This studio portrait of my great-great grandmother Charlotte “Lottie” Gagen came to me a few years ago. Recently, I decided to find out what I could about the photographer, based just on a partial name and address. I was surprised what I found through online primary history resources! I also got an interesting snapshot of Vancouver at the turn of the century – including the Scandinavian community, lumber trades and ballroom dance studios.
Information on the sitter, Miss Lottie Gagen
Charlotte Gagen, known as “Lottie,” was six years old in 1888 when she arrived in Vancouver from Rat Portage, Ontario (now Thunder Bay). The family lived downtown (now Victory Square area) and on 5th Avenue west in Mount Pleasant.
Lottie’s dad George Michael Gagen worked as a carpenter. Information on Gagen’s building career is limited, but public records show that in 1890, George Gagen put in a tender for a fence surrounding Central School grounds for $710. (the highest bid, this was not accepted). In 1893, Gagen was secretary of the Trades and Labour Council.
In November 1890, Lottie’s mother Susannah Pinnicks Gagen died as result of rheumatic fever. (I was also given her original burial record certificate). She was buried in the oldest section of Mount Pleasant Cemetery close to some two of the earliest burials – Caradoc Evans and Simon Hirschberg.
At the time this photo was taken, Lottie was about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her dad had remarried and moved to Washington State with her younger sisters. Lottie may have been working in service in a household in Vancouver. She doesn’t appear in any directories at this time.
A. Risem, 418 Hastings Street, Vancouver B.C.
The photograph was taken by A. Risem, 418 Hastings Street, Vancouver B.C. The Vancouver Archives has two photographs in its collection attributed to photographer A. Risem.
John Connon chopping a stump to clear his property on Westminster Road, now 3490 Kingsway [Collingwood]. This is a silver gelatin print ; 13 x 9 cm
Studio portrait of Mrs Emma Morris This is a 10 x 14 silver gelatin print. Lottie Gagen’s photo is also 10 X 14 silver gelatin print with the same studio backdrop of palm fronds.
There are no dates for either picture, but a search of city directories gave me more information on the photographer and studio. The address 418 Hastings St is printed on the portrait. I consulted scanned copies of Vancouver city directories in the Vancouver Public Library’s British Columbia Directories resource.
I knew Lottie was born in May 1882 and was married in March 1901. I have a wedding-related portrait where she looks older and has a different hairstyle. So, I was looking for something a couple of years earlier, circa 1898-1899.
1899 directories show that 418 Hastings Street (west) was home to Excelsior Studio, connected with A. Risem, O. Risem and W. Larson, listed as photographers in the directories. The studio operated at this location from about late 1898 to November 1899, when it moved to 326 Cordova Street.
Through various directory searches and cross-referencing, I learned that Norwegian-American brothers Andreas (“Andy”) and Ole Risem and a Swedish friend Walfred Larson ran the studio. The photography business was a side-line for Ole Risem, who worked in the lumber (shake-shingle mill) trade, and Larson, who was a men’s tailor.
Andy and Ole Risem lived at 450 7th Avenue East, Mount Pleasant with their sister Annie, Mrs Bayne Vance. There was another sister Tilla, Mrs Alfred Anderson, living in Vancouver. In 1884, the Risem family had emigrated from Norway to Minnesota. Tilla and Annie moved to Vancouver in 1889. Ole was in Vancouver by 1895. Andy, the youngest (born 1876) first appears in Vancouver directories in 1899.
The Risems were part of a substantial Scandinavian community in Vancouver. Circa 1900 there was a Royal Swedish and Norwegian Consulate in Vancouver, so there must have been a large population. Annie Risem Vance was a founding member of the First Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, organized on Keefer Street on November 15 1890. See a 1904 photo by Philip Timms of the First Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church from the VPL Local History Collections.
For a while I thought “A. Risem” referred to Annie Risem and was intrigued to find what I thought was an early woman photographer. I learned later via Annie’s death notice and findagrave.com about the younger brother Andreas. The 1891 Canada Census shows A. Risen, domestic from Norway, living at the household of G.E. Bertraux (grocery company) and family at 620 Burrard. Henderson’s City Directory shows that she lived next door to the Japanese consulate. Williams’ Official Illustrated BC Directory for the year 1892, published March 1892, shows Annie Risin, domestic, employer Mr Gallagher 622 Hornby. Gallagher was manager of the Telegram newspaper.
Annie married Bayne Patrick Vance in 1895. Vance was working for a building contractors. A lumber connection runs through this story. Annie’s friend Rena Nelson was married to John Mahoney, who was head sawyer at the Harrison River Timber and Trading Co. Mills. Photographer Ole Risem was an employee H.H. Spicer and Co. shingle manufacturers and lumber dealers.
326 Cordova – tailors and dance academy
An advertisement appeared in The Province on November 29 1899 — “The Excelsior Studio is removed to 326 Cordova St, and will give stamp photographs three dozen for 50 cents.”
The main floor of 326 Cordova was occupied by Johnson, Kerfoot and Co, men’s tailors and furnishings. Note – in the 1890 directory, James Irvine Johnson and William Kerfoot were at 433 Hamilton, the same address associated in the same directory with Miss Annie Risem. So, there was a personal connection – either Annie had been a domestic (or a seamstress) or a family friend.
