Alexander Daniel Backstrom

Photographer: Backstrom
Temple and Cameron
Texas

Alexander Daniel Backstrom
(1867 - 1950)
Timeline

1867 Mar 06
Philadelphia, MS, Alexander D Backstrom is born to David Murray Backstrom and mary Magdalene Daniels
1880
Bell, TX, US census after the death of his father in 1876, the his mother and 7 of the children move to Texas
1891 Oct 23
Temple (TX) Weekly Times item Backstrom has refitted his gallery called Harper Blue, corner of “D” and 6th st
1892 Feb 23
Temple (TX) Times ad for Blue Gallery at “D” and 6th
1897 Jul 30
Temple (TX) Times ad for Blue Gallery at “D” and 6th
1899 Apr 28
Temple (TX) Times item Backstrom of Kileen is visiting Temple
1899 Oct 18
Burnet, TX, A D Backstrom marries Annie Elizabeth Breazeale
1900
Burnet, TX, US census as photographer
1902 May 15
Cameron (TX) Herald small ad as photographer at Yoe building, upstairs

1902 Jun 26
Cameron (TX) Herald 4 small ads as photographer at Yoe building, upstairs
1903 Jan 29
Cameron (TX) Herald news item about wife taken to Austin asylum
1903 Feb 05
Cameron (TX) Herald small ad as photographer no address
1903 Sep 24
Cameron (TX) Herald news item Backstrom and wife have returned from a visit several weeks in west Texas and he has resumed his photograph work
1904 Jul 08
Cameron (TX) Herald 3 small ads as photographer in Yoe Building, upstairs
1905 no advertising found
1906 Dec 06
Cameron (TX) Herald 6 small ads as photographer no address
1907 Feb 07
Cameron (TX) Herald display ad as photographer no address
1911 Feb 25
Comanche, TX, wife Annie Breazeale dies
1913 Aug 01
Comanche (TX) Chief 5 small ads as photographer at North East Main st, Comanche, TX
1914 Nov 13
Comanche (TX) Chief 5 small ads as photographer in Comanche, TX

1908- 1912 no advertising found
1915 Mar 12
Comanche (TX) Chief 12 small ad as photographer in Comanche, TX
1916 Oct 10
Comanche (TX) Chief small ad as photographer in Comanche, TX
1917 Sep 14
Comanche (TX) Chief 24 small ads as photographer in Comanche, TX
1918 Apr 12
Comanche (TX) Chief 17 small ads as photographer in Comanche, TX
1919 Oct 03
Comanche (TX) Chief 11 small ads as Jackson’s Studio, formerly A D Backstrom, photographer
1919 Oct 31
Comanche (TX) Chief small ad explains that A M Heflin now owns the Jackson Brother’s studio formerly owned by A D Backstrom
1920
Temple, TX, US census as photographer
1926 Nov 25
Comanche (TX) Chief news item The ArtHome studio is now operated jointly by D D Jackson and A D Backstrom
1930 Apr 14
Llano, TX, US census as photographer; living in rooming house
1930 Nov 13
Llano (TX) News small ad as photographer no address given
-- Continued in next row --

1931 May 07, 21
Llano (TX) News small ad as photographer close out, leaving town Jun 06
1937 Feb 09
Llano (TX) News small item Backstrom photographer, has opened a studio over Watkin’s Grocery
1942 Nov 19
Cameron (TX) Herald news item Backstrom visits from Temple
1950 Mar 07
Texas Death Certificate A D Backstrom dies of uremic poisoning at age 83

Alexander Daniel Backstrom had a long career in photography, all in Texas. He changed towns regularly. His first document as a photographer was an 1891 ad in the Temple (TX) Weekly Times. After that records and newspaper ads place him in Temple, Cameron, Comanche, Llano and Moody, all less than a hundred miles apart, all connected by rail line, no doubt. He was probably in a number of other small towns in that area too, that went undocumented.

There are no city directories available from any of those small towns so some addresses are not known.

A recap from the timeline above:
1891 Oct 23 thru 1899 Apr 28 as photographer in Temple, TX
1899 -1900 as photographer as photographer in Burnet, TX
1902 May 15 - 1907 Feb 07 as photographer in Cameron, TX
1911 Feb 25 - 1919 Oct 03 as photographer in Comanche, TX
1920 as photographer in Temple, TX
1926 Nov 25 as photographer, partners with D D Jackson in Comanche, TX
1930 Apr 14 - 1931 Jun 06 as photographer in Llano, TX
1932-1936 unknown location
1937 Feb 09 as photographer reopened in Llano, TX
1942 Nov 19 - 7 Mar 1950 as photographer in Temple, TX

The cabinet card at the top must have been finished between 1890 and 1900 while he still had a studio in Temple, TX.

