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H. W. Cooledge

Early De Smet photographer.

Artist Cooledge has been on his claim in Clark county for a few days, but is again ready for business in his line. Give him a call and get your likeness “took.” – De Smet Leader, May 17, 1884.

     
Photographs of many De Smet Little House characters were taken by Henry Warren Cooledge; he opened a photograph studio on Calumet Avenue in the fall of 1883. He was not mentioned in the Little House books, but is important because he photographed the Ingalls and Wilder families.

Henry Warren Cooledge was born October 19, 1849, in Wyocena (Columbia Co.) Wisconsin, to Seth Albert Cooledge and Achsah Ann (White) Cooledge. A sister, Lillian, was born October 19, 1858; she married O.P. Sheldon and died in 1876. Warren and Lillian’s father died when Lillian was about a year old. Warren was teaching school by 1870, and must have taken up the photographer’s trade at the same time. He taught school in Kasson, Minnesota, serving as assistant secretary of the Dodge County Teacher’s Association while working as a photographer of “ambrotypes, gems, and other styles of popular pictures” with a gallery in J.G. Wheeler’s building on Main Street in Kasson. During the summer months, Cooledge traveled the countryside with his “photograph car” – an enclosed wagon that served as both living space and darkroom.

April 27, 1880, Henry married Eva Gertrude Cone (1857-1948), in Wyocena. Eva was the daughter of Cyrenius & Artemesia Cone of Wyocena. The Cooledges settled in Kasson, where son Floyd was born the following year. In the spring of 1883, Warren left Kasson for a prospecting trip west. By November, the Cooledges had relocated to De Smet, and Warren opened a photo gallery in a small building on the west side of Calumet at Third Street, south of Kingsbury County Bank (Banker Ruth’s bank). Mrs. Cooledge’s mother, affectionately called “Aunt Autie” by all, came to De Smet with them; she died in 1893 and was buried in De Smet Cemetery.

In 1887, the Cooledges purchased a lot on Fourth Street on which to build a house. Three children were born in De Smet: Cyril (1885), Leslie (1888), and Victor (1895). For a while the Cooledges had a claim in Clark County. Warren continued the practice of traveling the countryside with his photograph wagon and selling his wares. Local newspapers reported when he was in town, and when he was on the street taking photographs. He took his camera to the schoolhouse in July 1893 to photograph the students and instructors at teacher’s institute. The Kingsbury County Independent wondered “how on earth he managed to make so many teachers keep still long enough for him to get their beauty transfixed on glass?”

H. W. COOLEDGE is a disciple of the art of photographic concerns during a career here of over three years work. Mr. C. has established a reputation for excellence and is possessed of excellent facilities for the production of all work pertaining to his art. Card and cabinet work, tintypes, copying and enlarging done in a first class manner. Mr. Cooledge expects to put in a stock of frames eventually, and will continually improve his facilities. – March 19, 1887. The De Smet Leader.

The Cooledges were active in the Congregational Church and civic affairs. Warren Cooledge was elected to the board of the De Smet Building and Loan Association, was a De Smet city councilman, and in 1900, the mayor appointed him assessor of the City of De Smet.

In May 1901, Mr. Cooledge sold his photograph gallery to Clayton C. Spear who had been Minneapolis learning the art of photography; Clay Spear was first cousin once removed of Nathan Dow; Clay’s mother was Eva Dow Spear, daughter of Lafayette Dow (1824-1901), who was the brother of Nate’s father, Thomas Dow (1829-1899). Clayton, as well as his father and brother, had claims near Nate’s in Kingsbury County. Warren Cooledge continued to work for a while with Clay Spear; he purchased a special camera with which to take “farm views,” 8×10″ photographs of a farmer’s buildings and farms from a distance.

Although it had been rumored that the Cooledges planned to move from De Smet, Warren Cooledge died at his home on July 22, 1902. His obituary was not found in the existing 1902 Kingsbury County newspapers; if you have a copy, please let me know.

Eva Cooledge

The death of her husband left Eva Cooledge with four boys to raise. In 1907, Eva and son Floyd went to Philip, where both filed on claims in Haakon County: Eva filed on the E-NW and W-NE 7-4-20, and Floyd on the SE-SW and SW-SE 6-4-20 and Lot one of Section 7-4-20 in Haakon County. The next month, Carrie Ingalls filed on the W-NW and W-SW of Section 9. Other neighbors included old De Smet friends: George Burd, E.A. Morrison, Joe Morrison, Freda Morrison, Guy Morrison, Nellie Morrison, and Levi Whaley. A mile to the north was Grace Fairchild, who wrote notes and letters about living on her claim with husband Shiloh Fairchild and their nine children, coming to the area in 1902. Fairchild’s story was compiled by Walker D. Wyman and published as Frontier Woman (University of Wisconsin – River Falls Press, 1972).

Floyd Cooledge married Addie Paddock in Minneapolis on New Year’s Day 1908, and the couple lived on his claim at Top Bar prior to preemption. Cyril left De Smet in 1909 to work in mining in British Guiana, South America. Victor Cooledge graduated from De Smet High School in 1913, one of six graduates that year. Mrs. Cooledge ran a gift shop on Calumet Avenue after proving up on her claim, living many years in the octagon house (built by Romanzo Bunn) on Second Street.

In 1921, Eva Cooledge moved to Berkeley, California, to be near her son Victor. Her last years were spent in a rest home. She died November 9, 1948, and was buried in Sunset View Cemetery. Her son Victor is also buried there, he dying in 1986.

