Robert Vance 1825 ~ 1876

Robert Vance was a pioneer daguerreotypist
and said to be the first to photograph
the gold fields and Native Americans
in California in 1849.

Robert H. Vance was born in 1825 to William Vance, Esq. and his fourth wife Charlotte. When Robert was 8 years old his family moved from Baring to Readfield, Maine where his father – known as the old Squire - bought a large white brick house on Old Kents Hill Road (Knight in 2014).

William Vance is a story unto himself.  In June 1775, at age 16, he joined Capt. McFarland’s Company in Boston as a substitute for his brother John, who’d been wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He served for eight months and was among Benedict Arnold’s men eon the expedition to Quebec in 1775. William became a lawyer and land baron who owned property throughout eastern Canada, in downeast and central Maine. Vanceboro and Charlotte Plantation, ME were named in honor of him and his wife Charlotte. When living downeast William served in the Maine State Legislature and came to know some politicians who were Readfield residents which, in 1833, motivated him to move there.  In Readfield he acquired extensive real estate holdings – often through foreclosure auctions and estate sales – and consequently gained significant debt.  The elder Vance also enjoyed the company of ladies. He married five times and some ended in divorce. From these unions there were seventeen children.  

Meanwhile, his son Robert H. Vance’s childhood was unsettled. He was the sixteenth of seventeen siblings born between 1781 and 1826. His parents divorced and he was shuttled from relative to relative until age 15 when the elder Vance died and Lot M. Morrill, a Readfield attorney became guardian to Robert and his minor siblings. Eventually Morrill married Robert’s younger sister Charlotte. Morrill also had the arduous task of settling William Vance’s complicated estate. Incidentally, Morrill later became 28^th Governor of Maine, a U.S. Senator, and Secretary of the Treasury under President U.S. Grant.

Robert Vance received a significant inheritance from his father that included the family homestead on Old Kents Hill Road with 190 acres, as well as another dwelling house slightly east of there on the corner of Giles Road (Meyer in 2014). Robert soon sold the properties and with $5,000 in hand he moved to Dover, NH then on to Boston where he set himself up as daguerreotype photographer – a process that had been in existence for only five years at the time. From there he ventured further and made photographic history… 

In 1847 Robert Vance sailed around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, Chile where he became a pioneer daguerreotypist. Two years later he sailed to San Francisco where he was among, if not the first, to capture historic images in the gold fields and of California's Native Americans. Some historians consider Vance the "father of California photography" because so many artists gained their skills as apprentices in his six studios located in California and Hong Kong. Among his protégés was Carleton Watkins, whose images of Yosemite were vital to President Lincoln and the U.S. Congress’ move towards declaring Yosemite as a National Park. During the winter and spring of 1851, Vance produced an extraordinary series of 300 large daguerreotypes showing the splendor of California. These "Views in California" were exhibited in New York City later that year and received great critical acclaim.  Robert Vance catered to the best clientele, and by 1860 he was considered a wealthy man with $40,000 in cash and real estate.

Little is known of Robert Vance’s personal life other than he married a woman named Maggie and there were no children. He died unexpectedly at age 51 on July 4, 1876 in Brooklyn, New York.  His body was brought back to Maine and buried in Augusta’s Forest Grove Cemetery beside his sister Charlotte and her husband Gov. Lot M. Morrill.

This article was written by Dale Marie Potter-Clark who is the Historical Consultant for the Readfield Historical Society. She also offers community education about Readfield’s history, and organizes "Readfield History Walks". FMI visit www.readfieldhistorywalks.blogspot.com.