Henry Oakley Mott

H. Oakley Mott was the son of lawyer^[1] Charles Merritt Mott (1847-1921) and Emma Oakley Mott (1849-1915) born November 13, 1874, in New York.^[2] He went by the nickname of Harry.

Mott first appears in the 1900 Coatesville tax lists as a photographer, which means he was in business by the middle of 1899.^[3] It is likely that he purchased the studio of Harry W. Smith, who ceased operation during 1899. He is listed in Boyd’s Chester County Pennsylvania Directory with a studio at Third Avenue corner of Main, Street, Coatesville.^[4] This studio above Odd Fellows Hall became his established location.^[5] His letterhead was emblazoned with the logo: “Mott Portrait Co. Makers of Photographs of the Better Kind.”^[6]

In 1904 he married Sue M. Stitzler (1876-1958 also known as Katherine), a milliner working at Stanton & Co. in Coatesville. The Coatesville Record announced their marriage on March 2, 1904, in Philadelphia. After a wedding trip the couple resided in Coatesville.^[7]

The 1910 census gives us a snapshot of Motts’ life in Coatesville. Harry is the proprietor of his own photo studio. The couple lived on Seventh Ave. along with Katherine’s sister Emma, who is also a milliner.^[8]

According to an invoice for $16.00 worth of photographs to H. L. Sproat Esq, Mott was still in business as of February 1, 1913.^[9] However, according to Coatesville tax lists, 1913 was his last year of operation for the Mott Portrait Company. Thereafter, his occupation is recorded as agent.^[10]

In 1915 Mott’s mother Emma Oakley Mott died at the age of sixty-six. According to her will, probated in Philadelphia, she gave all her stocks, certificates of deposits and bonds to her son, Henry.^[11] These investments gave Mott a new perspective on what he wanted to do with his career.

His World War I draft registration for 1917 reveals Mott is working for Val O. Farrell Detective Agency in Philadelphia while still living at 200 E. Main St., Coatesville.^[12] Certainly his photographic skills were needed in preparing case files for clients. Before the invention of copy machines, copies of documents could only be made photographically. Mott would have done much copy work as well as field work in this position. The 1920 census finds the Motts still in Coatesville, Henry’s occupation is not given.^[13]

At some point, Mott desired a quieter life. The family moved to Cambridge, Maryland where Henry operated a truck farm at 70 Glasgow Road.^[14] The 1930 census records the couple with Mott’s siter-in-law as well as a lodger in their household.

In about 1937, Henry Mott purchased the Brick Hotel in Georgetown, Delaware. He operated it with the help of his wife and sister-in-law, as well as a helper and a cook.^[15] They took in lodgers as well as guests. It was here that Mott was suddenly stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage and died December 21, 1941, at the age of sixty-eight.^[16] He was fondly remembered in his obituary in the Coatesville Record as one of Coatesville’s photographers. He was buried in Mifflinburg Cemetery, Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1941.

© Pamela C. Powell, 2023