Camera Workers, 1858-1950

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

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Finley, William Burton[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Male 1872 - 1958  (85 years)


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  • Name Finley, William Burton 
    • VARIANT NAME: Finley, W. Best.; Finley Studio.
    Birth 11 Oct 1872  Skugog Island, ON Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    Gender Male 
    Marriage 31 Oct 1893  Gananque, ON Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Bride: Leona Adelaide Kelsey 
    Business Address/Year 1894-1895  Gananoque, ON Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address undetermined 
    Business Address/Year 1897  Brockville, ON Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    Address undetermined 
    Business Address/Year 1898  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [9] 
    Address:
    725 Fifth Ave.
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1898  New Westminster, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [10] 
    Address:
    Napanee
    between Tenth and Eleventh Ave.
    New Westminster, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1899  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [11] 
    Address:
    50 Victoria Crescent
    Nanaimo, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1899-1901  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [12, 13, 14] 
    Address:
    Commercial St.
    Nanaimo, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1899-1901  Nanaimo, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [15, 16] 
    Address:
    Newcastle Townsite
    Nanaimo, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1901  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [17] 
    Business Address/Year 1902-1903  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [18, 19] 
    Address:
    59 1/2 Government St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1903-1904  Vernon, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [20] 
    Business Address/Year 1905  Kamloops, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [21] 
    Address undetermined 
    Business Address/Year 1906  Red Deer, AB Find all individuals with events at this location  [22] 
    Address undetermined 
    Home Address/Year Jun 1906  Alberta Find all individuals with events at this location  [23] 
    Business Address/Year 1908-1909  Vernon, BC Find all individuals with events at this location  [24] 
    Business Address/Year 1910-1911  Saskatoon, SK Find all individuals with events at this location  [25] 
    • He operated The Rembrandt studio in 1910.
    Business Address/Year 1911-1914  Winnipeg, MB Find all individuals with events at this location  [26] 
    Address undetermined 
    Business Address/Year 1914-1915  Swan River, MB Find all individuals with events at this location  [27] 
    Address undetermined 
    Business Address/Year 1916-1920  Saskatoon, SK Find all individuals with events at this location  [28] 
    Address undetermined 
    • He also sold photo supplies and offered a framing service.
    Burial 1958  Gananoque Cemetery, Gananoque, ON Find all individuals with events at this location  [29, 30] 
    Death 4 Aug 1958  Ottawa, ON Find all individuals with events at this location  [31] 
    Association Finley and Foxall (Relationship: Partner) 
    Association Crescent Studio (Nanaimo : II) (Relationship: Proprietor) 
    Person ID I239  Camera Workers | F, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 26 Jan 2023 

  • Documents
    W.B. Finley ad, <i>Nanaimo Free Press</i>, 3 Jan 1900, p. 1.    		W.B. Finley ad, Nanaimo Free Press, 3 Jan 1900, p. 1.
    At various times he operated under the name Crescent Studio and Finley Studio.
    Crescent Studio (W.B. Finley) ad, <i>Nanaimo Free Press</i>, 6 Sep 1898, p. 4.    		Crescent Studio (W.B. Finley) ad, Nanaimo Free Press, 6 Sep 1898, p. 4.

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: According to Tony Sproule's family history site about Finley, after marrying in 1893 (his wife's second marriage), he began his photographic career in Gananoque, ON, then moved on to Sherbrooke, QC for a short period time. Following that he worked as a photographer in Brockville, ON. From Onatrio he moved to the west coast and worked in New Westminster, possibly as early as 1897, followed by Nanaimo, then Victoria. Sproule has him in Auburn, WA in 1901, and Vancouver, BC, in 1901. In Nanaimo he advertised in 1900 under the name Finley Studio. He moved to the interior where he worked in Kamloops and Vernon in 1904-1905. His photographs were reproduced in a Jul 1904 special illustrated edition of the Vernon News. He went from Vernon to Red Deer, AB, in 1905, followed by time between Winnipeg, MB, and Saskatoon, SK, in the 1910s. By the 1920s he was again photographing in eastern Canada and the United States.

      The BC directories paint a slightly different picture of his movements in the early 1900s and do not confirm his presence in Kamloops. Information in his Photographer File in the BC Archives indicates he moved from Victoria to Kamloops in Aug 1902.

      The Jul 1904 special illustrated edition of the Vernon News also provides a somewhat different timeline, stating that he had 15 years experience starting in Sherbrooke, QC, followed by photographic work in other parts of eastern Canada. The newspaper indicates he arrived in BC six or seven years prior to 1904, which would be 1897 or 1898, and had worked at studios in New Westminster and Victoria. While in Vernon he also made trips to the nearby communities of Enderby, Armstrong, Kelowna and other parts of the Okanagan Valley. The newspaper noted he had a large number of view camera negatives depicting landscapes, ranching, farming and mining scenes. He was also renovating his studio.
    • IDENTIFYING MARKS: "W.B. Finley, Nanaimo, B.C." on front of print mount.

  • Sources 
    1. [S142] COLLECTION: BVMA, 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      Prints.

    2. [S65] COLLECTION: BNCA.

    3. [S706] Nanaimo Free Press, 3 Jan 1900, 1 (Reliability: 3).
      Ad, Finley Studio

    4. [S633] BVIPA VR Photographer File (Reliability: 2).

