c1919 Dearing Studio portrait of local residents William W. Edmunds, his wife Mary, and their children Coleman “Doc,” Frank, Alvin, and Lucille.
Photo courtesy of Mittie Lou Edmunds.

If someone in Chatham wanted to have their picture taken over one hundred years ago, they usually had to travel far away to Danville to find options for a photography studio. One of the first to establish a studio in Chatham–if not the very first–was Mr. Bernard Lee Dearing. Thanks to him, many local families still have professional studio portraits of their ancestors.  

As many photographers did, Dearing traveled far from home. He was born in 1878 in Erie County, Pennsylvania to Mr. James Franklin Dearing and former Miss Mary E. Allen. The 1900 census listed Bernard and his sister Beatrice as school teachers in Erie County. In 1909 he married Miss Wave Backus and they moved down to Pittsylvania County, Virginia soon afterward. Together they raised two daughters, Marion Virginia Dearing and Edna Christine Dearing. Of further note, Dearing’s sister Martha also moved to Pittsylvania County and married Charles G. Sours Jr. who later became a Chatham policeman.

As seen on a Sanborn Map of Chatham from 1913, the length of Reid Street (then labeled as Southern Avenue) ended at its junction with Pitt Street (then unnamed, but soon called Collie Street) and did not continue to Pruden Street like it does today. In the bend at 102 Reid Street stood the B.L. Dearing home and studio. An older map from 1907 showed no house on that lot, so it was recently built when Dearing moved in a few years after. The two story side gabled house was updated to have asbestos siding sometime in the mid-20th century. The home stood for over a century and was eventually torn down around 2017. 

Google Street View 2015 shows the former Dearing Studio on the corner of Pitt and Reid Streets.

The following advertisement for Dearing Studio was published in 1916: “SCHOOL DAYS are our happiest days. Memory dies with years, but with a nice collection of pictures taken during your school career these days will remain vivid. Don’t neglect your kodak album or the exchange of photos with your fellow students. Class, society, baseball and football groups all add to this valuable collection. WE CAN SUPPLY YOU. DEARING STUDIO.” 

The 1920 census listed Dearing erroneously as “Bedford T. Dearing” and wrote down his occupation as the owner of a photography studio. Dearing was listed between Mrs. Mildred Scruggs (wife of the late Langhorne Scruggs), and Miss Ada Bolanz on what is now Reid Street. The studio space was a room in the second story of the home lit by the sunshine through the windows. His backdrop was an elegant painted interior scene. The right half featured a tall window with dozens of glass panes framed behind grand velvety drapes. An emptier space on the left side featured a smoky, vignetted surface for the subject to be in front. He had a variety of ornate wicker chairs for subjects to sit upon while he wheeled his large format bellows camera into position. He captured images on large glass plate negatives, which were then developed into photographs. 

The 1930 census listed him as a proprietor of an ice plant in Chatham, which was situated along Tanyard Branch at the end of Pruden Street near the bridge over to Chatham Hall. Ten years later, he still managed the plant but had moved slightly east to a house in the Mill Creek Community on Road 685. Once again, Dearing filled out a military draft card in 1942 that described him as being five foot eight inches tall, 160 pounds, with blue eyes, gray hair, and a light complexion. It also noted a scar on his head. B.L. Dearing lived to be sixty-eight years old and was buried at Highland Burial Park in Danville in 1946. 

 The ice plant was a narrow but long building with short, rectangular windows, walls painted white, topped with a metal roof. The lettering on the side, “CHATHAM ICE CO.” eventually faded with age and the structure was demolished around 2012. While his studio and ice plant are gone, hopefully B.L. Dearing’s memory can remain. Check old family photos for the stamp “Dearing Chatham, VA” at the bottom right corner. Feel free to email a picture or scan of the portrait to [email protected] and it can be featured on the website. 

Dearing Studio portrait of the family of Jesse Irvine Overbey circa 1915.
Photo submitted by a relative Sue Overbey Funderburk