Fidel Eggel

photographer: F Eggle
Coleman, TX

Very little has been found on the life of Fidel Eggel.

He was a photographer, apparently learning the trade in Brown’s Gallery in Hopkinsville, KY. Then, about 1869, he moved to Nashville, TN, and opened a studio. In 1880 he has a studio in Lexington, TN. By 1900 he has moved to Coleman, TX where spends the rest of his life. His studio is crushed in the collapse of a neighboring building the following month after his death.

His son, Anton, apparently was in the photography business but only a short time. News items indicate that he was not well regarded.

Any information or tips would be appreciated.

Note that Fidel Eggel worked most of his photographic career in Coleman, TX. His son Fidelle Eggel, also a photographer, apparently did NOT work in Coleman, TX. No newspaper items have been found that mention Fidel Eggel. Several were found about Fidelle Eggel.

Fidel Eggel
(1830 – 1905)

1830 Mar
Germany, death records, Fidel Eggel is born
1868
Nashville, TN, city directory, Fidel Eggel NOT listed
1869
Nashville, TN, city directory, Fidel Eggel listed as photographer with studio in business pages only.
1870
Nashville, TN, city directory, Fidel Eggel NOT listed
1878
US census of 1900, marriage to Elizabeth Reed
1880 Jun 10
Lexington, TN, US census, Fidel Eggel as photographist
1881 Jul 11
Waynesboro, TN, state records, daughter Minnie Eggel is born
1884 Feb
Tennessee, state records, son Anton Isaac Eggel is born

1895 Nov 02
Tennessee, state records, son Fidelle Reed Eggel is born
1900 Jun 09
Coleman, TX, US census, Fidel Eggel as photographer
1902 Jul 30
San Angelo (TX) Press, item says son Anton T Eggel is opening a cleaning and dyeing plant on Chadbourne St
1902 Aug 27
San Angelo (TX) Press, advertisement for son A Eggel Tailoring Co
1904 Feb 11
Houston (TX) Post, news item is BOLO for Anton Eggel mentions experience in tailoring, clothes cleaning and photography and printing trades
1905 Feb 20
Coleman, TX, state death record, Fidel “Eggle” dies of heart failure at age 75
1905 Mar 17
Fort Worth (TX) Record, item says building has collapsed crushing the Eggel photograph studio

San Angelo (TX) Press -
27 Aug 1902

San Angelo (TX) Press -
26 Nov 1902

Houston (TX) Post -
11 Feb 1904

Fort Worth (TX) Record and Register -
17 Mar 1905

Coleman TX - unknown newspaper

photographer: Eggel
Coleman, TX
example from pinterest

photographer: F Eggel
Coleman, TX
example from pinterest

photographer: F Eggel
Coleman, TX
example from pinterest

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.

This is a work always in progress.

Additional 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.

William Gustav Thuss

Photographer: Thuss
McGavock Block N. Cherry St.
Nashville, TN

Reverse of card at the left

This one is a little confusing: It seems to credit two photographers and has two identifications of the portrait.
Photographers (imprinted front and reverse)
W. G. & A. J. Thuss
Practical Photographers
No. 230 1/2 N. Cherry Street
McGavock Block
Nashville, Tennessee
and stamped on reverse:
F. E. Turner
Portraits and Frames
3043 Lake Park Ave.

Written on reverse:
Susie A Howard (Caligaiphy)
and in pen
Mrs P M Bell
1025 Ohio
Wichita Kansas

William Gustav Thuss
(1854-1943)
Andrew Joseph Thuss
(1866-1956)

The story of WG & AJ Thuss is well documented on the website CivicScope Your City Your Insite (Sorry this website in no longer available.)
in an article written by Dave Price.

There is also a brief accounting at Cabinet Card Gallery

The partnership of the brothers lasted from 1889 to 1917 outlining when this cabinet card was made.

The reason for the rubber stamp identifying F. E. Turner, Portraits and Frames, 3043 Lake Park Ave. is unknown. It may have been a photographer who sold old photographs and frames as a sideline.

Photographer: Thuss
McGavock Block N. Cherry St.
Nashville, TN
example from auction site

photographer Thuss, Nashville, TN
example from the
Pierce/Vaubel genealogy website
owner's estimated date c 1888

photographer Thuss, Nashville, TN
example from the
Pierce/Vaubel genealogy website
owner's estimated date c 1895

photographer: Thuss
McGavock Block, Nashville, TN
example from auction site

photographer: Thuss
McGavock Block, Nashville, TN
example from auction site

photographer Thus and Bingham
Memphis, TN
(almost illegible in this poor scan)
example from auction site

photographer: Thuss and Bingham
McGavock Block, Nashville, TN
example from Flickr Collection of mj aux

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.