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L Verge · 02-05-2014, 06:38 PM

I had a lengthy phone conversation today with a gentleman who said that, years ago, Mathew Brady's granddaughter had given him (this gentleman) copies of many of Brady's photographs. This gave me a bit of pause because I had never even thought about Brady being married, let alone a father.

Well, I found that Mathew Brady had been married to a Juliet Handy of D.C., but they had no children. This gentleman on the phone had promised me copies of his copies of Brady materials, so I chalked up another question mark as to their provenance. It appears that what was left after Brady's failure in business went to a nephew by marriage. Maybe it was the nephew's granddaughter who had the materials. I may never know.

However, in the process of digging for heirs, I ran across an interesting item in a Wikipedia bio: Brady and his Studio produced over 7,000 pictures (mostly two negatives of each). One set "after undergoing extraordinary vicissitudes," came into U.S. government possession. His own negatives passed in the 1870s to E. & H. T. Anthony & Company of New York, in default of payment for photographic supplies. They "were kicked about from pillar to post" for 10 years, until John C. Taylor found them in an attic and bought them; from this they became "the backbone of the Ordway–Rand collection; and in 1895 Brady himself had no idea of what had become of them. Many were broken, lost, or destroyed by fire. After passing to various other owners, they were discovered and appreciated by Edward Bailey Eaton," who set in motion "events that led to their importance as the nucleus of a collection of Civil War photos published in 1912 as The Photographic History of the Civil War.[15]

Some of the lost images are mentioned in the last episode of Ken Burns' 1990 documentary on the Civil War. Burns claims that glass plate negatives were often sold to gardeners, not for their images, but for the glass itself to be used in greenhouses and cold frames. In the years that followed the end of the war, the sun slowly burned away their filmy images and they were lost.[16]

Another thing that this gentleman mentioned as having was a copy of the last letter written by Mary Surratt. He said that he received a call years ago from an ancient librarian at Gettysburg College asking if he wanted a copy of the letter. Supposedly, the original was found hidden in a wall at the old Arsenal building.

Since the early-1900s, there has been a hard-to-read copy of a note said to have been written on the morning of Mrs. Surratt's execution asking a woman (whose name we cannot make out) to take care of Annie, "because for some reason I must suffer."

The story of that note is that it supposedly came into the hands of a Baltimore drinking man who bartered it away in a tavern for a bit of the good stuff. It has pretty much died a quiet death, and we have even packed away the copy that we were given. I asked this gentleman on the phone today if it could be the same letter/note, and he said no.

In any event, this was an interesting 45 minutes or so of listening to an elderly gentleman recount moments in his life as well as historical treasures that he may or may not have. Keep your fingers crossed that he truly does have some gems.

J. Beckert · 02-06-2014, 08:52 AM

I've seen CDV's with a Handy mark.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00650007/

David Lockmiller · 02-06-2014, 12:15 PM

Abraham Lincoln/Mathew Brady Studio/Salted-paper print (carte de visite), 1860. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

After Lincoln secured the Republican nomination and the presidency, he gave credit to his Cooper Union speech and this portrait, saying, "Brady and the Cooper Institute made me President."

The Cooper Union speech which Abraham Lincoln delivered on February 27, 1860 "probably did more to secure his nomination, than any other act of his life," wrote contemporary biographer Isaac Arnold, who was like Mr. Lincoln a prominent Illinois Republican. On the afternoon of the speech, Mr. Lincoln sat for a photographic portrait at the studio of Matthew Brady in New York. He later reputedly said, "Brady and the Cooper Institute made me President." Ralph E. Newman, Lincoln for the Ages, p. 139 (Johnson E. Fairchild, “Lincoln at the Cooper Union”).

The purpose of the trip east was two-fold — visit Mr. Lincoln's son Robert at school in New England and test Mr. Lincoln's political ideas and viability before a New York audience. George Haven Putnam wrote that "Years after the war, I heard from Robert Lincoln that his father had in January been planning to make a trip eastward to see the boy, who was then at Phillips-Exeter Academy. His father wrote to Robert that he had just won a case and that as soon as his client B. made payment he would arrange for a trip. A week or more later Lincoln wrote again to the boy, expressing his disappointment that the trip would have to be postponed." Mr. Lincoln wrote that the client was broke and so was he.

