Downs and Frisbie

Photographer Downs & Frisbie
Bee-Hive Gallery
Ottawa, Illinois

There were at least, five photographers named Frisbie in the cabinet card era.

EE Frisbie worked around 1880 in Hartford, CN

John Meigs Frisbie worked many years in Sandusky, OH. Nothing was found that would connect him with Ottawa, IL, which is 300 miles from Sandusky, OH.

James B Frisbie was centered in Oneida, NY

William D Frisbie was working in New London, CT, in 1882

Update - 20 Nov 2022:
No new examples have been found on Downs and Frisbie either together or separately. No newspaper mentions or new examples have been found.

This comment came through on the Knight and Johnson page:
Unknown: "O.B. Frisbie, the photographer from Ottawa, Illinois, is Orton Benoni Frisbie, my second great grandfather."

O B Frisbie was found on two cabinet card examples. On the featured one on this page from LOST GALLERY, the photographer is identified as Downs and Frisbie of Ottawa, IL. On the example at the right, found at the
Flickr site of mj aux , the photographer is listed as O B Frisbie of Ottawa, IL. So it appears that O B Frisbie was operating the “Bee Hive” studio in Ottawa, IL. At one time he was partnered with a photographer named “Downs”. Nothing further has been found on either of these photographers.

The cabinet card style in both examples looks like 1885 to 1895. But because photographers often used up older card stock, that date is unreliable.

There are many mentions of "Bee Hive Gallery" in newspapers of the time, mostly Kansas and Indiana. None were found in Illinois.

To date, no documents have been found to confirm that Orton Benoni Frisbie was a photographer. He can be documented as a farmer, a miller, a real estate agent and an insurance salesman.

photographer O B Frisbie
Bee Hive Art Studio
214 Madison Street
Ottawa, IL
From the collection of mj aux on Flickr

From a comment left on another page:
AnonymousOctober 28, 2022 at 6:24 PM
Birth Announcement Lasalle Co,. IL Ottawa, IL is centered in Lasalle Co,. IL
Frisbie, John D. ~ born: 24 Jan 1886, father: Orton B. Frisbie, mother: Mary Jane Robinson Frisbie
https://lasalle.illinoisgenweb.org/births/birthsf.htm

http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/mcdonough/cemeteries/archbeth.txt
FRISBIE
Infant dau Jan 22, 1878
Infant dau Feb 6, 1879
Robert O, Sep 22, 1876 aged 2y 2m 14d
(children of O.B. & M.J. Frisbie)
Archer-Bethel Cemetery
Bethel Twp, NE 1/4, section 8, 1 1/2 miles south of Fandon, McDonough
County, Illinois This cemetery has also been known as Sullivan's Cemetery
More info: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90787859/mary-jane-frisbie
Mary Jane Robinson Frisbie

Thanks! This excellent information will be added to this page.

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. Listed here are all the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY. This is a work in progress. For a look at the original postings go to LOST GALLERY.

New examples and additional information 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.

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.