Maplewood History: The Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley Trove – Part Three

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Same location only this is the Thomas family. Wife, Kate, holds what must be a grandchild.

Never Before Published – Vintage Images of the Thomas Home and Grounds

One of the tactics I used to try and better understand Emma’s collection of photos and documents was to separate the images by the way they had been mounted.  Nearly all were on cardboard of one sort or another.  In my last post, Part Two, we looked at images that I assume had been made by Emma’s father, William Lyman Thomas, on a trip he took to Memphis.

There were sixteen of these images that all had identical mounts, an embossed flower design around all edges.  From the dates on the back of them, all were made in June of 1896.  Ten were of William’s trip and six were of his home and of a gathering held there of his friends and family. I assume these were all from the same roll.  I attempted to discover what sort of a camera he may have used but couldn’t be certain with these.  I’ll talk about the camera in an upcoming post.

I’ll start off with an image that was in this collection but was not one of the ones from the roll that I mentioned.  It is an image of his home, Ellendale Home Place.  This lovely home is judged by this author to be (along with Woodside) one of  Maplewood’s two most historic homes.  It is easy to see from the street at 2637 Roseland Terrace.  Please respect the owner’s privacy. The home is not open to the public.

Ellendale Home Place, 1881, Home of William Lyman and Catherine (Kate) Sutton Thomas, named after their oldest daughter, Ella. This image with the mount measures 5 1/2 by 6 1/4 inches.  For a historian, such as myself, finding an image like this is like a prospector finding gold.  In this case, along with all of the other images in Emma’s trove it was more kin to finding a gold vein.
The home is very nearly unchanged today. The exception would be the front porch. The one in the image has since been modernized. I have no idea who the little fellow is.
The street, Roseland Terrace, has since replaced the barn at the right in this image.
William Lyman Thomas is on the left. Sadly, I can’t identify anyone else in this image. Six of these images all have this same white, embossed flower design.  It is identical to the ones of the Memphis trip.
Same group. Poor exposure.
Same location only this is the Thomas family. Wife, Kate, holds what must be a grandchild.
Taken at another location in the yard. I believe that Thomas’ three girls are standing behind the hammock. All of these images were captured on June 13, 1896.
I think Emma is seated directly in front of Thomas in this image.  There is one more image with this same border but in assembling this post I realized it is a very badly exposed copy of this one.
Also in Emma’s trove is this image of Thomas. I remember seeing it before. I believe I posted it sometime in the past.
A special bonus image of Thomas and his assistant.  I have never seen this one prior.  It’s great that we have a clear look at his assistant.
And not only do we get a good look at his assistant, from the back of the image. we also have her name, Alma Neusel.  I suspect this is Thomas’ own handwriting.  I don’t know why he would refer to himself as a proofreader.  Four years before this image was made, in 1911, he published his highly regarded and still much used History of St. Louis County.

 

I feel very fortunate to have been able to closely examine these artifacts from the Sutton and Thomas families.  All of these images and documents are now located at the St. Louis Center of the State Historical Society of Missouri.  They are located on the campus of UMSL in the Thomas Jefferson Library, adjacent to the Mercantile Library. If you go, tell them Doug sent you.

The fact that anyone can now visit and view any of these items is due to the generosity of a direct descendant of the Sutton/Thomas families, Chrissie Hayes McConnell. Thank you, Ma’am.

If you are curious about what artifacts of Maplewoodiana are now ensconced within the larger collection at SHSMO, you can find most of the links here to the posts about the FIVE very generous souls and families that have contributed to the collection.

We’re not done with Emma’s trove yet.  Stay tuned, there is much more to come.

Doug Houser               January 28, 2022

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Reader Gary is correct in remembering that William Lyman Thomas published a magazine about mills. Let me copy a short bit of history about WLT’s life from Maplewood History Volume Two, pages 19 & 20. The author won’t mind.

    In 1866, he matriculated in the Missouri Dental College and became one of the first student graduates of the first dental college in Missouri. In 1868 he opened an office on South Fifth street near Elm but he had no love for the business and despite its lucrativeness he abandoned the profession.

    Securing a position with Sheffield and Stone, he began reading proof and doing general utility parts in the mailing and composing room of the firms literary weekly, the St. Louis Home Journal. The firm also published a paper called the Commercial Gazette. Sheffield and Stone failed. A man from Vermont, Frank Ricker, bought their liveliest asset, the Commercial Gazette and sold a partnership to Thomas. The paper prospered and in 1877 Ricker sold his interest to Thomas.

    Thomas formed a partnership with K.H. Stone and together they started a flour milling magazine called the St. Louis Miller. In 1877 Thomas founded the Weekly Mail at Kirkwood. In 1883 he sold his interest in the commercial and manufacturing papers and founded the educational paper, School and Home which he edited for sixteen years

  2. By email from reader Gary: Doug the Lone Star Roller Mill (Estel and Weinhold owners) was in Wittenberg, MO. Look on the web for “Perry County Historical Society——From flour to flowers”, you will find there pictures of the mill when it was flooded and I believe a strong relationship to your work as the family was connected to Ashland Ave.. Look at the marital records on the site. Also, the Beauvais name may be related to a wealthy and prominent silversmith whose mansion is on the corner of Grand and Magnolia. It is now a nursing home, but you can freely walk through the mansion (like a Twilight Zone experience going into the 1800’s).
    Also from Gary: I think…that WLT published a magazine for mills. This probably directly ties to the first message I sent to you today about the Lone Star Mill.

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