According to Putnam, "A week later Lincoln wrote again to his son, reporting that he was coming after all. 'Some men in New York,' he said, 'have asked me to come to speak to them and have sent me money for the trip. I can manage the rest of the way." Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 257 (George Haven Putnam, Outlook of New York, February 8, 1922).

The original invitation to speak in New York, however, arrived in Springfield in October. It came to invite Mr. Lincoln to participate in a lecture series at the Plymouth Church where famed preacher Henry Ward Beecher occupied the pulpit. By February, it was determined by both sponsors and speaker that a more political speech was called for. The sponsoring organization was changed, the location of the speech was changed and so was the political destiny of Abraham Lincoln. Until that point in his career, Mr. Lincoln had been little known in the East — except as the able opponent of Illinois Senator Stephen M. Douglas and the protagonist in the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates that helped define partisan policy differences over the extension of slavery to the territories.

"The Cooper Institute speech takes the plain principle that slavery is wrong, and draws the plain inference that it is idle to seek for common ground with men who say it is right," wrote biographer Lord Charnwood. "Strange but tragically frequent examples show how rare it is for statesmen in time of crisis to grasp the essential truth so simply. It is creditable to the leading men of New York that they recognised a speech which just at that time urged this plain thing in sufficiently plain language as a very great speech, and had an inkling of great and simple qualities in the man who made it." (Lord Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln, p. 156-157.)

[O]nce in the capital for his inauguration, though weary from yet another long journey by rail, Lincoln was nonetheless persuaded to visit Brady’s Washington establishment to pose for the first studio portraits to show his luxuriant new beard fully grown. This time, the camera operator was Alexander Gardner . . . .

[A] neighbor, painter George Henry Story, stopped by to witness the historic sitting. . . . According to Story, Ward Hill Lamon, who had accompanied his old friend to the capital, stepped forward at the conclusion of the sitting and announced to the president-elect: “I have not introduced Mr. Brady.” Lincoln needed no such introduction. Supposedly, he “extended his hand and answered in his ready way, ‘Brady and the Cooper Union speech made me President.’” (Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President, by Harold Holzer.) Note: Holzer considers the authenticity of the quote to be suspicious.

L Verge · (This post was last modified: 02-06-2014 02:30 PM by L Verge.)

Mathew Brady's Washington studio still stands today on Pennsylvania Avenue. It serves as a headquarters for an activist group. Many years ago, the building was a restaurant known as the Kansas City Beef House and was owned and operated by the Chaconas family. Joan Chaconas, a student of Lincoln, an expert on the assassination of Lincoln, and a staff member at Surratt House, used to work in the restaurant and had access to the third-floor studio where Brady did his work using a skylight to enhance his photography. The skylight was still there.

When President Kennedy rode down the Avenue in his inaugural parade and determined that "America's Street" needed a make-over, the corporation that was formed to oversee the work used the old studio as their headquarters. The building has been extensively renovated, added onto, etc. over the years. About fifteen years ago, we were able to take a tour group in on the first floor only, and the company that owned it at that time had done a nice display of Brady photographs along a long wall in one corridor.

I just remembered that those of you who are attending the Surratt conference next month and were able to get on the Friday bus tour to D.C. before it filled (with 13 currently on a waiting list!) will be passing by the Brady studio building that day. Joan Chaconas has included a brief history of the building in a booklet that she has prepared for the trip. She shared an interesting piece of trivia that I'm passing along.

U.S. Grant was having his photograph taken there one day shortly after relieving Halleck and becoming the new General in Chief of the Union armies. He was seated under the skylight when a dark cloud crossed overhead. Brady sent an assistant up to pull back some matting that was covering part of the skylight. The man took a wrong step and put his foot through the glass - sending shards down on General Grant.

Grant was not upset, but his companion - Edwin Stanton - was! Stanton demanded that the accident be kept quiet as it might be thought to be a plot against Gen. Grant.

02-06-2014, 04:31 PM

Brady's studio in NYC on lower Broadway is still standing.
I tried to find it about 10 years ago, but failed.

BTW, I read somewhere that overall Gardner took more photos of Lincoln than Brady did.