Eva Cooledge’s obituary appeared in The De Smet News, November 18, 1938:

Mrs. Eva Cooledge Succumbs At 91
     Mrs. Eva G. Cooledge, former resident of De Smet, died Tuesday evening at Berkeley, Calif., where she had spent the past 20 years. She was 91 at her death and had been in good health and active until two months ago.
     Funeral services were held at Berkeley Friday, and burial was in Sunset View cemetery there.
     Surviving are two of her four sons, Floyd of Yuba City, Calif., and Victor R. of Berkeley. Her husband died in 1902 while De Smet was their home, and the other sons, Cyril and Leslie, preceded her in death. There are seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.
     Mrs. Cooledge was born April 27, 1857 at Wyocena, Wis. On April 27, 1879 she was married to H.W. Cooledge and moved to Kasson, Minn.
     A few years later with their first child, they moved to Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory, where they filed on a claim. Mother and son lived on the claim while the father conducted a photograph business in De Smet.
     Mrs. Cooledge’s husband died in 1920 [sic; he died in 1902] and several years later she filed on a claim north of Philip, where she and Victor resided, returning to De Smet, where she operated a gift shop for some years.
     A few years later, her sons all established elsewhere, she moved to Berkeley to be near the oldest son, Victor, also located there as a bridge engineer for the Southern Pacific railway. Floyd retired recently after years in a sand and gravel enterprise and lives at Yuba City, not far away.
     In her later years Mrs. Cooledge lived with a group of ladies in a home near her sons’ homes. A few weeks before her death she was taken to the Victor Cooledge home for the care of her son and wife.
     Cyril, the second oldest son, died in recent years, having been chief engineer of the Cananea Copper Company at Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, with many years of experience in mining in that area. Leslie at his death some years ago was research bacteriologist at Michigan State College.
     In her years of residence at Berkeley, Mrs. Cooledge kept up a correspondence with old friends of De Smet, and the town and its people always had her interest.

     
Post from my facebook.com/pioneergirl page, October 4, 2023:

⛵️In 1922, Grace and Nate Dow took a month-long vacation in Minnesota, staying with Nate’s sister Edna and her husband, Sam Howard, who once lived on a farm near Nate’s. The two couples rented a cottage at Lake Minnetonka (known to Betsy-Tacy fans everywhere).

📰 The July 20, 1923, Kingsbury County Independent reported: “Mr. and Mrs. N. W. Dow returned from Minneapolis Tuesday night after a month’s visit with the Sam Howard family and other friends. A considerable part of the time was spent out at Lake Minnetonka, where the Howards and Dows had a cottage and enjoyed fishing and boating to their heart’s content. Mr. Dow brought home pictures that show the success of his fishing. A very enjoyable part of their vacation was a visit to the farm of Clay Spear, who lived here and at Manchester several years. Mr. and Mrs. S.E. Davis were visiting at the home of their daughter at the time and joined with the Spears in sending their best regards to old De Smet friends… Mr. and Mrs. Dow had the best vacation trip in years, they say, and hope to spend another one in Minneapolis.

📍 HENRY WARREN COOLEDGE (1849-1902) — Warren Cooledge isn’t mentioned in the Little House books, but he’s important because he photographed the Ingalls and Wilder families in De Smet. Cooledge opened a photograph studio in De Smet in 1883, operating out of a small building in the block south of Kingsbury County Bank. It’s the little building with a pointed roof at left in the photo; the bank cornice is visible through the tree branches.

📍 CLAYTON CHESTER SPEAR (1874-1968) — Clayton Spear was Nathan Dow’s first cousin once removed. Nate’s father, Thomas Wellington Dow, and Clay’s grandfather, Lafayette Dow, were brothers. Clay’s mother was the former Eva Alferetta Dow; his father was Marcus Warren Spear. When the various Dows and Dunns came to Kingsbury County from Wisconsin in the early 1880s and settled on claims south of Manchester, so did Marcus Spear and his brother, Americus. When Lafayette Dow relinquished the tree claim he had filed on in 1885, it was taken over by Clay’s brother, Charles, as a homestead.

In 1901, Clay Spear left the farm to spend six months learning the art of photography in Minneapolis. When he returned, he bought the photography business from Warren Cooledge and took over the building on Calumet. It’s possible that Clay Spear [edit: confirmed, as the Clayton Spear mark is on the original photograph] – not Warren Cooledge – took the wedding photo of Grace and Nate Dow in October 1901. In November 1903, Clay married Ethel Davis, daughter of Caroline & Seth E. Davis of De Smet. In 1893, I.G. Miller had gone into partnership with Edward Couse in the hardware business, taking Mr. Davis as his partner when Mr. Couse retired.

In 1905, Seth Davis retired and moved to Elk River, Minnesota, his daughter and son-in-law moving with the Davises. Clay Spear sold out to Lyman Dunklee, who in 1910 sold the business to Clifford McKibben, who didn’t retire until 1964. When the Cooledge building was torn down in 1967, workers found tintypes and paper photographs in the rubble!

You see De Smet and Kingsbury County photos galore identified as taken by Cooledge, Dunklee, or McKibben; has anyone seen a photo marked as having been taken by Clayton Spear?

     

Henry Warren Cooledge, see also photographs
     De Smet Cemetery tour info for COOLEDGE