Danville Photographers in the 1800s

**This research was first published in the September 18, 2024 edition of the Chatham Star-Tribune newspaper as part of Kyle Griffith’s weekly segment entitled “Heritage Highlights.”

A selection of backmarks to old cartes-de-visite images showing the studios of Blunt, Frayser, and Medernach.

During the mid-1800s, photography studios were few and far between in rural parts of the United States. Brief biographies of the earliest photographers that appear in Danville records provide some valuable insight into the local amenities long ago. Old local family photos are likely to be marked by one of the following studios.

In 1839, French inventor Louis Daguerre unveiled his revolutionary daguerreotype photographic process in the city of Paris. About forty miles distant in the commune of La Rochette, France, one of Danville’s earliest photographers was just a toddler. There is no doubt young Eugene N. Medernach was awestruck by the magic and chemistry of photography as he aged and the technology captured the scenes of the world. His motives for immigrating to the United States remain unknown, but records indicate that Medernach moved to Virginia and established a studio in Danville in 1865. He purchased a space over Brydon’s Drug Store that he called his “Photographic Art Parlor.” The backside of one of his images reveals that the business specialized in “copying and enlarging in every style and size.” He offered “oil photos, porcelains; photos in crayon, pastel, oil, and watercolors.”

After scanning through the 1870 census records for Danville, Medernach appears to have been the only photographer in operation at that time. He also hired an assistant, 15 year-old Charles Crawley, whose occupation states “attends in photo gallery.” It is likely that the photographer met his future wife, Miss Sarah C. Bagby at the studio, but that is just conjecture. She and Medernach married in 1870 and raised a few children. Sarah had her own business of making and selling women’s hats at the studio. The 1875 Danville Directory describes the business as “Photographer & Millinery Goods.” Sarah’s sister, Miss Mary Bagby, married Charles DeMott, who ran a successful carriage manufactory and foundry in the Town of Chatham.

By the same time, another photographer had made his way to Danville—Mr. John McFee South. He came from Shenandoah County, Virginia. His studio, “J. M. South” operated for only a few years before he removed to Queen Anne’s County, Maryland by 1880. Danville exchanged one photographer for another when Anthony Haden Blunt moved in from Botetourt County, Virginia. As photographers were often migratory, he had established himself in Halifax County before moving and creating hundreds of portraits of Pittsylvania County residents during the 1880’s. He offered cabinet card photos for $3 per dozen from his studio in the “Waddill’s building” on Main Street.

Backmark of A. H. Blunt. Read more about him in this other article about his life.

The 1881 Danville Directory lists a photography studio at 236 Main Street under Walter George R. Frayser, Sr. This experienced portrait artist already had more than twenty years of practice working in Richmond since the era of daguerreotypes. The 1860 census states he owned a “degarian room.” Mr. Frayser’s son, Jr., studied under his father and also became a photographer.

In 1891, old Mr. Medernach from France passed away and was buried in Green Hill Cemetery with masonic rites. Around the same time, Mr. William Edward Eutsler of Augusta County, Virginia opened up a studio at 421 Main Street. Several years later, as indicated on the back of an old photograph, the studio had “removed to 317 Main St.” The photographer A. H. Blunt exhausted his reach in Danville by the late 1890’s and relocated to the Town of Clover (now unincorporated) in Halifax County, Virginia, where he had a studio for the remainder of his life. W. E. Eutsler also moved away to Greensboro, North Carolina where he established a new studio in 1905.

With the turn of the new century came significant innovations in camera technology and image development. Photography studios and traveling photographers became more prevalent across cities like Danville with a further presence among smaller towns and rural communities. It is amazing to consider the changes in photography witnessed by Mr. W. G. R. Frayser, Sr., who lived to the advanced age of ninety-five. When he was born in 1835, photography was still a newfound French technology too far in its infancy to capture clear images of people. By the time he passed in 1931, Charlie Chaplin had been a film actor for nearly two decades and Walt Disney was producing Mickey Mouse sound cartoons.

Below: portraits taken by E. N. Medernach, subjects unknown