PLEASE USE BACK BUTTON ON BROWSER TO RETURN TO TEXT

108. The plate-box was originally purchased at an estate sale of the property of Kenneth Edwin Corrigan of Detroit Michigan. Both he and his wife, Henrietta Snow Hayden Corrigan, who died in 1971, were radiation physicists. The plate-box and cased plate L were in a gilded lap desk which also contained other small items including: jewelry, later photographs, a calling card of Robert H. Carter, and three valentines (c. 1870) addressed to a Kate Carter. In the same room were finely bound literary books (c. 1820-60) inscribed with the Carter name, and a brass half-plate daguerreian lens marked C. C. Harrison, N.Y.

A superficial search through the forebears of Henrietta Snow Hayden (whose grandparents were Dwight F. Hayden, Sr., Henrietta Kingsley, Levi Adelbert Snow, and Anna M. Van Alstyne), revealed no obvious link to Draper, New York University, or even New York City. Most of her family were from the Syracuse, New York, area. Of possibly more promise are the forebears of Kenneth Edwin Corrigan. His marriage certificate records his birth in Newark, New Jersey, on 10 June 1905. Other sources give his birthplace as New York City. His parents are listed on the marriage license as William Seward Corrigan and Emma Blanchard Carter.

Unfortunately the writer has not yet found a birth certificate or any further information about his parents and has thus been unable to move further backward. There is however, record of a Carter family in Brooklyn, New York, who appear to be related to Kenneth, judging from the other items found with the plate-box in the lap desk.

The 1870 census under entry for Robert H. Carter, Kings County 079, 8th Ward, Brooklyn, lists:
Name
Robert H. Carter
Fannie
Kate
Mariah
Robert H.
George J.
Emily
 Age
40
32
17
15
9
7
4
 Born
England
England
New York
New York
New York
New York
New York
 Occupation
Shoestore
Housekeeper
School
School
School
School
--
 Value
$1500
--
--
--
--
--
--
 Parents born
England
England
--
--
--
--
--

The 1860 census under entry for Robert H. Carter, Kings County, 3rd District, 11th Ward, Brooklyn, lists:
Name
Robert H. Carter
Fannie
Kate
Mariah
 Age
39
24
7
5
 Born
England
--
--
--
 Occupation
Jeweler
--
--
--
 Value
$400
--
--
--
 Parents born
England
--
--
--

A possibly related entry in the 1850 census records lists a Robert Carter, Kings County (part) and City B'klyn (Wards 1-3) O41, age thirty-seven, jeweler, born in England, listed with about a dozen other men (presumably a boarding or rooming house).

Robert's actual approximate age might be guessed by a death certificate found for a Frances Carter (his wife?), who died on 17 April 1878, at the age of sixty-five. She was recorded as born in England, a resident of New York City for fifty years, and by occupation an engraver (fits well with a jeweler).

In addition, city directories and census records 1850-1915 reveal several individuals named Robert H. Carter working as bookseller and book binder. One intriguing entry in Trow's New York City directory for 1854-55, lists a Robert Carter as operating a Camera and Museum at 689 Sixth Avenue.

More intensive effort should be expended to find the correct track backward from Kenneth Corrigan, and to find any possible link between the various Robert Carters of Brooklyn and New York City, and Draper or New York University.

Little has surfaced concerning the Corrigan name except one evocative entry which demands further research. In the Scovill Manufacturing Company Collection, Baker Library, Harvard University, there is an untitled, unpublished manuscript on the history of the Scovill Manufacturing Company. On page 427 of one chapter of this manuscript entitled "Scovill and Photography. The Tail that Almost Wagged the Dog," Philip W. Bishop quoted from a letter from J. M. L. Scovill to his brother Lamson Scovill, written during the winter of 1839-40.
"I called on Corrigan about plated metal. He says the last he imported cost 68 deld here Cash except Duties. I shall call on the Importers and see what can be done."
At least one man named Corrigan was evidently involved to at least some small degree in the origin of daguerreian photography in America. Bishop's manuscript also describes how Scovill later became sole agent for the cameras and lenses of C. C. Harrison.

This is as far as the genealogical research has progressed. A viable link of provenance may never be found. If found, it will likely require much further time and resources. Nevertheless, both Carter and Corrigan names offer potentially fruitful lines of research.

PLEASE USE BACK BUTTON ON BROWSER TO RETURN TO TEXT