c1896 PHOTO - Berlin Hart Wright, Penn Yan, NY - Astronomer for FARMERS' ALMANAC
I am currently offering this PHOTO on eBay (eBay Item #180019482280).The auction will end on Sunday, August 27, 2006, in the evening.
CABINET CARD PHOTOGRAPH of BERLIN HART WRIGHT (1851-1940), ASTRONOMER, Son of Samuel Hart Wright.Taken by Mills, Penn Yan, N.Y.Written on the reverse: 'Berlin H. Wright, Penn Yan, N.Y., age 45 yrs.To his friend + coworker Dr. Reynold J. Kirkland, Grand Rapids, Mich.'
PROVENANCE:This photograph came from an album belonging to Dr. Reynold J. Kirkland (1856-1930), of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was purchased over 35 years ago.Dr. Kirkland was a physician in Grand Rapids.He was also quite the renaissance man and one of his interests appears to have been Mollusks...an interest he shared with Dr. Wright.
[Married] in this village at the M.E. Church Dec. 24th [1874] by Rev. Ezra Tinker, M.A.B.D. of Goshen, assisted by Rev. J.P. Farmer, Prof. Berlin H. Wright of Penn Yan Academy to F. Loretta, youngest daughter of J.C. Mills, M.D…. (http://www.yatescounty.org/upload/12/historian/Sep74.htm)
In the 1880 U.S. Census of Jerusalem, Yates Co., NY, Berlin Wright, 29, Astronomer, is living with wife, Loretta, 27, and daughter, Ethel.Just above the entry for Berlin, is his father, S.H. [Samuel Hart] Wright, 55, Doctor, and his wife, Mary J., 44, and daughter, Lovina, 14.
Apparently Berlin and his father, Samuel, were also noted Malacologists (a zoologist specializing in the study of mollusks.).See, http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.vw.htmlhttp://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.vw.html
The most interesting item about Berlin Hart Wright is that he was the Astronomer for the famous Farmers' Almanac from 1875 to the early 1930's.See the Farmers' Almanac Home Page for the story:http://www.farmersalmanac.com/aboutus/aboutus.htmlhttp://www.farmersalmanac.com/aboutus/aboutus.html.According to the Almanac site, they have his father dying in 1875, which is clearly not the case according to the 1880 Census.
For a photograph of Berlin H. Wright's home in 1884, go to:http://www.cfmemory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/cfm&CISOPTR=39544&CISOSHOW=39513&REC=8http://www.cfmemory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/cfm&CISOPTR=39544&CISOSHOW=39513&REC=8