Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

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Buell, Oliver Brown[1, 2, 3]

Male 1844 - 1910  (66 years)


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  • Name Buell, Oliver Brown 
    • VARIANT NAMES: Buell, Professor.
    Born 1844  Henry County, IL Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Gender Male 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1885  Rocky Mountains (BC) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1886  Vancouver, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1886  Port Moody, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1886  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Where Active (Non-Specific Address) 1905  Crows Nest Pass (BC) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Died 4 Apr 1910  Montreal, QC Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Buried Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, QC Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    Person ID I472  Camera Workers | B, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 3 Mar 2017 

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial (visit).
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Buell, originally from New York State, achieved prominence for a series of views showing military preparations for the Riel Rebellion in 1885. He also photographed construction work on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1885. One newspaper article reported him as having visited B.C. with Lord Lansdowne, the Governor-General, in 1885. In May 1886 he was photographing along the main line of the CPR. He arrived in Vancouver on 28 Aug 1886 by steamer from New York, yet had a private railway car waiting for him in Port Moody in which he and his wife travelled back east. He journeyed regularly with his wife and often bore the title Professor. Along with taking photographs he also gave lantern slide shows in Canada in the 1880s. He last returned to western Canada in 1905, and among his stops was the Crows Nest district in southeastern BC. A portrait of Buell was found by the Glenbow Archives and published in Photographic Canadiana (Mar-Apr 1987).
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: "O. B. Buell, Photographer, New York" or "O. B. Buell, Photographer, Montreal" on stereograph mounts (Canada Illustrated series); prints of troops at Riel Rebellion copyrighted 1885 by "Prof. Buell."
    • REFERENCES: Vancouver News, 1886 08 29/2 and 4; Colonist, 1886 08 31/3; Columbian, 1886 09 07/3 and 08/3; Cranbrook Herald, 1905 06 29/4 (visits Crows Nest district); Hart (1983); Buell (1984); Cavell (1984) (gives life dates); Hadley (1984); Photographic Canadiana 12 no. 5 (Mar-Apr 1987):10 (portrait); OOA National Photography Collection VF.

  • Sources 
    1. [S152] COLLECTION: OOA.

    2. [S48] COLLECTION: ACG.

    3. [S158] COLLECTION: QCRM.

    4. [S667] FamilySearch.org (Web site), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
      His father, Eli Well Buell, age 42 and born in Connecticut, was a photographer. Although Oliver was born in Illinois, the family was living in Pittsfield, MA, at the time of the census.
      "United States Census, 1860"; URL (accessed 2 Mar 2017): https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZHC-82D

    5. [S924] Ancestry.ca (Web site).
      Aaron Shannon Family Tree

    6. [S924] Ancestry.ca (Web site).
      Photo of gravestone shared by Aaron Shannon on 21 Aug 2016