The members of the McAllister family who came to Georgia did not remain here, but they certainly made an interesting mark on the state. Julius Stillman McAllister was a dentist and photographer born in Lincoln, Vermont in 1841. It appears that while still serving in the New York Infantry, he married his first wife, Naremeta “Nettie” Stallings on November 28, 1861, in Washington, D.C. Discharged from the infantry by a surgeon in April 1862, he returned to and worked in the large city of Washington D.C. By 1866, he was paying taxes there as Julius McAllister and Co., Photographers, at 290 Pennsylvania Avenue. He was one of many photographers located on the Avenue, including Matthew Brady, at no. 625.

Dr. Julius McAllister petitioned for divorce from his “absent” wife on September 26, 1871 (Midddlebury [Vermont] Register and Addison County Journal, Oct. 10, 1871 pg. 3, col. 7), and it was granted by Addison County Court on the grounds of (her) adultery on or about January 2, 1872 (Midddlebury Register and Addison County Journal, Jan. 2, 1872 pg. 3, col. 4). The Court granted him custody of their child. There are two odd things about his event, first, Julius and Naremeta were actually married in the District of Columbia on April 28, 1861, not in Vermont on April 8, 1861, as Dr. McAllister claimed in his petition. And second, his wife was “absent” because the family was living in D.C. and it appears their son William, born there in 1868, was actually left with his mother. It was there that he died, at about age four, in February 1872, and buried in Washington, D.C.’s Oak Hill Cemetery (Find a Grave record). William’s death came after his parents’ divorce, and after his father’s remarriage only two weeks after that divorce. One wonders which of the two was actually the adulterer.

In Vermont, Julius McAllister married his second wife, Rosetta Gould, on January 15, 1872, in the city of Bristol. A daughter, Lillian, was born to them in 1873, but she did not live long. By the time their son, Louis Leon McAllister, was born in October 1876, they were living in Columbus, Nebraska. Julius continued his work as a photographer in that state, and Nebraska homestead records exist for him in both 1877 and 1878 (ancestry.com). Although the 1880 federal census records him as a dentist, that related occupation was not at all unusual for a nineteenth-century photographer (see my older post ). That second marriage would have ended by 1883, but I find no data on it or reason why.

On April 16, 1883, in Columbus, Nebraska, Julius McAllister married his third wife, Amy G. Steinbeck, born in Michigan in 1862, but living with her family in Genoa, Nebraska. She was over twenty years younger than her new husband. The announcement of their marriage appeared in the Columbus [Nebraska] Journal on April 18, 1883, on page 3.

They appear together on the 1885 Nebraska census, and Julius is listed in Columbus in both the 1888 and 1889 Lithographers and Photographers Directory, Directory of Photographers in the United States 1888 & 1889 and Canada 1889, on page 95 (Heritage Books, Inc., 2002 edition; Diane VanSkiver Gagel, compiler). A photograph of the the couple with their two daughters, Phoza, about six, and Josephine, no more than a year old, was made in Nebraska in late 1892 or early 1893.

On December 4, 1895, the Columbus Journal printed an article on page 4, column 5, (apparently submitted by a “Doc Bixby”) that “Dr. McAllister, Central Nebraska’s far-famed physician, dentist, bee-keeper, photographer, stamp-collector, and general utility man, has sold his bulky belongings and will hunt for fairer pastures in the alligator marshes of the sunny south.” Bixby, quite the poet, goes on to tell us he will miss Dr. McAllister because “Full many an aching tooth of mine the doctor has pulled out; he gave me oceans of quinine and cured me of the gout. He sold me honey by the yard, and photographed my pate, and I shall take it might hard to see him leave the state.”

Amy and Julius McAllister, with their two daughters and a young son, Harley Julius, born in Columbus, Nebraska in June 1894, arrived in Georgia sometime in 1896. The first mention of Dr. McAllister is a note in the April 22, 1897, Fitzgerald, Georgia, Leader (page 5), proving that he had been there a while, as his sickness, prior to his being seen again on the street, is mentioned.