    5. [S830] Tony Sproule, Information about William Burton Finley (Web site), (Genealogy.com), 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      Contains a career summary and citations to his birth, marriage, death and children.

    6. [S830] Tony Sproule, Information about William Burton Finley (Web site), (Genealogy.com), 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      Cites Registration of births - Ontario, LDS film # 1844890; Reg # 0192951872.

    7. [S830] Tony Sproule, Information about William Burton Finley (Web site), (Genealogy.com), 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      Cites Ontario Register of Marriages, LDS Film # 1870475; Reg # 006730.

    8. [S395] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1990), (Sarnia, Ont.: G.C. Phillips, 1990; 2nd printing, 2003.), 13.
      Brockville: Finley, W.B. & Co. - ph 1897

    9. [S38] HEN98, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1898), 8 Dec 2016, 304 (Reliability: 2).
      New Westminster: "Finley, Wm. Burton, photographer, 725 5th ave. [h] Napanee, bet. 10th and 11th"

    10. [S38] HEN98, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1898), 8 Dec 2016, 304 (Reliability: 2).
      "Finley, Wm. Burton, photographer ... [h] Napanee, bet. 10th and 11th."

    11. [S40] Williams, R.T., comp., WIL99, (Victoria, B.C.: Province Publishing Co., 1899), 8 Dec 2016, 160 (Reliability: 2).
      Nanaimo: "Finley, W.B., photographer, 50 Victoria Crescent."

    12. [S39] HEN99, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1899), 8 Dec 2016, 316 (Reliability: 2).
      Nanaimo: "Finley, Wm. B., photographer, Commercial street, h Newcastle townsite"

    13. [S41] HEN00, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1900), 8 Dec 2016, 386 (Reliability: 2).
      Nanaimo: "Finley, Wm. B., photographer, Commercial street, h Newcastle townsite"

    14. [S42] HEN01, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1901), 7 Dec 2016, 1108 (Reliability: 2).
      Classified Business Directory: "Photographers. Finley, William B.--Nanaimo"
      Not listed in Nanaimo.

    15. [S39] HEN99, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1899), 8 Dec 2016, 316 (Reliability: 2).
      "Finley, Wm. B., photographer, ... h Newcastle townsite."

    16. [S41] HEN00, (Victoria, B.C.: Henderson Publishing Co., 1900), 8 Dec 2016, 386 (Reliability: 2).
      "Finley, Wm. B. ... h Newcastle townsite."

    17. [S647] Census of Canada 1901, 10 Dec 2016, 12 (Reliability: 3).
      Province of British Columbia, Victoria District (no. 4), Sub-district D [?], Victoria City, lines 43-49, family 132.

    18. [S781] HEN02, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1902), 7 Dec 2016, 910 (Reliability: 2).
      Victoria: "Finley, W.B., photographer, 59 1-2 Government, h 7 Centre Rd."

    19. [S782] HEN03, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1903), 7 Dec 2016, 977 (Reliability: 2).
      "Finley, Wm. Best [sic], photographer, 59 1-2 Government."

    20. [S703] Vernon News, Special Illustrated Ed., Jul 1904, unpaged (Reliability: 2).
      Came to Vernon fall 1903; most of the photos in this issue are by W.B. Finley.

    21. [S785] HEN05, (Vancouver: Henderson Publishing, 1905) (Reliability: 2).
      No listing for Vernon or Kamloops.

    22. [S397] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1997), (London, Ont.: Iron Gate Publishing, 1997; 2nd printing, 2002), 25.
      Red Deer: Finley, W.B. 1906

    23. [S723] Census of the Northwest Provinces 1906, 10 Dec 2016, 14 (Reliability: 3).
      Province of Alberta, Strathcona District, Sub-district 44, lines 21-27, family 109.

    24. [S339] Voters List, (Victoria, B.C.: Province of British Columbia, 1874-), 1908, 1909, Ref. NW 324.1 B862. (Reliability: 3).
      In Vernon; this may be an error carried over from his time there in 1903-1904.

    25. [S397] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1997), (London, Ont.: Iron Gate Publishing, 1997; 2nd printing, 2002), 130.
      Saskatoon: Finley, William B. 1910-1911

    26. [S397] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1997), (London, Ont.: Iron Gate Publishing, 1997; 2nd printing, 2002), 101.
      Winnipeg: Finley, William B. 1911-1914

    27. [S397] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1997), (London, Ont.: Iron Gate Publishing, 1997; 2nd printing, 2002), 94.
      Swan River: Finley, William B. 1914-1915

    28. [S397] Glen C. Phillips, Phillips (1997), (London, Ont.: Iron Gate Publishing, 1997; 2nd printing, 2002), 130.
      Saskatoon: Finley, William B. 1916-1920

    29. [S830] Tony Sproule, Information about William Burton Finley (Web site), (Genealogy.com), 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      Burial information confirmed at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=150463496

    30. [S832] Find a Grave (Web site).
      URL (accessed 25 Jan 2023): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150463496/william-burton-finley

    31. [S830] Tony Sproule, Information about William Burton Finley (Web site), (Genealogy.com), 8 Dec 2016 (Reliability: 3).
      No source cited for date or place of death.