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| Damstrom House, Olivia Colony, Texas, circa 1903 |
This is the full picture from the last post. Here we have the house and family (at least the wife and daughters) of the farmer / pastor (Carl Johan Damstrom) of Eden Church in Olivia Colony. Interesting – the long walk, directly to the center of the front of the house, lined with ?, are these flowers? some other plant?, a nice comfortable porch, board and batten siding, brick chimney and an upstairs with dormer.
The Paulson family were big on taking pictures of houses. Perhaps because Paul Paulson was a carpenter and contractor, so he may have helped build the houses and other structures pictured. They also liked to take pictures of plants and gardens (OK, also of farm animals, pets, people, boats....)
One of the things that has struck me as I look at the whole range of pictures of Olivia Colony is the different house styles. The houses don’t seem to be “cookie cutter” like houses at a Kentucky coal camp or housing development. Each of the houses pictured seems very "individual" in its style of chimney, porch, roof, layout. One commonality they do share is the board and batten siding on most of them.
It's also interesting to see, what appear to be, earlier / later pictures of the same house. As these occur in further posts, I'll point them out. For the next couple posts we will be "staying with" this house and you will see it from a couple other directions.
(More information on the Damstroms and a close up picture of the people on the porch can be found in the October 6, 2012 post - Carl and Hulda Damstrom rest on the porch. Information on the Paulson family who took the photographs can be found in the July 23rd, 2012 post, Cast of Characters: the Paulsons.)
Identifiers:
Place:
Olivia Colony, Calhoun, Texas
Date:
Circa 1903 +/- 3 years
Negative
#: paulson045
Carl
Johann Damstrom (1838-1938)
Hulda
Carolina Bostrom Damstrom (1854 – 1956)
Ida
V Damstrom (31 May 1873 to 5 Oct 1941)
Hulda
Jane Damstrom (01 Apr 1880 to 17 Jun 1967)
Emma
Carolina Damstrom (Oct 6, 1884 - April 1984; married C.O. Nordell, Nov 1912)
Clara
Mathilda Damstrom (Jan 1888 – 1965; married Emil Alfred Anderson)
Esther
Alfrieda Damstrom (Sep 1894 – 1988; married Bertram Samuelson)
Maybe one of the reasons she/they liked to take pictures of houses is because houses stand still? I know exposing a negative, even in the bright sunlight, was a lot more of a process back in the day than it is now. Emulsified plates weren't nearly as speedy as film, and gathering enough light through such a little hole was difficult and time-consuming. It's one of the reasons Victorians seem to rarely smile. It's harder to hold a smile still for ninety seconds. Children are also a problem.
ReplyDeleteTherefore photos of houses might have just been more of a sure thing.
Every picture here is fascinating but this is the one I am finding to be the most aesthetically beautiful so far. I would frame this one up and hang it on my wall for sure.