Peter Britt
| Peter Britt | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Peter Britt portrait in fez
|
|
| Born |
Peter Britt March 12, 1819 Obstalden canton of Glarus, Switzerland |
| Died | October 3, 1905 (aged 86) Jacksonville, Oregon |
| Occupation | Photographer, painter, orchardist |
Peter Britt is still known and celebrated in Southern Oregon as the pioneer photographer who left a rich heritage of local 19th-century portraits and landscapes. During his 50 years in Jacksonville, Oregon, he was also known as a painter, gardener, orchardist and vintner. Although Britt's home no longer exists, his former property has become the home of the Britt Festival and Britt Gardens.
When Peter Britt was born in Obstalden in the Swiss canton of Glarus, his family farmed land that had been in the family for centuries. Earning a living there as an itinerant portrait artist was difficult, but Peter pursued this until 1845, when he immigrated to the United States with his father Jacob Kaspar Britt, his brother Kaspar, and Kaspar's family. They settled with other Swiss emigres in Highland, Illinois. Portrait artists of the time were faced with competition from daguerreotype photographers, so Britt studied this new technology with John H. Fitzgibbon in St. Louis. Although Britt apparently opened his own studio in Highland in 1847 and operated it for five years, Miller could find no records to support that claim.
Perhaps gold fever, perhaps just wanderlust, took Peter Britt from Illinois to Oregon in 1852, following the completion of his naturalization process. Britt left Illinois with John Hug and two other Swiss men. Britt was the captain of the group, John was the wagon master, and the group made it to Grande Ronde Valley before the men insisted on no longer dealing with Britt's 300 pounds of photographic equipment. John Hug split the wagon into two halves. At The Dalles, Oregon, John Hug and Britt chose an overland route to Portland, while the other two men chose the Columbia River route and arrived in Portland, Oregon, just 24 hours later. Finally, Britt, hearing news of the gold mining strike in Table Rock City (now Jacksonville, Oregon), left Portland alone for southern Oregon. According to Miller he arrived with the two-wheeled cart, a yoke of oxen, a mule, and five dollars.
Britt built a log cabin in Jacksonville in November 1852, on land where he lived for the rest of his life. This log cabin no longer exists, but Southern Oregon University archeologists have recently determined the site of the cabin.
...
Wikipedia