RJNorton · 02-07-2014, 05:10 AM

(02-06-2014 04:31 PM)Hess1865 Wrote: Brady's studio in NYC on lower Broadway is still standing.
I tried to find it about 10 years ago, but failed.

BTW, I read somewhere that overall Gardner took more photos of Lincoln than Brady did.

In his book on Lincoln's photographs, Lloyd Ostendorf included a listing of photographers and number of photos taken. The top 4 are:

Alexander Gardner......36
Anthony Berger..........13
Mathew Brady............11
Christopher German.... 6

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 02-07-2014 11:01 AM by BettyO.)

Quote:Brady's studio in NYC on lower Broadway is still standing.
I tried to find it about 10 years ago, but failed.

Richard Sloan took me to the site about 25-30 years ago, back in 1982. The building is still standing and Mr. Sloan can show you where it is -

We also went by Laura Keene's house which is now located in Harlem. Don't know if that is still standing or not.

Here is an interesting article re: the studio:

https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2013/1...ys-corner/

Mr. Brady's Studio at 359 Broadway, NYC

Compare with Existing Building -

Susan Higginbotham · 09-07-2015, 08:14 AM

I was looking at Brady's photograph of Anna Surratt last night. Does anyone know when it was taken?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnational...149175200/

L Verge · 09-07-2015, 10:07 AM

I notice that the Archives place it ca. 1863, but I'm inclined to put it closer to the winter or spring of 1865. I'm only guessing based on the fact that the Surratts were not in a financial position to spend extra money on photographs until the boardinghouse brought in a few extra dollars. And, I can see both she and Honora Fitzpatrick wanting to have their photos taken. The "fair, fat, and forty" photo of Mrs. Surratt appears to have been done around that time also. I can't remember what studio's name is on the back of Mrs. Surratt's.

A family member gave us a different pose of Anna that we have on display at Surratt House. She appears to be a few years younger in that picture.

Christopher Handy · 11-11-2018, 06:08 AM

(02-05-2014 06:38 PM)L Verge Wrote: I had a lengthy phone conversation today with a gentleman who said that, years ago, Mathew Brady's granddaughter had given him (this gentleman) copies of many of Brady's photographs. This gave me a bit of pause because I had never even thought about Brady being married, let alone a father.

Well, I found that Mathew Brady had been married to a Juliet Handy of D.C., but they had no children. This gentleman on the phone had promised me copies of his copies of Brady materials, so I chalked up another question mark as to their provenance. It appears that what was left after Brady's failure in business went to a nephew by marriage. Maybe it was the nephew's granddaughter who had the materials. I may never know.

I found this thread a bit late, but I feel like I should reply, as I have some personal knowledge, here. The above sounds extremely unlikely. Brady's nephew, who ended up with a large number of his negatives, was Levin Corbin Handy (my great-great-grandfather's brother; Mathew Brady is my 4th great-uncle, by marriage); Levin C. Handy died in 1932, and left his photographic business and negatives including the ones he had from Brady to his daughters, Mary Handy Evans and Alice Handy Cox; they sold the negatives to the National Archives in 1954, where they form the "Brady-Handy Collection". Mary Handy Evans died in 1957, and Alice Handy Cox died in 1964; Levin C. Handy only had one granddaughter, and she died in 1951.

Levin C. Handy, in the 1920's, advertised reproductions of various Civil War era photographs; this seems like a much more likely provenance (assuming this was their ultimate source).

L Verge · 11-11-2018, 02:07 PM

Welcome to the forum, Mr. Handy, and thank you so much for clearing things up!

One of our staff members at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland, married into a Greek family of restauranteurs who once owned the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. that had been Brady's studio. She once ventured to the third-floor (where a skylight existed - I think for better lighting of his subjects?), and there were still things scattered around from a studio. Did Levin Handy use the same studio, and could those have been some of his discards? I think this would have been in the mid-1950s.

Christopher Handy · 11-12-2018, 09:14 AM

(11-11-2018 02:07 PM)L Verge Wrote: Welcome to the forum, Mr. Handy, and thank you so much for clearing things up!

