McNear, John Augustus (1832-1918) (2 of 2)

John Quincy Reed’s Portrait Photograph of John Augustus McNear

View fullsize

THE PHOTOGRAPHER/ PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO:

Photographer: JOHN QUINCY REED was born in 1841 in Abington, Massachusetts and died in 1902 in Petaluma. He worked as a photographer in Petaluma for over 25 years, moving his studio within the community to several different locations. He arrived into Petaluma from Stockton in 1870 and continued to work as a photographer in Petaluma until at least 1898. Many of his portraits of Petaluma’s citizens are of exceptionally fine quality. (For additional information on this photographer and to view all portraits by him in the collection, click on his name in blue above.)

THE SITTER:

Name: John Augustus McNear

Description: When this head-and-shoulders portrait was taken, John Augustus McNear was 45 years old. He appears as a handsome, clear-eyed, and, albeit balding, youthful man. His lack of top-of-the-head hair is compensated by his well-groomed Shenandoah beard. The hair of his right temple has been combed directly back creating the appearance of a wing over his ear. He is austerely attired in a conservative jacket, vest, and a simple white shirt. The absence of a neck tie gives him an almost clerical appearance.

Biographical Note: John Augustus McNear is arguably the most famous and respected of all Petaluma pioneers. He was a man of vision with astonishing energy, brilliance and ambition. Under his influence Petaluma grew from a small riverside frontier town to a thriving center of industry and commerce. With encouragement from his father-in-law, George Bailey Williams (1809-1899), McNear moved to Petaluma in 1856 with his first wife, Clarinda Damsen Williams McNear (1837-1866). He saw that the little town had a bright future, and he immediately invested in a livery stable and hay yard. Trained as a master mariner in his youth, McNear used his profits to create a shipping business on the Petaluma River. He built riverside warehouses where produce, especially wheat and potatoes, could easily be transported via the river’s scowl schooners, invested to straighten the river’s impeding bends, financed a fleet of schooners, built the freight steamer, Josie McNear, and constructed a canal to enable steamships to dock in Petaluma independent of the tides. Wisely diversifying his interests, McNear founded Petaluma’s Bank of Sonoma County and was a backer of local railroad lines. He invested in the Sonoma County & Petaluma Water Company and established a very profitable brick manufacturing facility on Point San Pedro. Praising John McNear in his 1911 History of Sonoma County, Tom Gregory wrote: “Of all the prominent pioneers of the state there is none more deserving of esteem and good will of the people than John A. McNear, for wherever his name is known it means that he has stamped some indelible action in that locality… He is typically a Californian by adoption, always of the most loyal kind, honorable, upright and a man who has forged his way to the front through the exercise of talents given him by nature, and while doing this there has never been a time that he has neglected the duties of a citizen.”

Family Affiliation: John Augustus McNear’s first wife was Clarinda Damsen Williams McNear (1837-1866). His Petaluma pioneer in-laws were George Bailey Williams (1809-1899) and Mehitable Lilly Williams (1807-1899). John had several children with Clarinda, but only one, George Plummer McNear (1857-1947), lived to adulthood. John Augustus McNear’s second wife was Hattie S. Miller McNear (1847-1922) with whom he had two children, John A. McNear (1869-1927) and Erskine B. McNear (1872-1956).

Bibliography:

THE PHOTOGRAPH:

Format / Size: carte de visite

Medium: albumen photographic print mounted on cardstock

Description, front:

Description, back: Handwritten along the top edge of this card is “1877”. On the back is this card is an early imprint used by the photographer when his studio was located, “Over Morris’ Cigar Store”.

Date: 1877

Condition: This carte de visite is in very good condition.

Owner:  Private collector, digital copy by permission

Reproduction rights: The Petaluma Museum Association makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to the digitized images here reproduced.  These images are intended for personal or research use only. Any other kind of use, including, but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the Association. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.