The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-14
THE OLDEST PHOTOGRAPHER.
The BOston Daguerrotyper to Whom
Daniel Webster and KOssuth Sat.

The BOstOn DaEuerrOtyper to Whom
Daniel Webster and KOssuth Sat.
From the Boston Evening Transcript.
Josiah Johnson Halves, who was said
to be the Oldest photographer in Ameri-
ca, died on Wednesday. He was born
in East Sudbury, Feb. 20, 1908, and was
therefore in his ninety-fourth year. He
received his education in the common
schools, studied art without a teacher
and painted miniatures, portraits and
landscapes until 1S41. At that time he
became interested in the invention of
Daguerre through Gouraud, his demon
strator, and in company with Albert
]. Southworth opened a studio on Ire
mont row. For more than half a CEN
fury Mr.. Halves conducted business in
the same rooms which are to-day
much the same as when he took pos
session. He was an ardent admirer of
old Boston, and 1t was a delight to hear
him tell of such beautiful places as the
Gardiner Greene estate on Pemberton
Square on which his back windows
looked out.
Among those who sat before Mr..
Halves camera were Daniel Webster,
Charles Sumner, Rufus Choate, Louis
Kossuth, Theodore Parker, Emerson,
man Beecher, Thomas Starr King,
Dorothea Dix. Lucy Larcom, oliver
Wendell Holmes, Longfellow and many
more whose fame still lives. Jenny
Lind and her lover, Otto GoldSchmidt,
were taken while seated. hand in hand,
and she carried to her Swedish home
many likenesses of herself by the new
process, which was then attracting
worldwide attention and admiration.
Charles Dickens was frequent WIS.,
itor, although he never posed, but
with James T. Fields as his companion,
he often used to climb the winding
stairs. The studio or saloon as it
was called then was a meeting place
for all Boston, and many a pleasant
bit of Renaissance could Mr.. Halves
relate to an interested listener. The
picture that appeals most strongly to
his artistic sense was the one he made
of Fanny Carter, Boston belle, now
Mrs. Ronalds of London. The reproduce
tons of Chief Justice Shaws daguer-
reotype are often seen in halls and
law schools. One adorns the Boston
Public Library. Mr.. Halves was pres
ent when the first dose of ether was
administered by DR.. Warren in the
Massachusetts General Hospital. His
pictures of Boston as it appeared a
generation ago have always been much
sought.
In late years Mr.. Halves revived the
art of daguerreotyping with marked
success. He had little sympathy with
the modern notion of retouching mega
tives and thereby destroying all indi-
viduality, and Daguerre's process
found an unusually fine student in him.
He was the inventor of numerous
mechanical devices such as the swing
back camera, the rejecting stereoscope,
the multiplying camera, and the cur
tain plate holder, the weighted triple
lens, clamp for polishing the vignette,
etc. He was man of scrupulous in
tcgrity, a stanch friend and an ideal
head of a family. He had fine tastes
in art and literature. and with his
poetic temperament was combined a
keen mind, great energy and strong
will His intellectual power diminished
only slightly with advancing years and
his death was very sudden. He had
been for nearly fifty years n member
of Mount Vernon Church. where until
within a few months his beautiful
venerable figure was always present
OF Sunday mornings.