Documents show that there were six maybe seven photographers named Kellogg in Minnesota and Wisconsin during the cabinet card era. It is probable that they were related in some way but accounts differ. John Dempster, Douglass Right, Wilbur Fisk and Edgar Sackett Kellogg were brothers, all born in Danby, NY. Henry Kellogg was a son of Edgar Sackett Kellogg.
Three other photographers in the area and named Kellogg were George W, Anson I and Mark. George W Kellogg appears twice, in Beaver Dam and Milwaukee, WI. For these three, no connection to the other Kellogg family has been made.
The Kellogg brothers apparently worked in several locations across the state of Wisconsin. While most of the cabinet card examples do not tell which of the Kellogg photographers did the work, they do usually tell where the photograph was made.
There was another group of photographers named Kellogg working In Connecticut and Vermont. So far no connection has been made to the Kellogg family working in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The objective here is to discover when they worked in each town and which one it was if possible. Following is a list of locations and what information has been found to help tell when one of the brothers worked at that location. Not all sources agree exactly (as usual) but all items are listed anyway.
Sources are:
Wisconsin Photographers Index (WPI)
US census; city directories; Minnesota State business directory;
Cabinet Card Gallery narrative (CCG)
Kelloggs in the Old World and the New vol 2 , pub 1903 (KON)
Beaver Dam, WI
1856 - 1911 (WPI) Edgar Sacket Kellogg (imprints might include Henry J Kellogg, Edgar’s son)
1860 (US census) Edgar S Kellogg as artist
1865 - 1866 (WPI) G W Kellogg
1870 (US census) Edgar Sackett Kellogg, as photographer
- Continued next row --
Janesville, Rock County, WI
1870 - 1871 (WPI) Edgar Sackett Kellogg; imprinted as “New York Art Gallery” and possibly “Leavenworth and Kellogg”
Jefferson, WI
1857 - 1858 (WPI) Douglas W Kellogg might be printed as “Kellog’s Photographic Studio” (with one “G”)
1860 - 1979 (WPI) D W Kellogg imprints might be “Kellogg’s Photographic Studio”
1873 - 1885 (WPI) Edgar Sackett Kellogg; possibly imprinted “Dodge and Co”
1880 (US census) Edgar Sackett Kellogg as photographer
(note: the D W Kellogg might possibly be Douglas Right Kellogg, but it might be an entirely separate Kellogg too)
Juneau, WI
1880 - 1881 (WPI) Edgar Sackett Kellogg and Henry J Kellogg (Edgar’s son)
LaCrosse County, WI
1860 (WPI) Mark or Marcus Kellogg (relationship to the other Kellogg photographers is unknown)
Milwaukee, WI
1854 - 1855 (WPI) George W Kellogg (See Jeffereson, WI)
Racine, WI
1866 - 1970 (WPI) as “Kellogg and Case”; Anson L Kellogg and Corrington C Case; note this is only a possibility. Actually Anson Kellogg was one of the Connecticut Kellogg family. No other connections have been made
Redwing, MN
1869 (Goodhue county directory) Kellogg studio on Main st (another entry same book, shows it as J L Kellogg)
1873 (Minnesota State business directory) J D Kellogg as photographer
1880 (US census) John D Kellogg as photographer
1885 & 1895 (Minnesota Territorial and State census) John D Kellogg as photographer
1868 - 1899 (CCG) studio operated by John D Kellogg
Reedsburg, WI
1870 - 1880 (US census, WPI) operated by Douglas R Kellogg; imprints might be Kellogg or “Douglas R Kellogg”
1884 - 1906 (WPI) Douglass R Kellogg
River Falls, WI
1877 -1878 (CCG) First studio operated by Douglas W Kellogg then sells to Wilbur Fisk Kellogg
1878 (CCG) Operated by Wilbur F Kellogg
1884 - 1900 (WPI) William (Wilbur?) F Kellogg as “Kellogg” or “Kellogg & Boals”
1901 - 1904 (WPI) as “Kellogg and Boals” or “Boals and Kellogg” or “W F Kellogg & J Boals”
Waukesha, WI
1860 (WPI) John D Kellogg
The two cabinet cards at the top would have been finished between 1870 and 1906 probably after 1884. One has the initial logo as DRK.
There was another group of photographers named Kellogg working in Connecticut and Vermont. So far no connection has been made to the Kellogg family working in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
photographer: Kellogg
47 Main Street, St Johnsbury, VT
example from
Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive site
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.
I have a family photo from J D Kellogg taken mid 1870's. It states negatives retained for future orders. Does anyone know if these negatives were saved??????
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. That’s a good question. The answer is, many were saved but few have survived.
DeleteWhen a photographer retired his business, negatives were often passed on to another local photographer and some just stayed in the family. Some of the negatives from that era were glass plates and simply did not survive the bumpy journey to our time. Many were based on cellulose nitrate, which is highly flammable. Of the negatives that avoided fire, most simply faded and turned to powder or goo, within a couple decades. And that was a hundred years ago.
The few negatives that have somehow survived seem to be in the hands of local museums and film preservation or historical societies. You might check with the Historical Society of Waukesha, WI, to see if they have any negatives from J D Kellogg.