One of our staff members at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland, married into a Greek family of restauranteurs who once owned the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. that had been Brady's studio. She once ventured to the third-floor (where a skylight existed - I think for better lighting of his subjects?), and there were still things scattered around from a studio. Did Levin Handy use the same studio, and could those have been some of his discards? I think this would have been in the mid-1950s.

Levin C. Handy, at the time of his death, and for some years before, maintained his studio in his home at 494 Maryland Avenue SW (the site is now more or less under the National Air and Space Museum). He did work in Brady's Pennsylvania Avenue studio, for a time, but Brady vacated those premises sometime in the 1880's (he returned to Washington for a while in the 1890's, living at the Maryland Avenue address, and his place of business was on F Street NW). It's possible, I suppose, that some of the detritus from Brady's photographic business may have remained at the site, especially if the building stood vacant or the third floor went unused for some time.

L Verge · 11-12-2018, 10:14 AM

(11-12-2018 09:14 AM)Christopher Handy Wrote:
(11-11-2018 02:07 PM)L Verge Wrote: Welcome to the forum, Mr. Handy, and thank you so much for clearing things up!

One of our staff members at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland, married into a Greek family of restauranteurs who once owned the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. that had been Brady's studio. She once ventured to the third-floor (where a skylight existed - I think for better lighting of his subjects?), and there were still things scattered around from a studio. Did Levin Handy use the same studio, and could those have been some of his discards? I think this would have been in the mid-1950s.

Levin C. Handy, at the time of his death, and for some years before, maintained his studio in his home at 494 Maryland Avenue SW (the site is now more or less under the National Air and Space Museum). He did work in Brady's Pennsylvania Avenue studio, for a time, but Brady vacated those premises sometime in the 1880's (he returned to Washington for a while in the 1890's, living at the Maryland Avenue address, and his place of business was on F Street NW). It's possible, I suppose, that some of the detritus from Brady's photographic business may have remained at the site, especially if the building stood vacant or the third floor went unused for some time.

Thank you for the information. We have a family named Handy that attends our annual conferences at Surratt House. They are from Maryland. It never dawned on me to ask if they are related to Levin Handy. Are there still descendants from the Brady/Handy line?

Christopher Handy · 11-12-2018, 04:57 PM

(11-12-2018 10:14 AM)L Verge Wrote:
(11-12-2018 09:14 AM)Christopher Handy Wrote:
(11-11-2018 02:07 PM)L Verge Wrote: Welcome to the forum, Mr. Handy, and thank you so much for clearing things up!

One of our staff members at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland, married into a Greek family of restauranteurs who once owned the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. that had been Brady's studio. She once ventured to the third-floor (where a skylight existed - I think for better lighting of his subjects?), and there were still things scattered around from a studio. Did Levin Handy use the same studio, and could those have been some of his discards? I think this would have been in the mid-1950s.

Levin C. Handy, at the time of his death, and for some years before, maintained his studio in his home at 494 Maryland Avenue SW (the site is now more or less under the National Air and Space Museum). He did work in Brady's Pennsylvania Avenue studio, for a time, but Brady vacated those premises sometime in the 1880's (he returned to Washington for a while in the 1890's, living at the Maryland Avenue address, and his place of business was on F Street NW). It's possible, I suppose, that some of the detritus from Brady's photographic business may have remained at the site, especially if the building stood vacant or the third floor went unused for some time.

Thank you for the information. We have a family named Handy that attends our annual conferences at Surratt House. They are from Maryland. It never dawned on me to ask if they are related to Levin Handy. Are there still descendants from the Brady/Handy line?