Temple (TX) Weekly - 23 Oct 1891

Temple (TX) Weekly - 30 Jul 1897

Cameron (TX) Herald - 26 Jun 1902

Cameron (TX) Herald - 29 Jan 1903

Cameron (TX) Herald - 05 Feb 1903

Cameron (TX) Herald - 24 Sep 1903

Cameron (TX) Herald - 28 Jul 1904

Cameron (TX) Herald - 07 Feb 1907

Comanche (TX) Chief - 01 Aug 1913

Comanche (TX) Chief - 13 Nov 1914

Comanche (TX) Chief - 12 Mar 1915

Comanche (TX) Chief - 10 Oct 1916

Comanche (TX) Chief - 23 Aug 1918

Comanche (TX) Chief - 03 Oct 1919

Comanche (TX) Chief - 31 Oct 1919

Comanche (TX) Chief - 05 Nov 1926

Llano (TX) News - 13 Nov 1930

Llano (TX) News - 07 My 1931

Llano (TX) News - 21 may 1931

Llano (TX) News - 09 Dec 1937

Cameron (TX) Herald - 19 Nov 1942

Cameron (TX) Herald - 22 Jul 1943

example from Portal To Texas
This photograph is part of the collection entitled:
Rescuing Texas History
and was provided by the Private Collection of
T. B. Willis to The Portal to Texas History,
a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries

example from Portal To Texas
This photograph is part of the collection entitled:
Rescuing Texas History
and was provided by the Private Collection of
T. B. Willis to The Portal to Texas History,
a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries

photographer: A D Backstrom
Burnett, TX
This card would have been finished around 1900 when Backstrom was in Burnett, TX
example from Flickr member Frank Suvari

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. All the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY are listed there.

Cabinet cards typically have the photographer’s name and address printed on the bottom edge or the reverse of the card. 19th century photographers moved around a lot. The basic idea here is to find WHEN a photographer was WHERE, which will help date an unidentified CABINET CARD from your family album.

This is a work always in progress.

Aditional information and New examples are always welcome. Any additional information will help narrow the time that these precious antiques were made.

All submissions should be free of glare and shadows.
Do not crop.
Leave a border around each card. The edges are sometimes an important clue to the age of the card.
Email to the address found in the profile at the bottom of this page.

Some examples on this page have been enhanced or restored for clarity and presentation here.

This page is free for educational and research purposes only but, as always, if the original owner of any of these examples objects to the use on this page, just let me know and they will be immediately removed.

Harper of Texas

Card #01 - Photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie,
Temple and Ennis

Card #02 - Photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert
Temple and Ennis

This page will serve as a catch-all for cabinet card photographs stamped Harper just to compare the cards. Individual histories of each of the THREE brothers Harper and Lucius Harper Senior and Junior can be reached through links on this page.

There is also a separate page for Lucius Harper and son.

Harper or “Harper and Co.” could have been any one of several photographers.

Dating a photograph by Harper or “Harper and Co.” will be difficult if not impossible. There is also the possibility that “Harper” is not the same photographer as “Harper and Co.”

Since the cabinet cards vary in the imprinted information perhaps there might be a way to discover which designs were used when. But quite likely the variations only designate WHERE they were produced.

Here are some variations of imprints on cabinet cards discovered thus far:
Harper - Corsicana, Texas
Harper - Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple and Ennis
Harper - Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert, Temple and Ennis
Harper - Ennis, Texas
Harper Galleries in Corsicana, Bryan, Temple, Navasota, Waxahachie,
        Calvert, & Ennis, Texas
Harper and Co. - Waco, Texas
Harper and Co. - Galveston and Austin, Texas
Harper and Co. - Houston, Texas
Harper and Co. - 507 1/2 Main Street. Houston, TX
Harper G. Co. - Galveston, Houston, & Dallas
Harper and Wisdom - Marshall, Texas

Some of these are obviously the same studio. The cards labeled Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple and Ennis are probably all the same photographer, or at least the same business. The cards stamped Galveston, Austin, Marshal, Houston and Dallas might be just branch offices or perhaps another Harper entirely.

Card # 03 - Photographer: Harper & Co.
Waco, Texas
And here is
ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPH
By Harper & Co. of Austin and Galveston

Card # 04 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same
Note the same props were used in # 05

This card was sent to LOST GALLERY by a contributor in Ennis, Texas who says the gentleman in the photograph is an (as yet) unknown member of the family.
This card also has an initial crest with the letters W. L. H.