This photograph studio location appears to be on the second floor of the building. Fire insurance plans for this address show “Photos Above”.
At same time, Excelsior Studio moved to 326 Cordova, an academy of dancing was being set up in same location. A notice in the Vancouver Daily Province – “Professor Myers will open his academy of dancing at 326 Cordova street, Monday evening October 31 1899. Will give lessons Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. Beginners a specialty. Satisfaction guaranteed. At present he will teach gents only.” A follow up notice – “Prof Myers will start primary ladies’ class, Tuesday evening, at his Academy of Dancing, 326 Cordova Street.”
“Professor” did not denote academic credentials. It was a popular honorary title for performers of that era, like Professor so and so’s “Orchestra” (a fancy name for a dance band). Think Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man” musical.
Marion Cline Myers (born in Muncie, Delaware) ran ballroom dance lessons during the winter months. By trade, he worked in the lumber industry. He was planer foreman at the Harrison River Timber and Trading Co. Mills. The Risem’s friend John Mahoney was also at the Harrison mills, and Ole Risem worked in the lumber trade, so it’s probably no coincidence that Myers rented the 326 Cordova space. Myers leased various Vancouver locations for his classes, such as the Imperial Rink in Spring 1903, and ran weekly dance parties with music by, for example, “Professor Harpur’s Full Orchestra”.
In 1905, Myers had a more permanent location for classes when he built a dance pavilion at Kitsilano Beach. See the Vancouver Daily Province July 24 1905 – “It will cost in the neighbourhood of $1500 and will be built for Prof Myers of Vancouver. Prof. Myers has secured a lengthy lease of the ground from the C.P.R. The location is an admirable one, being midway between the tram station and Ross & McDonald’s boathouse and pavilion. At high tide tomorrow two large scowloads of lumber will be landed at Kitsilano. According to the plans, the building will have 3000 square feet of floor space available for dancing. Specially fine timber has been selected for this…Several dances a week will be held in the pavilion.” The dance pavilion can be seen in this photo of Kitsilano Beach.
In late 1906, Myers left town and left debts behind. “In a letter sent to the Province, Mr Myers expresses regret that heavy medical expenses caused by illness in his family prevented him from meeting all his financial obligations.” (Province January 8 1907) Myers reappeared in 1914 – “The old reliable dance teacher is back.” He resumed dance instruction until about 1917 then moved back to Washington State. Myers died in the Seattle area in 1959 aged 93.
What next for Andy Risem, photographer?
Ole and Andy Risem appear to have moved away from Vancouver by 1900. Information on what happened next comes from their entries in findagrave.com. Ole Olson Risem had a photography studio in Ely, Minnesota. Andreas Risem had a photography studio in Bismarck, North Dakota.
See this article — Camera Veteran Risem Stops Here on Trip, Bismarck Tribune June 24 1953 – “A 78 year old man who is the “baby of the family” dropped in on the Tribune office Tuesday to see how things are moving along in the newsrooms in which he once served as a staff member…Years ago, while operating the Rembrandt photographic studio here, Andy (for Andreas) Risem was the man to whom the Tribune turned when it wanted a spot news picture made or developed. Be it day or night, be he busy or in a slack period, the arrival of a news picture in Risem’s darkroom was the signal to drop all else and rush the news job through.”
Andy Risem was on a road trip to see his sisters (then in their early 90s) in Vancouver. (His sister Annie died in December of that same year). Andreas Risem died in 1957, aged 81.
What next for Lottie Gagen?
Around the time this photo was taken, Lottie Gagen was attending Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where she met Jack Gilman, a young barber, who ran “Jack’s Shaving Parlour” on Westminster Avenue (Main Street) near Hastings. Lottie and Jack married in March 1901 and later moved to Vancouver Island, where they raised seven children. Charlotte Gilman died in 1971 aged 89.
Lottie’s eldest daughter Mary Annie Ethel was my great-grandma. Here’s a 1906 photo of Lottie and her daughter Ethel and a circa 1943 photo of Lottie and her grand-daughter, also named Ethel.
Online Sources
Digital history allowed me to find so much information about one photograph. In recent years, many public institutions have put a lot of resources into scanning and digitizing historic documents. Photos, maps, directories, censuses, newspapers and more are – in most cases – all made freely available to public researchers. The resources I consulted were
- City of Vancouver Archives digital photo collections
- City of Vancouver Archives Goad’s Fire Insurance Plans
- Vancouver Public Library British Columbia City Directories
- Vancouver Public Library Local History Collections photographs
- Vancouver Island Regional Library BC Historical Newspapers “The Province”
- Library and Archives Canada – Canada Census search
- University of British Columbia Open Collections – BC Sessional Papers
Related Story
Victoria West Photographer Chris W. Hollyer – A friend of my grandpa’s family, Hollyer was another 1890s early 1900s photographer taking portraits and action images of turn-of-the century Victorians at play–amateur dramatics, sailing jaunts, galas at the Gorge. All made into glass slides that were shown in a lantern projector.
Stephanie Ann Warner 