Ambrotype advertisement from Lothrop G Bean in Lowell MA
This is a clipping from an 1858 Lowell MA newspaper, showing an advertisement for ambrotypes. It reads:
Patent Ambrotypes
If you wish a clear and life like picture of yourself or friend, visit Bean’s, 234 Merrimack street, where beautiful pictures are taken for 25 cents. Mr. BEAN is the only one in Lowell that makes the Patent Ambrotypes. Lowell, March 2, 1858.
This would be Lothrop G. Bean, as indicated in this entry in Craig’s Daguerreian Registry:
Bean, Lothrop G.
First listed as a daguerreian in Fall, River, Mass. in 1856. In 1858 and 1859 he was listed in Lowell, Mass. He advertised his “gallery of art” at 234 Merrimac St. in 1858 with “no stairs to climb”, and offered photographs and “lettertypes” as well as daguerreotypes. In 1859, at the same address, he advertised the exclusive right in Lowell to Cutting’s patent ambrotype process.
As we can see, the Ambrotype ads actually started in 1858. Lothrop G. Bean was born ca 1823 in Massachusetts, and in 1850 was living in Boston (Ward 4), employed as an engineer. In 1859 he is listed in the Lowell city directory as daguerrian, though I can not seem to find him in the 1860 census. He may be the L G Bean listed in Marlin Texas in 1870, occupation artist (photographers were often listed as artists in those early censuses), but I have no proof of that.
I also suspect Lothrop was the eldest son of Samuel Bean (ca 1796- ca 1867) who was son of Folsom Bean (1747-1830), and who married Adeline Jackman (1804-1869) Feb 28, 1821 in Boscawen NH. Online genealogies list Samuel and Adeline, but they show only the eight youngest children — those who were listed at home in the 1850 census. The 1840 census, however, shows that there were two older children, a male born 1821-1825 and a female born 1826-30. I believe Lothrop was that boy because the 1839 city directory for Lowell shows him as a boarder at S Bean’s on Ads street, and just below that Samuel Bean, whose house was 16 Ads street. Of course Samuel could have been some other relation, but because of the fit with the 1840 census data, it seems more likely he was Lothrop’s father. It was not unusual for adult (in this case, 17 or 18 years old) children be listed as boarders in their parents home in the old directories, especially if they are employed — which Lothrop apparently was, though I’m not sure what to make of the occupation: ‘Trem’ — perhaps it was a typo for Tram, as he was listed as an engineer in 1850.