Here are some of the Harper photographers found:
Lucius William Harper, Senior and Junior, of Galveston and Dallas
William D. Harper Clarendon, TX. (Catching Shadows by David Haynes; Taming the Land, 1890’s)
Thomas J. Harper, Dallas, TX (husband/wife team US Census 1910)
William L. Harper of Ennis, Texas (Newspaper item, see below)
Emmet L. Harper of Ennis, Texas (US Census 1910)

The main common factor is that they were all active in Texas, about the same time, 1880 - 1910.

Fort Worth (TX) Gazette - 16 Oct 1891

Houston (TX) Post - 23 May 1898

This is a set of cabinet cards from the site called Slices of Time. Each is by a photographer named Harper.
Click on the card to see full details of each.

Note these are very low resolution scans so they are not shown full size here. The design of the card and the towns listed in the imprint might help date some other cards.

Card # 05 - Photographer: ???per (Probably "Harper"),
Corsicana, Texas, No date estimate
This one would probably be by William L Harper. (See #4 above)

Card # 06 - Photographer: Harper Galleries in Corsicana, Bryan, Temple, Navasota, Waxahachie, Calvert, & Ennis, Texas
Date estimate: circa 1890

Card # 07 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card # 08 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card # 09 - Photographer: Harper & Co., Galveston, Houston, & Dallas
(too blurry to read)
No date estimate

Card # 10 - Photographer: Harper & Co., Galveston, Houston, & Ennis, Texas
date calculation: May of 1900
(subject's DOB and age shown on card)

Card # 11 - Photographer: Harper, Ennis, Texas
(this would be William L Harper)
No date estimate

Card # 12 - Photographer: Harper, Bryan/Ennis/Temple/Waxahachie, Texas
(This is likely William L Harper)
Date estimate circa 1895

Card # 13 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card #14 - Photographer: T. J. Harper, Temple, Texas
No date estimate

Card # 15 - photographer: Harper, Ennis, TX
(This would be William L Harper)
contributed by G Groth
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Until more is known about how many photographers are involved here, the research will concentrate on Thomas Jefferson Harper and brothers William L Harper and Emmett Leander Harper. They were living in Ennis, TX, during the cabinet card era. William and Emmett apparently stayed in and around Ennis, TX, for most of their lives. Thomas Jefferson Harper moved to the Galveston, Houston area just before 1900 and continued in the business of photography there.

update 13 Oct 2018
There are some clues that suggest that the cards stamped "Harper" were done by either W L Harper or E L Harper. The cards stamped "Harper and Co" were done by T J Harper.

As more information is found on these photographers a separate page with biography and timeline will be developed on each.

More to follow

photographer: Harper and Company
Galveston and Houston, TX
example from Ancestry.com

photographer: Harper and Company
2215 Market Street, Galveston, Tx
and
507 1/2 Main Street, Houston, TX
& Ennis, TX
example from Langdon Road

photographer: Harper and Company
2215 Market Street, Galveston, Tx
and
920 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX
example from M Snow

Note that the same rattan chair was used in the two baby pictures at the left. Both were possibly finished between 1896 and 1906 when there was a Harper studio at 2215 Market in Galveston, TX.

It can be shown that there was a Harper and Co. studio at 507 1/2 Main in Houston, TX, from 1899 to 1912. So the cabinet card stamped with both addresses must have been finished between 1899 and 1906.

No documents have been found yet to show when Harper had a studio in Austin, TX. Only a few Austin, TX, city directories are available.

photographer: Harper
Texarkana, TX
example from auction site

It is not known at this time which Harper had a studio in Texarkana, TX.

photographer: T J Harper
J M Willyard, operator
Bryan, TX
example from Charlie Perlitz

Probably finished around 1896 when Willyard was managing the Harper and Co Studio in Bryan, TX.

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert
and Corsicana
example from genealogy villiage

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert, Corsicana,
and Ennis, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert, Corsicana, Ennis, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from contributor

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from contributor R McDaniel

photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert, Temple, Ennis
example from contributor

photographer: Harper
Corsicana, TX
branches in Tyler, Mexia, and Waxahachie example from Cabinet Card Gallery
(note the different imprint does not match any others on this page)

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. All the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY are listed there.

Cabinet cards typically have the photographer’s name and address printed on the bottom edge or the reverse of the card. 19th century photographers moved around a lot. The basic idea here is to find WHEN a photographer was WHERE, which will help date an unidentified CABINET CARD from your family album.

This is a work always in progress.

Aditional information and New examples are always welcome. Any additional information will help narrow the time that these precious antiques were made.

All submissions should be free of glare and shadows.
Do not crop.
Leave a border around each card. The edges are sometimes an important clue to the age of the card.
Email to the address found in the profile at the bottom of this page.

Some examples on this page have been enhanced or restored for clarity and presentation here.

This page is free for educational and research purposes only but, as always, if the original owner of any of these examples objects to the use on this page, just let me know and they will be immediately removed.