A tintype of Samuel F. Silence from 1870.
Samuel Fisher Silence was the father of Charles S. Silence who was featured in an earlier post. If you would like to read that post again, click on this sentence.
Unless otherwise stated, all images and documents in this post are from the collection of Ryan Parnas.
Samuel Fisher Silence
* Samuel Fisher Silence, Born in Dubuque Iowa July, 1 1856.
* Moved to New York when he was 3 yrs old.
* Mother’s name Martha Fisher
* Father’s name Richard Samuel Silence
* Came to St. Louis at age 16. Father was a hatter & they lived on Finney Ave. east of Grand Ave. Father died shortly after moving to St. Louis, Sam’s brother Richard skipped town with money from the hat Co. and roamed all over the country. Came back years later as paper hanger & painter, alcoholic. Later was killed in a pool hall in the East by unknown.
* Sam worked in father’s hat shop and later was a fireman on Penn. railroad. He married Mary Honer (sp?) and had 3 sons by this marriage: Richard, William & Walter. First wife died in 1892.
* He married Mary Humphrey on Sept. 11, 1895- to this union two sons were born Charles Samuel Nov 18, 1896
* Earl Silence April 1898, died as infant.
A portion of a tax record from the State of New York, June 1866, showing two Silence brothers whose occupation is listed as Hats.
A tintype of Samuel F. Silence from 1873.
A tintype of Samuel F. Silence from 1875.
A tintype of Samuel F. Silence from 1878.
Also from 1878.
Mary I. Humphreys ca. 1879.
Samuel F. Silence ca. 1880.
Samuel F Silence (taking in flowers for winter). ca. 1910-13. I believe that is the Sarah Harrison house (now the J.B.Smith Funeral Home) in the background.
You can read about Laura Varilek and William Holmes, the first Maplewood History tourists, and their visit to their historic family home here.
Samuel F Silence & Mary I Humphreys ca.1915
Samuel F. Silence ca. 1915.
Samuel F. Silence ca. 1916 (obviously). This one is a sleeper. Barely noticeable in the thumbnail is another gold nugget in the rich vein of Maplewood history… the Sutton mansion! At 7453 Manchester. Someday I’ll make a post of just views of the Sutton mansion that I have found in historic photographs.
Serendipity!
We are indebted to Mr. Ryan Parnas for this latest batch of images and documents. You did a fine job, Sir, of researching the history of your family. We appreciate your sharing it with us.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday as much as I have. There is much on the internet claiming that what we know about the history of it just isn’t true. Well, the two Thanksgiving dinners that I was fortunate to be a part of with my family and friends definitely were true. I am very grateful to have been part of them.
Bad weather in the forecast. Stay warm.
Doug Houser November 28, 2025
About 3 pictures up from the last picture is him standing in front of a house with a very ornate light in white behind him. I am trying to remember when electricity came to Maplewood or if it was a gas light. It location makes me think it is just for the house but maybe the street lights were that nice looking. I also noticed in one of the pictures he has his feet pointed out almost like Charlie Chaplin did in his movies. I’ve enjoyed these pics.
Mark, The year that the image was made was 1915 according to Mr. Parnas. The globe on that light looks awfully modern. I don’t think that the rest of the street lights looked the same. It’s a puzzle. I get the similarity to Charlie Chaplin that you pointed out. Pretty funny. Good to hear from you.