Juliet Handy, who married Mathew Brady, was the daughter of Samuel Handy (who was a clerk in the US Treasury Department) by his third wife, Mary Corbin. Samuel Handy had eleven children by three different wives. By his first wife Maria Chase (who he married in Baltimore in 1807) Juliet (born 1808 in Baltimore, died in infancy); by Priscilla Winder Handy (his second cousin; her father was Col. Levin Handy, a Revolutionary hero who fought in the "Battle of the Barges" on the Chesapeake), Charles Wilson (1810-1859), Levin (1812-1813), Levin (again, 1813-1842), Henry Parke Wilson (1815-1844), Rosalind (1817, died in infancy), William (1818-1872) and Priscilla Winder (1820-1844); by Mary Corbin, Juliet (1823-1887), Samuel S. (my 3rd great-grandfather), and Robert Jenkins Henry (1826-1859). Of those, Charles, Levin, William, Priscilla, Samuel and Robert married and had children; only Charles and Samuel have living descendants (Levin was an officer in the US Navy and died at sea aboard the USS Constellation in 1842, leaving a widow and two young daughters who both died in childhood; Priscilla died in childbirth, having had two daughters who died young; William had five children, of whom four never married, and two grandsons, one of whom never married and died in a sanitarium in Switzerland of TB contracted in the trenches in WWI, the other married, but had no children; Robert had one son, who has no descendants). It's highly likely that any Handys in Maryland are related (my line goes back to a Samuel Handy, who settled on the Eastern Shore in the 1660's), but it's possible that the relationship may be somewhat more distant.

Christopher Handy · 11-13-2018, 07:06 PM

(11-12-2018 04:57 PM)Christopher Handy Wrote:
(11-12-2018 10:14 AM)L Verge Wrote:
(11-12-2018 09:14 AM)Christopher Handy Wrote:
(11-11-2018 02:07 PM)L Verge Wrote: Welcome to the forum, Mr. Handy, and thank you so much for clearing things up!

One of our staff members at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland, married into a Greek family of restauranteurs who once owned the building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. that had been Brady's studio. She once ventured to the third-floor (where a skylight existed - I think for better lighting of his subjects?), and there were still things scattered around from a studio. Did Levin Handy use the same studio, and could those have been some of his discards? I think this would have been in the mid-1950s.

Levin C. Handy, at the time of his death, and for some years before, maintained his studio in his home at 494 Maryland Avenue SW (the site is now more or less under the National Air and Space Museum). He did work in Brady's Pennsylvania Avenue studio, for a time, but Brady vacated those premises sometime in the 1880's (he returned to Washington for a while in the 1890's, living at the Maryland Avenue address, and his place of business was on F Street NW). It's possible, I suppose, that some of the detritus from Brady's photographic business may have remained at the site, especially if the building stood vacant or the third floor went unused for some time.

Thank you for the information. We have a family named Handy that attends our annual conferences at Surratt House. They are from Maryland. It never dawned on me to ask if they are related to Levin Handy. Are there still descendants from the Brady/Handy line?

Juliet Handy, who married Mathew Brady, was the daughter of Samuel Handy (who was a clerk in the US Treasury Department) by his third wife, Mary Corbin. Samuel Handy had eleven children by three different wives. By his first wife Maria Chase (who he married in Baltimore in 1807) Juliet (born 1808 in Baltimore, died in infancy); by Priscilla Winder Handy (his second cousin; her father was Col. Levin Handy, a Revolutionary hero who fought in the "Battle of the Barges" on the Chesapeake), Charles Wilson (1810-1859), Levin (1812-1813), Levin (again, 1813-1842), Henry Parke Wilson (1815-1844), Rosalind (1817, died in infancy), William (1818-1872) and Priscilla Winder (1820-1844); by Mary Corbin, Juliet (1823-1887), Samuel S. (my 3rd great-grandfather), and Robert Jenkins Henry (1826-1859). Of those, Charles, Levin, William, Priscilla, Samuel and Robert married and had children; only Charles and Samuel have living descendants (Levin was an officer in the US Navy and died at sea aboard the USS Constellation in 1842, leaving a widow and two young daughters who both died in childhood; Priscilla died in childbirth, having had two daughters who died young; William had five children, of whom four never married, and two grandsons, one of whom never married and died in a sanitarium in Switzerland of TB contracted in the trenches in WWI, the other married, but had no children; Robert had one son, who has no descendants). It's highly likely that any Handys in Maryland are related (my line goes back to a Samuel Handy, who settled on the Eastern Shore in the 1660's), but it's possible that the relationship may be somewhat more distant.

And somewhat pursuant to the above, the manager of Ford's Theatre on the night Lincoln was shot was Edward Henry Handy, who was the third cousin of Juliet Handy's father Samuel (Edward Handy apparently somehow ended up with the bouquet Mrs. Lincoln carried to the theatre, that night, and after his death his heirs donated it to the National Archives).