So why was Fitzgerald, Georgia, chosen by Dr. McAllister as a place to move his family? It is because the town was “founded by Philander H. Fitzgerald, a Union pension attorney from Indianapolis who sold the idea of “a balmy weather colony for northern veterans.” He advertised in several newspapers in 1895, and over 2,000 northern veterans joined with “600 or more southern veterans in founding a new four-square city.” Read more about the city of Fitzgerald here.

The first advertisement I find for Dr. McAllister is in the January 20, 1898, Fitzgerald Leader, on page 8, column 1. He was selling six photographs for $1 in his studio at the corner of Oconee and Logan streets, a block east of Whitchard’s store, and in his final sentence, he wrote “Now is the time for everybody to swap faces.” The next Leader advertisement of his I have found appeared on April 7, 1898.

The next week, on April 14, 1898, among other news relating the business of the Superior Court, the Leader (page 5, column 4) announced that “Mrs. McAllister of this city secured a divorce from her husband, Dr. McAllister, on the grounds of desertion and inhuman treatment.” In the same issue, but on page 8, we are told that “Dr. McAllister was out with his view cameraon [sic] making view photos of the big hotel.” His rooms were given as “located on Oconee, one block east of Thomas St.”

In May 1898, the Leader of May 5th mentions that when the Knights of Pythias and guests were out to picnic and stroll the vast grove at Bowen’s Mill, “artists Johnson and McAllister were on hand” for the “picture taking.” The issue of July 21st (page 5, column 2) of the Leader advertises that “Dr. McAllister is making arrangements to have a flag raising at this photograph gallery on East Oconee street, in the near future.” Assume this was the United States flag he would fly.

The last advertisement I found for Dr. McAllister was in the Fitzgerald Enterprise of March 9, 1900 (p. 5, col. 2), which was repeated in issues of the 16th and 23rd. He was counted as still in Fitzgerald on the 1900 census on June 6th as a divorced photographer, age 58, boarding with the Pittman family. I do not believe he was still in Fitzgerald (in Irwin County) in 1901, when he apparently owed, or Irwin County was paying him, $2.00 (Enterprise, August 8, 1901, p.1, col.5).

Amy McAllister, age 38, also appears on the 1900 Georgia federal census recorded on June 2nd, and living in Thomasville, Georgia. Although it was two years after her divorce, she is recorded as a widow, and a photographer. I have seen no documentation, but I believe that she was taught by and perhaps worked with her husband, Julius, in Nebraska. Their three children, Phoza, age 13, Josephine, age 7, and Harley, age 5, lived with their mother. Also living in the same household and listed as her step-son is Louis L. McAllister, age 23, photographer (and the son of Dr. Julius McAllister).

Prior to that 1900 census recording them both, according to the Thomasville Daily Times-Enterprise of April 19, 1899 (pg. 3, col. 3) “Mrs. A. G. and L. L. McAllister were granted photographers license upon complying with the ordinance.” On April 26, 1900 (pg. 4, col. 1) that newspaper recorded that Mr. [Louis] McAllister went to Decatur County to take photographs for Cohen & Co., owners of a tobacco plantation.

What made Louis move to Thomasville to work with Amy McAllister? It is uncertain when Louis came to Georgia, and he is documented as taking photographs in Randolph, Vermont, in 1897 (Louis L. McAllister Photograph Collection, University of Vermont). Did he work with his father in Fitzgerald? He was only about six years-old when his father left his mother and married Amy in 1883. Since he would have been about twenty-one in 1898, it is possible he arrived before his father and third wife separated. He may have appeared in Thomasville to work with Amy just after his father left Fitzgerald.

On May 25, 1900 (pg. 3, col. 2) the couple, as McAllister’s Studio on 124 N. Broad St., advertised in the Daily Times-Enterprise that they had reduced prices because they were going to move to Fitzgerald as of July 1. It was not until August 17, 1900 (pg. 1 col. 6) that the Fitzgerald Enterprise stated that “Mrs. McAllister & Son,” had moved there from Thomasville and would “open a photography gallery.” On August 24 (pg. 2, col. 2) the Enterprise announced the partners would move into a studio “to do up-to-date photography” on the second floor above a restaurant on Pine Street.

