Images of Clayton and its People, 1864-1871

Tucked away, abandoned in an attic for more than 135 years, lay several wooden crates filled with an irreplaceable treasure.  Glass plate negatives, more than 3000 of them, were forgotten.  Recently found and donated to the Jefferson County Historical Society by Mrs. Julia Gosier, these images bring us a rare glimpse of the village of Clayton, and people from the surrounding area, between 1864 and 1871. More than 1,200 of the images have

The View Looking South Up James Street, c. 1880.

The Johnston Studio, Water Street

survived.  Of those, 595 can be linked with a ledger identifying the people pictured.  Another 43 images depict images of Clayton and the Thousand Islands. 

 

The images were done by the Oren Johnston Studio, who was the first photographer in the Village of Clayton. Many of the images were taken by the brother and sister team of Oliver and Theodosia Wilcox, then employees of the studio.  Theodosia later married Oren Johnston.  Theodosia divorced Oren and moved west, showing up in Hastings, Minnesota in 1870.  She later returned to Binghamton as Mrs. Fred Harbottle, where she died in 1905.

 

 

 

 

Thousand Islands View

 

Thousand Islands View

(subject unknown)

Clayton Home.  Can you identify this house?

Steamer ‘Midge’ at the Clayton dock.

The Johnston Studio negatives contain 595 photos of named individuals, and more than 600 photos for whom we have no record.  The index to the named negatives can be downloaded here.  If there is a negative that interests you, laser prints (600dpi) may be purchased for $10 per sheet (8x10).  High-resolution large prints are available by special order.  Orders may be placed by calling or e-mailing us.

 

We’ll routinely publish un-named negatives on this webpage.  If you can identify them, please tell us so that we can add it to our records!  We’ll also change the images of this page periodically, so stop back often.

Unknown Wi1012

Unknown Wi1016

A Virtual Exhibit

© 2006 Jefferson County Historical Society

 

This exhibit is for the sole education and enjoyment of JCHS members and visitors to this website.  JCHS will not be responsible for any content or files downloaded from this page.

The Johnston Negative Collection has been conserved in part by donations from

The Johnson Newspaper Corporation

and

McGrann Paper Corporation