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Burgert Bros., Inc. original
color letterhead. courtesy of Diane Dowling. Obtained from a personal
letter written by Al P. Burgert to his daughter in 1955. |
THE BURGERT BROTHERS
OF TAMPA - Act 2 of 5
Act 1 | Act 2 |
Act 3 |
Act
4 | Act 5
Some photos and
information for this feature were obtained from
an article in the
Sunland Tribune 16/1 (November 1990), Tampa Historical Society
by
Dr. Jack B. Moore and Dr. Robert E. Snyder and "Pioneer Commercial
Photography" by the same authors.
Many of the images presented here were made
possible by the tremendous efforts of the
Tampa-Hillsborough County Public
Library, by preserving, scanning and sharing on the web, over 15,000 of the
Burgert Bros. images. Other sources equally deserving of recognition for
doing the same for thousands more images, are the
University of South Florida Digital Collections, the Florida State
Archives "Florida
Memory" Project, and the
University of
Florida Digital Collections, all of which were photo sources as documented
in this feature.
Also, credit is due to David Parsons, curator of
the Burgert Bros. photo collection at the THCPL, for his assistance and
cooperation with providing high resolution images, and William LaMartin, for
maintaining a very useful way to search the THCPL Burgert Collection in a way
that produces thumbnail images of search results, an indispensible feature at
LaMartin.com.
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Special thanks to Burgert brothers
descendants Diane Heflin Dowling (great granddaughter of Al Burgert) and
Harold "Hal" Chesney Burgert III (great grandson of James Harold "Harry"
Burgert) for sharing their family history and the stories handed down to them
about the Burgert family which appear in this feature, and for allowing the
use of their photos from their personal collection.
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The Burgerts in Ohio - Paul Burgert
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The first Burgert ancestors of the family of photographers came to the
United States from the Alsace region of France, some time before 1839.
According to his 1850 and 1860 censuses, Paul Burgert was born
around 1808 in Baden, Germany and earned a living as a match
manufacturer in Cincinnati. He and his wife Elizabeth, also of
Baden, had children Samuel Peter
(abt. 1839), Mary (abt. 1841) and Amelia "Molly"
(abt. 1844)
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Paul Burgert was incorrectly listed as "Bulger" on his 1850 U.S. Census.
The enumerator used only the letter "O" for "Ohio" as birth places for
Peter, and dittoes for Mary and Molly.
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Samuel Burgert, father of the
Burgert Brothers
Samuel Peter Burgert, who was born in or near Cincinnati,
sometimes went by S. P. Burgert,
Samuel P. and later in his life as Simon P.
The 1860 census of Cincinnati, OH shows he was earning an income as paper
carrier at age 21 But at the same time, he must have been learning to make
tintypes and learning the processes that were available in those times, to take,
develop, market and print photographs.
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Samuel "Simon" P. Burgert, ca.
1900
From the
Burgert Bros. photographic collection at the
Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System |
1860 Federal Census of
Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio
Molly was listed as "Emala"; her name was actually Amelia. |
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On the 1861 city directory of Cincinnati, Samuel was a "photographist."
By 1866, he was in business with A. A. Smith on the corner of Pike and Madison
in Cincinnati as "Burgert & Smith", Photographers. |
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Carte-de-visite photo of
Confederate soldier in Covington, KY, photographed by S. P. Burgert,
circa 1863
From the Kentucky Historical Society
Digital Collections
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Samuel became an
itinerant pioneer photographer, traveling around the countryside with a
horse or mule-drawn wagon and folding tent he used as a darkroom. He would
take a photograph, develop it and print it on the spot, and attempt to sell it
before moving on. Because photo supplies were hard to come by, Samuel even
learned to make his own glass plate negatives. He went all over Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, sometimes for two or three weeks at a time,
taking family and individual portraits for farmers, family members,
businessmen and others. He made his living that way for a number of years
before he settled down and married Adelina Jane Barlow, daughter of
John Thomas Barlow, in Louisville, KY in 1874.
See
"An Overview of Early Photography"
The carte de visite (also
spelled carte-de-visite) was a type of small photograph which was patented
in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854,
although first used by Louis Dodero. It was usually made of an
albumen
print, which was a thin paper photograph mounted on a thicker paper
card. The size of a carte de visite is 2 1/8 in × 3 1/2 in. mounted on a
card sized 2 1/2 × 4 in. In 1854, Disdéri had also patented a method of
taking eight separate negatives on a single plate, which reduced production
costs. The Carte de Visite was slow to gain widespread use until 1859, when
Disdéri published Emperor Napoleon III's photos in this format. This made
the format an overnight success, and the new invention was so popular it was
known as "cardomania" and eventually spread throughout the world.
