron Montgomery Ward of the Chicago based catalog and general store of the same name.
Julia Benton COBB ( 1818 -1850)
died in childbirth in 1850.
William Benton Cobb (1847-1934) Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Photographer; Possibly Samuel Kelsey Selkrig, jeweler and daguerreotypist????
Selkrig had his studio in the S. S. Cobb Store in Kalamazoo, Michigan. S. S. Cobb was a cousin.
I believe the lines indicate a replication.
Julia Benton Cobb (1818-1850) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45862851/julianne-cobb
William Benton Cobb
Cobb Cousins
Dr. Samuel Cobb
David Cobb
Nathan Cobb
Samuel Thompson Cobb (farmer. barrel maker, local politician).
William B. Cobb
Dr. Samuel Cobb
David Cobb
Nathan Cobb
Merritt David Cobb
Elizabeth J. Cobb Ward (cousin, married to Montgomery Ward)
Dr. Samuel Cobb
Dr. Moses Cobb (1751 -
Moses Cobb (1784-1849)
S. S. COBB. (store in Kalamazoo with daguerreotype studio).
Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. / David Fisher and Frank Little, editors. P.
Early Kalamazoo, Michigan Daguerreotypists
MAIN STREET, 114–116 East Main Street over S. S. Cobb's General store and Bookstore
1848-1851. Selkrig, Samuel Kelsey, jeweler and daguerreotypist
1851 Baldwin, Schuyler Colfax
1854 Selkirk, James
1854-1856 Wallace, H.A.
Selkrig, Samuel Kelsey (1820,NY-1896, MI) Listed as a daguerreian and jeweler, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1848-1851. A jeweler by trade, he opened a daguerreian gallery over S. S. Cobb and Co.’s Book Store, Main Street, east of Burdick Street, Kalamazoo, in June, 1848. He operated the gallery for three years as a sideline to his jewelry business, and sold the gallery in December, 1851, to S.C. Baldwin.
Baldwin, Schuyler Colfax, (1821 NJ- 1900) First listed as a daguerreian from 1849 to 1851 in Troy, N.Y., at 218 River Street, upstairs; he lived at 101 Fifth Street. In November, 1851, he advertised as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich. In December he purchased the S.K. Selkrig (selkirk) gallery over Cobb's Book Store on Main Street. He noted he intended to remain permanently in Kalamazoo, but returned to Troy nearly every summer. He advertised he had a new German camera "expressly for copying," offered instruction, and had apparatus for sale. By May, 1854 Baldwin had a traveling studio, with H.A. Wallace as operator. During the summer of 1854, Baldwin went to Troy, leaving the gallery under the direction of Wallace and James E. Sellark (Selkirk). In the spring of 1856 Wallace left Baldwin's employ and Baldwin hired Elmer A. Broughton as an ambrotypist. In 1856-1857, this is probably the same S.C. Baldwin listed as a daguerreian in Dayton, Ohio. No business address was listed; the directory listed him as boarding on the north side of Fourth Street between Main and Ludlow Streets. In 1860, Baldwin was still listed as a photographer in Kalamazoo, with a gallery on Main Street. Notes: S.C. Baldwin was the aristocrat grandson of General William Colfax, the Revolutionary War hero; and cousin to Schuyler Colfax, later vice-president of the United States. H.S. Prior (1864–66) and Calvin S. Montague (1867), Edgar H. Perry and Gayton A. Douglas, 114–116 East Main Street sold to Wallace S. White.
Broughton, Elmer A. Recorded as an ambrotypist in Kalamazoo, Mich., from the spring of 1856 to an unspecified date. Broughton was hired to work in the gallery of S.C. Baldwin over Cobb's Book Store on Main Street. Another source reported his name as Boughton and documented him in Kalamazoo until 1863.
Selkirk, James E. Recorded as a daguerreian in the employ of S.C. Baldwin, Kalamazoo, Mich. in 1854. Selkirk and H.A. Wallace were in charge of Baldwin's Gallery while he visited Troy, N.Y., in the summer of 1854. While original references are to "Sellark", additional research corrects the name to Selkirk.
Wallace, H.A. Recorded as a daguerreian in the employ of S.C. Baldwin, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1854-1856. In 1854 Wallace was in charge of the operation of Baldwin's traveling gallery. In the summer of 1854 he was in charge of Baldwin's full gallery, along with J.E. Sellark (Selkirk). He left Baldwin's employ in 1856.
BRICK BLOCK
1852-1857 Bryan, S.W
1857-1860 Stimpson, J
*-1860 Bunker, Hollis E.
1860 -* G.W. Crego
Bryan, S.W. A daguerreian and ambrotypist in Kalamazoo, Mich. from 1852 to 1857, he apparently arrived there in September, 1852 and set up a photographic wagon. In the summer of 1854, he opened a gallery over Friedman's Clothing Store, in the Brick Block, opposite the Kalamazoo House. He sold the gallery to J. Stimpson in February, 1857.
Stimpson, J., Listed as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1857-1860. Stimpson may have sold his rooms to Hollis E. Bunker in 1860, and the gallery became known as "Bunker's Daguerreian Rooms". The implication is that Bunker had been in business previously with Stimpson.
