J L Nye, Nye's Studio

photographer: Nye's Studio, J L Nye
Platteville, WI
example from LOST GALLERY

James Loren Nye
(1842-1925)

1842 May 31
Fairvield, Maine, state records, John Laban Nye is born to Wendell Downer Nye and Orra Fitzgerald
1860 Jul 02
Fairfield, Maine, US census, James Nye as farm labor
1863 Jun 15
Fairfield, Maine, US civil war records, James Nye is mustered out of service
1865 Dec 28
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness, small display ad says C H Nye and Co gallery is over Goodell and Drinkall’s Drug Store
1866 May 10
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness small ad says C H Nye and Co is over Goodell and Drinkall’s Drug store
1866 De 03
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness small ad says Nye’s Photograph Rooms (Nye and Bro) are on Main Street, Opposite the Post Office
1867 Sep 05
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness display ad says Nye and Bro’s Photograph Rooms are in Grindell’s New Building, Main Stret, Platteville

1868 May 09
Platteville, WI, state records, James L Nye and Kate Tyler are married
1868 Sep 24
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness ad says Nye and Bro’s photograph rooms are over Munger and Co Drug store, Main Street
1869 Sep 24
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness news item says J L Nye photograph gallery is now in the third story of the Jenkin’s New Building on Main Street
1870 Jun 14
Platteville, WI, US census, James L Nye as photographer
1880 Jun 01
Platteville, WI, US census, James L Nye as photographer
1886 Mar 25
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness display ad says the studio is now over the post office
1886 Oct 07
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness news item says a sky-light has been installed in the Nye Gallery
1895 Dec 07 thru 1896 Dec 30
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness small ad says Photographer Nye is located over Post Office

1900 Jun 07
Platteville, WI, US census, James Nye as photographer
1905 Jun 01
Platteville, WI, State census, J L Nye as photographer
1910 Apr 29
Platteville, WI, US census, J L Nye as photographer
1911 Aug 02
Platteville (WI) Grant County Witness small item says J L Nye is about to destroy 5,000 negatives to make room for more
1916 Jan 19
Platteville, (WI) Journal, news item says L L Soul has purchased the Nye Portrait Parlor
1916 Jun 21
Platteville (WI) Journal, small item says Nye is moving to Viola, WI, near his brother Chas
1925 Apr 19
Prairie du Chien,WI, state records, James Loren Nye dies in a care home at age 82

J L Nye worked nearly his entire career in Platteville, Wisconsin. He moved from his parental home in Fairfield, Maine to Platteville about 1863 shortly after mustering out of the Union Army of the American Civil War.
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He and his brother Charles operated a photo gallery “over Munger and Co. Drug Store” under the name C H Nye and Bro. Charles was also a school teacher and in September of 1869 he left the photography business to concentrate on that career. John L Nye, at the same time, moved the gallery to the third story of the Jenkins building on Main Street.

Then for the next fifty years James L Nye conducted a photograph gallery. The gallery moved at least once more, date unknown, to a location over the post office in Platteville. Finally James L Nye retired, selling out to L L Soul in January of 1916.

James then moved to Viola, Wisconsin. He died in April of 1925, in a sanatorium in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

He was a photographer for over 50 years apparently always in Platteville. He advertised often but the ads seldom included an address or location.

Any surviving work by Nye Brothers, before 1865, will likely be Daguerreotpyes or tintypes, if any. The first cabinet card format was produced in France in 1865 and their popularity spread west rapidly.

grant County (WI) Witness - 05 Apr 1866 Grant County (WI) Witness - 06 Dec 1866

Grant County (WI) Witness - 012 Sep 1867

Grant County Witness - 22 Oct 1868

Grant County Witness - 24 Sep 1869 Grant County Witness - 19 Oct 1882

Grant County Witness - 04 Dec 884

Grant County Witness - 25 Mar 1896

Grant County Witness - 17 Aug 1887 Grant County Witness - 12 Oct 1887 Grant County Witness - 29 Oct 1890

Grant County Witness - 26 Apr 1893 Grant County Witness - 05 Oct 1898

Platteville (WI) Witness and Mining Times - 02 Aug 1911 Platteville (WI) Journal - 19 Jan 1916

Platteville Journal - 21 Jun 1916 Platteville (WI) Journal - 22 Apr 1925

Platteville (WI) Journal - 29 Apr 1925

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.

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