Each photograph was the size
of a visiting card, and such photograph cards became enormously popular and
were traded among friends and visitors. The immense popularity of these card
photographs led to the publication and collection of photographs of
prominent persons. "Cardomania" spread throughout Europe and then quickly to
America. Albums for the collection and display of cards became a common
fixture in Victorian parlors. By the early 1870s, cartes de visite were
supplanted by "cabinet cards," which were also usually albumen prints, but
larger, mounted on cardboard backs measuring 4.5 in by 6.5 in. Cabinet cards
remained popular into the early 20th century, when Kodak introduced the
Brownie camera and home snapshot photography became a mass phenomenon.
The First Four Burgert Brothers Are Born In Ohio
Samuel and Adelina had four sons while
living in Cincinnati and Hamilton, Ohio:
Willard Chesney (1875), James Harold "Harry" (1876),
Walter Scott (1880) and Jean Everett (1882).
The 1880 census of Hamilton, Ohio shows S.P. Burgert and wife Addie, with
their first 3 sons, Willard, Harold and Walter at 135 Oak St. Also
living with them was Addie's widowed father, John T. Barlow, who was a
saddler by trade. Hamilton is located about 15 miles north of
Cincinnati.
Adelina Barlow Burgert with her sons, L to R, Harry, Jean and Willard,
circa 1884
From "Pioneer Commercial Photography" the Rose Burgert Baker album
The flags in the photo were unofficial, yet popular designs in 1877 when
Colorado became the 38th state in 1876.
In 1890, five more states were added to the Union, bringing the state count to
43.
See the official 38-star design.
See the popular "concentric ring" design.
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The Burgerts Come to Florida
- Twin Sons Born in Jacksonville
Somewhere around 1882 to 1886, Samuel moved his family to Florida. Webb's
Jacksonville city directory for 1884 through 1888 lists S.P. Burgert as a
photographer at 71 & 1/2 Bay St, with the latter years also listing him as a
crayon artist at the same address, but his home at 4th and Helen. Samuel
also travelled around the state for photographic opportunities. Some early
photos of Tampa taken
in the mid to late 1880s (such as the county courthouse and Exchange bank shown
below)
with the Burgert signature mark are evidence that Samuel may have made trips to
Tampa in those years.
In Jacksonville, Samuel and Adelina became parents of twin boys in 1887--
Alfred Paul ("Al") and Albert John ("Bert").
The Burgert family on
their front porch in Jacksonville, FL, summer of 1887
Probably taken by Samuel P. Burgert
L to R: John T.
Barlow (Adelina Barlow Burgert's father), Willard C. Burgert, unknown servant
woman, twins Alfred P. and Albert J. Burgert,
Adelina Barlow Burgert, Jean E. Burgert, Walter S. Burgert, James H. Burgert
From "Pioneer Commercial Photography" the Rose Burgert Baker album
Samuel Burgert's father-in-law, John Thomas Barlow, was born in Missouri on Oct
22, 1830 and lived in Booneville, Missouri during his teenage years.
He served in the Mexican War and was captain of one of the first companies
raised in Arkansas when the Civil War began. Wounds he received early in
that war made necessary his transfer to the ordinance department. By 1874,
Mr. Barlow had moved to Kentucky, probably to Louisville where his daughter
Adelina married Samuel P. Burgert on July 10, 1874.
Mr. Barlow was a chaplain of the Camp Loring United Confederate Veterans.
Mr. Barlow also had worked with his brother, Milton, in organizing the famous
Barlow Minstrels. J.T. Barlow died Dec. 31, 1915 in Tampa, from
injuries he received when struck by an automobile on Dec. 18, 1915.
Mr. Barlow had actually been living with his widowed
daughter-in-law, Nettie Johnson Burgert, and her children.
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The Burgert home in Jacksonville, 1888,
with grandfather J.T. Barlow on the porch, two of the boys in the window,
and one in the yard behind the fence.
From "Pioneer Commercial Photography" the Rose Burgert Baker album |
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Portraits by S. P. Burgert
    
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