The photographers McAllsiter & Son, began advertising regularly in the Enterprise by September 1900, when their studio on E. Pine St. would “take orders for Sepias, Crayon, Pastell and all kinds of large Portrait work…” (September 14, 1900, pg. 1, col. 4). By October they were also selling frames.

In January 1901, they purchased the studio of George E. Ricker on Central Avenue (Enterprise Jan. 25, 1901, pg. 5, col. 2; misspelled as Richter). By December 1901, as McAllister’s Photographic Studio, they were over the Empire Store in the same location at Grant and Central avenues and they were selling a dozen “of their Best Cabinet [card] Photographs for only $3.00” (Enterprise Dec. 12, 1901, pg.10c, also appeared Dec. 26). They were still at this location in February 1902, when they did “all kinds of photo work done by the latest and most approved methods,” and also did “developing and finishing for amateurs.”

On April 16, 1902, in Tifton, Georgia, Louis L. McAllister and Amy G. McAllister were married by the Rev. Charles G. Dillworth, of the [Tifton] First Baptist Church. The wedding was headlined that day in the Fitzgerald Enterprise (as repeated in the Augusta Chronicle, pg. 5, col. 7) “Married to his Step-Mother. And How He Is Half-Brother to His Own Step-children.” It was “an usual and sensational” marriage “that took place at the Hotel Sadie.” The article goes on and on about the two children (though all three were living with them).

The article of April 19, 1902 (pg. 1, col. 2) in the Thomasville Daily Times Enterprise describes her as his father’s 5th wife, but she was his third, and it mentions her two children, who lived with her, and with Louis. The article also tells us that Louis came to Fitzgerald “after the divorce” and met “the young woman who was an expert photographer, at which profession she earned her living,” and “esteem sprang up, and they became business partners.” An incorrect date of her divorce from Julius McAllister is given, but their esteem “ripened into love.” Louis was “about 22, and the bride about 27 years of age” (their ages were closer to 25 and 30). Judging from the other misinformation in this article, this is probably not how it all happened, but I do not know for certain.

The Moultrie Observer of April 18, 1902 (pg. 1 col.5) with the headline of “Queer Wedding, a Young Man Marries His Step-Mother” calling it “a romantic story,” repeats all the same misinformation, as does the Augusta Chronicle of the same date (pg.5, col. 7), and The State, a South Carolina newspaper, did likewise. On April 19, the Thomasville Daily Times Enterprise (pg. 1, col. 2) repeated the same, noting in their header that “The Story Has a Thomasville End to it.” But the next day, on April 20, the same Thomasville newspaper headline was “Marriage Declared Off.”

The April 20, 1902, the Daily Times Enterprise (pg. 3, col. 2) reproduces a letter from the Irwin County Citizen, signed by “Louis L. McAllister and Mrs. A.G. McAllister, Fitzgerald, April [18], 1902,” stating that, regarding their marriage, “neither of us were aware that there was any legal reason why” they could not marry, and when getting home to Fitzgerald, and “before either had in any manner consummated the marriage ceremony by sustaining to the other any of the marriage relations…..we were informed ….. that the laws of this state made our marriage void.” They immediately “resolved to disregard said marriage ceremony as void and claim no marriage rights or relationship with each other.” Otherwise, they’d not have “allowed the story of our marriage to be circulated.”

Methinks they did protest too much!

Articles in several newspapers began to appear quoting the Irwin County Citizen that this marriage was over (annulled), including the Atlanta Constitution heading their article “The Honeymoon Rudely Broken – Man Separates from Stepmother Whom He Recently Wedded.” They go on to state that “It is not known upon what ground covered [in the] laws of Georgia this claim of illegality is based, but [the couple] separated as soon as the statement was made to them, and have since remained apart.” Misinformation, again, about her divorce and her children follows.

