Gallagher, John, Sr., (1822-1908)
/Hector W. Vaughan’s Portrait photograph of John Gallagher Sr.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER/ PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO:
Photographer: Hector W. Vaughan
Photographic Studio: Imperial Photographic Gallery, 724 1/2 Market Street, San Francisco, California
THE SITTER:
Name: John Gallagher, Sr., (born Belfast, County Donegal, Ireland; died 1908 Petaluma, California)
Description: In this head-and-shoulder cabinet card portrait, John Gallagher, Sr. is between 55 and 58 years of age. He gazes with a contented look off to his right and appears to be holding a book under his right arm. He is dressed in a single-breasted, heavy, felted, wool jacket with metal buttons and an applied pocket on his left side. In a curious detail, his high, white, striped collar overlaps below his chin. He has a full, grey mustache and beard, and the sparse, receding hair atop his hair is disheveled and standing on end.
Biographical Note: John Gallagher was born in 1822 in Ireland and immigrated to New York City at the age of fifteen. He worked as an apprentice blacksmith until 1846 when he enlisted to fight in the Mexican-American War as a recruit of Colonel Jonathan Stevenson’s regiment of New York volunteers. With the goal of protecting California, a new U. S. territory, the recruits departed NYC in early 1847 in three ships bound for San Francisco. Gallagher wrote a twenty-six page memoir describing his participation in the Mexican-American war. The original of this document is preserved at the Bancroft Library, and a digital copy, given to the PHL&M by Gallagher’s descendants, can be found under “Bibliography” below. After the war, many of these soldiers, Gallagher among them, remained to settle the fledgling state of California. After trying his luck in the gold mines and working as a merchant in Stockton, Gallagher and his wife moved to Petaluma, and by 1858 had established a large ranch on San Antonio Creek where they raised nine children. Gallagher, his wife, and many of their children are buried together at Petaluma’s Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Family Affiliation: John Gallagher was the husband of Margaret McQuade Gallagher (1825-1897), and together they had nine children. Their son, John Patrick Gallagher (1861-1934), served for many years in Petaluma as a Justice of the Peace and a grocery and liquor store merchant.
Bibliography:
THE PHOTOGRAPH:
Format / Size: cabinet card
Description, front: This portrait has been placed in a vertical, oval format and surrounded by a brown mat. The studio’s imprint appears in white ink along the bottom edge.
Description, back: On the back of this card, handwritten in cursive in blue ink, is extensive information about John Gallagher. The cursive is clear and legible; consequently, it has not been transcribed here.
Date: This portrait was taken sometime between 1877 and 1880, the years in which the Imperial Studio in San Francisco was in operation.
Condition: The front side of this cabinet card is in excellent condition. The back side has stains on the upper right and the middle bottom.
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.