Return to the Flanagans' Home Page.
Return to the index of Photograph Galleries.
Return to the Flanagans' Genealogy Page.
Send e-Mail to the Flanagans.

Nathaniel Richardson Hall's Family Photo Album

My father recently gave me his grandfather's album of family photographs. This beautifully preserved book is filled with very old photographs. As a testament of an era long ago, we would like to share this glimpse of our history with you.

Nathaniel Richardson Hall (1821-1901) and his wife Sarah Virginia (Christie) Hall (1840-1929), were the parents of ten children. Surely, most of these photographs are of their children and grand- children. I'm pretty sure that some of them are of cousins. A few of these photographs were taken in places that allow us to make an educated guess about who it is that is pictured. The vast majority are simply unknown.

Sit back and enjoy these images from an era, long past.

I think this is one of the oldest photographs in the book, and it is one of the oldest persons pictured, as well. It might be a picture of Nathaniel Richardson Hall's Mother, Mary Ann (Richardson) (Hall) Reddish (1800-1855).

All of these photographs were taken in studios. The great majority were taken in Canton, Missouri. Only a very few give us no clue about where or by whom they were taken. Many of the backs are as elaborately decorated as is this one.

David Watson Christie (1837-1905) and his wife Mollie. David Christie was another of Sarah Virginia (Christie) Hall's brothers. Uncle Dave and Mary Francis "Mollie" (Glenn) Christie (1841-1917) had no children. The picture was taken in Canton, Missouri.

When two people face each other across the binding, we wonder if they might have had a special relationship with each other. They make a handsome pair, even if we shouldn't think of them as a couple.

On the left, is a photograph of Uncle John Christie (1838-1934). John Francis Christie never married. In 1855 and at 16 years of age, he and his teenage brother David, moved their family's belongings from Virginia to Missouri in a freight wagon while the rest of the family made the trip by steamboat.

And the photograph on the right is one of the very few that has writing on its back. "For Cousin Nat."

The backs of these two photographs are shown next:

Mr. Bernard, the Quincian, exhibited a special kind of style on the backs of his photographs.

And the designs on the backs of Mr. Detwiller's photographs are Victorian in a style that occasionally points towards Art Noveau.

On the left is Dr. Robert J. Christie, Sen. (1831-1909) He was the brother of Sarah Virginia (Christie) Hall.

On the right, Frank Preston Hall (1861 - 1930) lived in Fayettville, Arkansas. Surely this is one of his children. There were two girls and a boy.

Again, we are led to wonder if there might be a special connection here. Perhaps brother and sister? Maybe we will never know.

More Pictures taken in Canton, Missouri. And more that might be of siblings, or cousins, or . . . ?

On our left, is a picture of Miss Laura Christie, one more taken in Quincy, Illinois.

The picture on the right was taken in Canton, Missouri.

Again, we feel we can be pretty certain that these two little girls are the daughters of Frank Preston Hall, who lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

On the right, we have a picture of Dr. Robert James Christie, Jr. (1864-1917), a nephew of Mrs. Hall's.

It is curious that Mrs. Reed has studios in Quincy, Illinois, and she also takes pictures in LaGrange, Missouri. Or is it vice - versa? We will see more evidence of our photographers moving from one town to the next on the next page.

Two remarkable photographs! On the left, we see a picture taken in LaBelle, Missouri. But Mr. High also practiced his craft in Canton.

Dr. Coleman Ammerman moved, with his wife, May (Hall), to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Surely, the picture on the right is of him.

Who are all these people?? I doubt that anyone now alive can tell the tale.

On the right, Silas Minter migrated from Missouri to Omaha and then on to Utah building the transcontinental railroad. His descendants still live near Salt Lake.

I wish I knew who these good looking folks might be. It is comforting to think that we might share a few genes.

I'll just betcha that this pair had a REAL hard time sitting still long enough for their picture to be taken! Aren't they cuties?

The last several pages have pictures that are much smaller than those in the rest of the book. They are mounted four to a page.

The photograph on the lower right is of Charles Lee Hall (1863-1888), who died driving a team of horses up Monticello hill pulling a threshing machine; the load got away from him and threw him into the Fabius River.

On the right hand panel, in the upper left is Elizabeth Frances (Richardson) Miller (1833-1889) and below her is her son-in-law, Samuel Segar Hyatt.

This page contains two tiny
little pictures. The upper
one resembles a postage
stamp. The one of the little
girl is of a size that could
have been trimmed to fit
into a locket. And on its
back we find a name. It might
say"Nin" or perhaps "Min."
It has faded badly and we
can't read more.

Baby pictures and boys are found on the final two pages of the book. Notice the very long hair of the boy in the lower left hand corner.