The April 21 Macon Telegraph (pg. 3) repeated the same items about the marriage taking place, and ended with the fact that “they had been advised the marriage was illegal and they had separated.” The story was carried beyond the state of Georgia. The April 22, 1902 Fort Worth (Texas) Register (“The Honeymoon is Broken”) and the May 4th issue of the Grand Forks (North Dakota) Daily Herald (pg. 6) relayed the whole episode headlining it “Got Married,” followed by “To His Stepmother But Marriage May Be Illegal,” and incorrectly citing the source as May 3 “Tifton, FL” on stating that it was “a marriage with unusual and embarrassing complications.” That is followed by the same misinformation about the divorce and children.

The years 1902 and later proved interesting for the McAllister family members. No more mention was made of the marriage in Georgia that made headlines, and all seemed forgotten.

On May 1, 1902, the Fitzgerald Enterprise announced that class seniors from the Georgia Normal College would be going to McAllister’s Studio for photographs. These photographs would adorn their diplomas. Perhaps I will see one of these one day!

In November 1902, the Enterprise placed a note on the 28th (pg.5, col.4) that “Mrs. A. G. McAllister and family, having sold out their photograph business, will move next week to Joplin, Missouri.” There were two notes printed on Dec. 5, first (Pg.5, col.2) stated the family left on Tuesday morning on the A & B [Atlantic & Birmingham] railroad, and under “High School Notes,” (pg. 8, col. 1) that “pupils, especially seniors, are sorry to lose Phosa McAllister, who leaves this week…” Phosa [aka Phoza], at a party the previous March, was chosen the American Beauty blond, receiving a book with American Beauty roses printed on the back.

Amy McAllister is found on the 1910 Federal census in Missouri, in Pleasant Hill which is north of Joplin and near Kansas City, Missouri. She was working as a photographer with her own gallery and her son and daughter, Harley and Josephine, were still at home. She is documented as “widowed.” She was certainly not widowed from Julius McAllister, who was still very much alive.

Julius S. McAllister had moved to Florida and married in Bronson, Florida, Levy County, for the fourth time on June 19, 1906, to a woman about 25 years his junior. His new wife’s maiden name was Amanda Freeman (her name at their marriage was Land), a native of Florida (Florida Marriages, 1837-1974, #2 pg.53). She had been married at least twice, so they were a good match. According to the Federal census for Levy County, all her sons were living with them in 1910, in Cedar Key, Florida, and Julius is noted as a 69 year-old Dentist, but not practicing. Only Amanda’s younger son, 16, surname Land, lived with them by 1920, and Julius, 79, was repairing shoes.

Another McAllister marriage took place in 1907, when Louis L. McAllister married Cora Shepard (born about 1872 in Vermont) in Holland, Michigan. He moved back to Vermont a few years before 1905, and by 1910, according to the Federal census, the couple was living in Queen City Park in South Burlington, Vermont, where Louis established a photography studio. They later moved to Burlington where Louis conducted his photography business from home and became a well-known photographer. After a sixty-year career, he died on April 28, 1963, and is buried in Burlington’s Lakeview Cemetery. Of the three members of the McAllister family who worked as photographers in Georgia, Louis’s career lasted the longest. See the Louis L. McAllister Photograph Collection that is housed at the University of Vermont.

Amy G. McAllister appears on the 1920 Federal census as a widow, living in Princeton, Illinois, with her daughter Phoza and Harry Bennett, her husband. In 1921 Amy appears in the Kansas City, Missouri city directory as a photographic retoucher and widow of Julius McAllister. Julius was still alive in 1921, but died in Cedar Key, Florida on October 21, 1922 (Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933). In both the 1923 and 1924 Kansas City city directory, Amy is still listed as his widow, by then more correctly, although Julius had remained in Florida and was still married to Amanda at his death.

Amy McAllister appears as widowed on the 1930 census when she was living in Waterloo, Iowa with her son Harley, divorced, and his children. Amy, “widow of Julius,” is listed in the 1934 Dayton, Ohio city directory and apparently she was living there with, or near, a daughter. Harley and his second wife moved to Chicago, Illinois, and his mother died there on November 16, 1938, still listed as widow of Julius. She is buried in Middletown, Ohio’s Woodside Cemetery and Aboretum, where both of her daughters were later buried.

I hope you find this account of the McAllister family of photographers who worked in Georgia, as interesting as I did, and that your Hunting and Gathering also provides you with such interesting facts and stories!