132 Autographed Political photos 1867 NY State Assembly Start Price USD 2,500.00 Current Price USD 2,500.00 Time Left 29 days 12 hours 31 minutes Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, October 08, 2008 End Time Thursday, February 05, 2009 Location NJ See more about '132 Autographed Political photos 1867 NY State Assembly' Description 132 Autographed Political photos 1867 NY State Assembly   Click to Enlarge     Description: Photographic Album of the New York State Assembly of 1867Published byJ. H. AbbottK.R. Mason, Artist480 Broadway, Albany, New YorkUnique and valuable, museum quality historical documentA bound album containing 143 original photographs (mounted albumen prints) of all members of the Assembly plus the Governor and other State Officers, and Assembly officials who served during the 1867 session. 140 of the photos are CDV size and are mounted four to a page,. and 3 of the photos are large (5" x 7") and are mounted in oval frames, one to a page. There are a total of 19 cardboard leaves in the album in addition to the title page.The album is bound in half-leather over boards measuring 8.25" x 10.25" and has marbled endpapers. Samuel Purdys name is stamped in gilt on the cover.The photographs are presented in alphabetical order and include men from many famous NY families such as George Batcheller, Chas. Blauvelt, Stephen Haynes, A. Hoffman, Chas. Hoyt, John Jacobs, Geo. Millspaugh, A.L. Reynolds, J. Van Valkenberg, C. H. Young, L. W. Fiske, Underwood, Wyeth.This album was prepared for Assemblyman Samuel M. Purdy of West Farms which was then part of Westchester County but later became part of The Bronx, in New York City. [see below]!32 of the photographs are signed by their subjects who also indicated the town and/or district they represented. The album thus represents a unique collection of autographs and political photos that has few parallels in American political history in the period immediately following the Civil War. Many of the subjects were officers during the war.The large photos are of the: (1) Governor, Reuben E. Fenton (unsigned) [-- Born in Carroll, Cattaraugus County, N.Y. Republican. Member of New York State Assembly, 1850; U.S. Representative from New York, 1853-55, 1857-65 (33rd District 1853-55, 1857-63, 29th District 1863-65); Governor of New York, 1865-69; candidate for Republican nomination for Vice President, 1868; U.S. Senator from New York, 1869-75. Died in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, N.Y., August 25, 1885], (2) The Lieutenant Governor, Stewart L. Woodford, (signed) [-- of Brooklyn, Kings County, N.Y. Born in New York, New York County, N.Y. Republican. General in the Union Army during the Civil War; Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1867-68; candidate for Governor of New York, 1870; U.S. Representative from New York 3rd District, 1873-74; U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, 1877-83; delegate to Republican National Convention from New York, 1880 (alternate), 1908; U.S. Minister to Spain, 1897-98. Died in New York City, N.Y., February 14, 1913.] and (3) Speaker, Edmund S. Pitts (signed) of Medina, N.Y.[ Republican. Speaker of the New York State Assembly, 1867; delegate to Republican National Convention from New York, 1868].Also bound in the album as a frontispiece is a campaign engraving of Grover Cleveland who was then running for Governor on the Democratic ticket. (Presumably, Republican members had their candidates portrait bound in)In addition to the bound photos, there are, attached to the front and rear endpapers, four cabinet size photos of members of the Purdy family, including an infant in a Victorian perambulator.Condition: Original boards with a new leather spine to which is attached a small portion of the original spine containing some of the title.Both boards are scuffed and soiled and the rear board has spotting and damp stains. The binding is tight and the cardboard leaves are intact though wavy due to the adhesive used originally to attach photos to album. The blank endpapers on which the family photos are mounted have tears and are soiled.The leaves generally have light to moderate soiling and spotting. The photos also have very light to moderate soiling and spotting, but all of the faces are quite clear. All of the autographs are very nice and readableThe following is additional material on the Purdy family:The Most Trusted Man By Professor LLOYD ULTAN Bronx County Historical Society, 7/15/99"In the history of The Bronx, Samuel Purdy holds an unusual place. He was born in 1824 in Eastchester, which then was part of Westchester County and straddled the modern border with The Bronx. To become a lawyer, he studied under Samuel E. Lyon of White Plains, one of the most distinguished attorneys of the era. Purdy passed the bar examination in 1849 and moved to the town of West Farms.In the middle of the nineteenth century, West Farms was quite picturesque. Located between the Bronx and Harlem rivers, and bisected by the Mill Brook, its scenery consisted of undulating plains broken from place to place by rocky ridges. It was a rural town. Farmers raised fruits and vegetables and grazed cattle for milk and meat to sell to a growing New York City on Manhattan.The year after his arrival, the town's voters elected the newly-minted attorney to the office of Justice of the Peace. In that capacity, Purdy presided over minor cases. He quickly garnered a reputation for wisdom in his decisions. Although he was personally a teetotaler, he never crusaded for the prohibition of liquor, and never preached to his neighbors to follow his example. His fellow townsmen valued his suggestions in business matters, and some actually entrusted their money to him to invest on their behalf. They also continued to re-elect him Justice of the Peace. Politically, he belonged to the Whig Party until it broke up. In 1856, he became a Democrat. Party affiliation did not matter to his neighbors, who also elected him the town's Supervisor several times, often without any opposition. In 1866, he was elected Supervisor by a vote of 513-8, and Justice of the Peace by 518-4. In the same year, he was also elected to the State Assembly in a district that included much of today's Bronx with a majority of 820 votes. It is a record modern politicians could envy.Purdys Throughout CountyThe Purdy families which are found in every community of Westchester are descendants of Francis Purdy and their numbers here and throughout the nation run into the thousands. Genealogies of Francis Purdy's sons, who moved to Rye before 1690, which fill volumes, show that Purdys had a way of "staying put" after the third and fourth generation. No branch is more interesting than that of Joseph Purdy who built the beautiful old homestead at Purdys. The house was occupied by his son, Isaac, when the railroad was built through the great Purdy farm in 1846. It was natural that the station located near the Purdy homestead should be named Purdy's Station, later shortened to Purdys. Until recent years Purdy farms lined West Street in Harrison and Rye, between Halstead Avenue and the Hutchinson River Parkway. Purdy of Mamaroneck, Rye and Port Chester can trace their descent right back to the five brothers who came to Rye before 1700. In 1919 Thomas L. Purdy relinquished at long last the big Purdy farm in Harrison when he sold it to William McEntee Bowman to build thereon the Westchester Country Club. Purdys who do not farm tend to go into business for themselves but there are many teachers in present as well as past generations and it is interesting to note in today's Purdy families there are many boys, as there always have been, so that the name of Purdy shows no signs of dying out in Westchester." Check our other auctions and store listings for additional unusual items. (Click here to view all of our auctions) Shipping : DOMESTICThis item will be shipped via insured Priority mail or equivalent service. 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