Retired Allentown firefighter Ron Ruddell is a man of many interests.
Along with a toy soldier business he operated in Emmaus for many years, he has a passion for Allentown’s streetcars and has written extensively on the subject. Recently, Ruddell has begun to do research on 19th century local photographers.
It was here that he discovered an Allentown-born photographer, Charles Richard Rees (1830-1914), whose pathway in life led him south of the Mason Dixon line to Richmond, Virginia, and to become one of that that city’s leading photographers.
The Civil War is sometimes referred to as the Brothers War because it split families between the blue and the gray. And residents of the same towns found themselves with strong views that were not always shared by the majority in that community, where an accident of birth had placed them.
In the Lehigh Valley, there were many factions within factions. Some supported the war to save the Union but disagreed on the abolition of slavery. Others felt the idea of a war was senseless and to spare deaths "our erroring sisters" should simply be allowed to depart in peace.
Others called this treason to the legacy of the founding fathers and their own grandfathers and great grandfathers who had fought in the Revolution. They felt that traitor Lee and the rebellion should be crashed without mercy.
Allentown roots
Charles Richard Rees did not leave Allentown for Richmond for any political reasons. For he and his brother, Edwin, had been operating a photography business there since the 1850s.
Rees’s family were German immigrants. He was born in Allentown in January 1830. By the 1840s, his family was running a hotel on South Allen Street, later called Seventh Street, according to Ruddell’s research. It was probably one of many places that catered to farmers coming to town to market or to settle a land dispute at the Lehigh County Courthouse.
Ruddell believes that Rees came early to an interest in photography. Created in the late 1830s, it arrived in Allentown by the 1840s. Rees may have been influenced by pioneer Allentown photographer Benjamin Lochman.
Lochman is credited with a photo taken of Allentown’s Center Square following a rare fall snowstorm in October, 1862. Taken from a window and apparently in early morning it shows a fine view of Zion’s Reformed Church and a few businesses, among them Lion Hall, a men’s clothing store that eventually evolved into Leh’s Department store.
Rees must have been a quick study because the year 1850 found the enterprising 20-year-old in Cincinnati, Ohio, working as an apprentice to an unknown photographer. The following year, he moved to Richmond with his younger brother Edwin.
The move to Virginia
There was apparently no reason that is known as to why they selected the Virginia state capitol. But things apparently did not work out business wise. The year 1852 finds the brothers in New York, then the photography capital of America. They took over the photo studio of Harrison and Holmes at 289 Broadway. Being novices at the business, they kept on Silas Holmes to teach them the ins and outs of the business.
Rees decided that a little self-promotion was needed, when a fellow named Matthew Brady was among your competition. Billing himself as “Professor Reese,” he claimed to be a European expert in the fine art of artistic photography with his "German Method of picture taking."
Nor were the newspapers overlooked. Rees took out ads promising faster production of photos. All of this was promised at cheaper prices.
Despite pulling out all the stops, nothing seemed to work. Finally, after two years of trying, they decided to return to Richmond, where their business was finally a success.
Rees recorded his real estate value in 1859 as $10,000. It was also a personal success for Rees, who during those years, married Minerva Jane Beitler, a 19-year-old Ohio woman. They lived at Ashland, a small community 15 miles north of Richmond.
Photographing soldiers
It is not known for certain what the Rees brothers thought about the prospect of the oncoming war. But they clearly made no plans to leave for Allentown. And besides the war was good for business.
Soldiers, officers and enlisted men flocked to their studio to have their pictures taken before a battle. They produced hundreds of photos that were given to loved ones. For many, they were the only thing they had when their men did not return.
The Rees brothers charged $4 in Confederate money for their work, compared to the $1 other studios charged. Officers could easily afford the fee but for regular soldiers it represented several weeks pay. But Ruddell notes, "The Rees studio, nonetheless, produced a sharper image of high quality Ambrotypes."
Another specialty of the Rees’ brothers was the popular "Carde De Visites" (French for visiting card). The process employed a camera with four lenses. The individual’s image could then be printed on one sheet and cut into four business card sizes. Space was allowed at the bottom for a signature. Ruddell notes that these were popular with politicians at election times.
As the war went on, the firm was confronted with its own set of problems. In 1862, brother Edwin was called into military service. And as the Union naval blockade grew in strength, the supply of photographic chemicals from Europe grew scarce.
Even Northern supply firms which might be willing to sell to the South found themselves surrounded by wartime restrictions. As a result, the number of photographs taken by Confederate photographers of non-portraits are scarce.
One by Rees that Ruddell has found is of Libby Prison, used to house Union POWs. It is unique in that it shows a sailing ship loaded with cargo beside it. Ruddell notes that many sources refer to Libby Prison as being a former tobacco warehouse, when in fact it was the former business site of William Libby and Son, Ship Chandlers or suppliers.
Discovering a photo of General Lee
Perhaps the most interesting photo that Ruddell believes was taken by Rees shows General Robert E. Lee on his horse, Traveler, riding through the streets of Petersburg, Virginia. It was taken in 1864 but was not discovered until the 1970s.
Although Rees is not identified on the photo, Ruddell feels that because he was the only photographer with a portable darkroom and with a studio in Petersburg that it was most probably by him. It is rare, notes Ruddell, because there are no known pictures of Lee on his horse that were taken during the war.
Whoever the photographer was, he captured Lee at a difficult and decisive moment for the Confederacy. In his detailed study of that time, “Richmond Redeemed,” the late Dr. Richard J. Sommers of the Army War College points out how Lee was facing both a shrinking army which fought bravely and skillfully but was hopelessly out-manned and outgunned with the Union Army under Grant holding siege to Petersburg, the gateway to the Confederate capital.
When Richmond fell in 1865, Rees’ studio burned with most of the rest of the city. But he had made enough positive prints which were widely sold to be available when Union forces arrived.
Amid the blackened ruins Rees reopened for business. His brother quarreled with him and they went their separate ways. Edwin died in 1874. Charles Rees died in 1914 and was buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. His wife and sons continued to run the studio which finally closed in the Great Depression.