Bunker, Hollis E. Listed as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1860. Bunker may have purchased Stimpson's gallery in the Brick Block, opposite the Kalamazoo House, in February, 1860. Implications are that Bunker may have been in business with J. Stimpson, and the rooms simply became known as "Bunker's Daguerreian Rooms". These rooms were sold to G.W. Crego in July, 1860. Bunker apparently purchased, in the same month, the rooms of Schuyler and Andrews, over Dolloway's Store, on Main Street. Another source noted Bunker in Kalamazoo as late as 1865. In Dayton.
MAIN STREET
*-1858 Wagner and Shear
1858-1860 Schuyler, P.
1860-* Bunker, Hollis E
1¹11⁴pp PO⁶
Wagner and Shear
Wagner Active as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1858. Indications are that Wagner was in partnership with Shear, and that the pair opened a new gallery in June, 1858, in Booth's Brick Block, west of Burdick House. They offered daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, melainotypes and sphereotypes. The firm sold out to Schuyler (P.) and Andrews in November, 1858.
Shear Active as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1858. Indications are that Shear was in partnership with Wagner; that the pair opened a new gallery in June, 1858, in Booth's Brick Block, west of the Burdick House. They offered daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, melainotypes and sphereotypes. The firm sold out to Schuyler (P.) and Andrews (Anders) in November, 1858.
Schuler and Andrews (Anders)
Schuyler, P. Active as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1858-1860. Schuyler bought out the firm of Wagner and Shear in November, 1858, in Booth's Brick Block, west of the Burdick House. He was listed in partnership as Schuyler and Andrews. The firm advertised the exclusive right for Kalamazoo City for taking "Miltenberger's Patent Compound Photographs" (the patent was issued May 11, 1858). They advertised rooms over Dolloway's Store, Main Street, and sold out to Hollis Bunker in July, 1860. Schuyler was listed alone as a photographer in the 1860 directory.
Anders Listed as "photographs", Kalamazoo, Mich., 1858-1860. In November, 1858, Anders, in partnership with Schuyler, apparently bought out the gallery of Wagner and Shear in Booth's Brick Block west of the Burdick House. They advertised the exclusive right for Kalamazoo for taking Miltenberger's Patent Compound photographs (patent of May 11, 1858). They also advertised their rooms over Dollway's Store, Main Street. The firm sold out to Hollis Bunker in July, 1860. While reported as Andrews in the primary source, the name has been corrected to Anders.
Bunker, Hollis E. Listed as a daguerreian in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1860. Bunker may have purchased Stimpson's gallery in the Brick Block, opposite the Kalamazoo House, in February, 1860. Implications are that Bunker may have been in business with J. Stimpson, and the rooms simply became known as "Bunker's Daguerreian Rooms". These rooms were sold to G.W. Crego in July, 1860. Bunker apparently purchased, in the same month, the rooms of Schuyler and Andrews, over Dolloway's Store, on Main Street. Another source noted Bunker in Kalamazoo as late as 1865.
While it is reasonable to speculate that prior to the summer of 1848, traveling daguerreotypists had passed through Kalamazoo County seeking out willing sitters, it appears that the village had failed to attract a permanent photographer willing to set up a storefront focused upon the selling of duplicated images of customers. If you were a local resident reading the 30 June 1848 issue of the Kalamazoo Gazette, you more than likely read the following endorsement on page two:
“Daguerrean Miniatures.–We would recommend to those who wish to procure a finished and perfect likeness of themselves or friends, to call on Mr. Selkrig over the Book Store. We can speak with confidence of the excellence of his pictures, having examined many specimens, and knowing his apparatus to be of superior character. Mr. S. would be happy to have people call and examine his pictures, even if they should not wish to procure any.”
Kalamazoo Gazette, 30 June 1848
"Just who was this Mr. Selkrig? Samuel Kelsey Selkrig (aka Selkrigg, Selkrik, Selkirk) was born in New York in 1820. His father James was a reverend who at some point relocated to Wayland, Michigan as a missionary. Little is known about the younger Selkrig’s migration westward to Kalamazoo, but according to census records and city directory listings, Samuel was a jeweler, watchmaker, book seller, and teacher–and an early adopter of the brand new technology, at that time, only a decade old.
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre invented the daguerreotype process in France. The invention was announced to the public on August 19, 1839 at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. American photographers quickly capitalized on this new invention, which was capable of capturing a “truthful likeness.” Daguerreotypists in major cities invited celebrities and political figures to their studios in the hopes of obtaining a likeness for display in their windows and reception areas. They encouraged the public to visit their galleries, which were like museums, in the hope that they would desire to be photographed as well. By 1850, there were over 70 daguerreotype studios in New York City alone.
This establishment is now in successful operation, and the above signed would say to the old and the young–to fathers and mothers in particular, if they wish to preserve to their children the images of the generation now passing away, or to themselves, the likeness of their children who are so liable at any moment to be removed by death, that delays are dangerous! Beware of procrastination! How many say ‘if I had only a likeness of the dear departed, it would be an inestimatable prize’, and yet before another year rolls round, many that are now living, will be gone, and you Account
About the precariousness of life."
Biographical information is from John Craig Photography
Julia Benton COBB ( 1818 -1850)
makers mark?
makers mark?
.webp)
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