Ingram Brothers

Brothers Eugene and William Howard Ingram came from a very distinguished family. Their grandfather was William Ingram, Jr., a stone mason, who came to East Braford in 1836 where he built a three-story stone house (later occupied by Richard Darlington’s school). William Ingram, Jr. worked as a contractor in connection with Chalkley Jefferis on many architectural projects in Chester County and Philadelphia. Among them were the Chester County Courthouse and Prison, both designed by architect Thomas U. Walter who is known for designing the dome of the U.S. Capitol. He also did the mason work on the Girard College, House of Refuge and Cherry Hill Prison in Philadelphia.^[1]

When William Ingram Jr. died in 1865 an extensive estate including several farms and thousands of dollars in cash was divided between William Ingram Jr.’s ten children and one granddaughter.^[2] His son, James, inherited a 53-acre farm in East Bradford Township just outside of the borough of West Chester.

James A. Ingram (1823-1912) and his wife Elizabeth Entriken Ingram (1830 -1895) raised four sons and a daughter on the East Bradford farm.^[3] According to the 1870 census, William Howard (known as Howard)^[4] assisted his father with the farm duties,^[5] while his brother Eugene apprenticed with miller William Pyle of West Goshen Township.^[6]

Howard Ingram found a good business opportunity when he purchased Theodore B. McGinley’s studio at 11 West Gay Street in West Chester. It was not far from the farm in East Bradford.

The Daily Local News of April 1, 1873, carried the following advertisement:

How Ingram learned the photography business is not known. One can speculate that he apprenticed with McGinley or another photographer in West Chester. How he had enough money to purchase the business is also a question. Here again we can speculate that he may have borrowed the money from a family member. But these are only theories.

Cartes-de-visite produced by Ingram during this time period are imprinted: “W. H. Ingram, Photograph & Ferrotype Gallery, No. 11 West Gay St., West Chester, PA. Duplicates can be had by sending No…” The above advertisement ran in the Local for two weeks, there were no further advertisements thereafter.

Just how long the business lasted in West Chester is a mystery. Ingram was never listed in the county business directory as a photographer. He would have had tough competition from established photographers T. W. Taylor and J. S. Beecher. Ingram is not listed on West Chester’s tax list for 1873, since he was still a minor at age 20. He does not appear on any tax list until 1875 when he reached his majority. Then he is recorded as a single freeman living in East Bradford. His occupation is not recorded, but his valuation is $300 indicated a trade. He appeared in East Bradford’s tax lists for 1876 and 1877.^[8]

From this evidence we can produce several theories. He may have lived in nearby E. Bradford on the farm while running the business in West Chester. The tradesman’s valuation is evidence that his main source of income was from a trade rather than farm work.

Or did he only have the West Chester studio open for a brief time in 1873? What he could not have foreseen when he started the business was the Financial Panic of 1873. Begun by Germany changing its’ monetary system to a gold standard, the domino effect of the Panic swept the globe, causing many banks and businesses to fail. Many photographers could not withstand the deep depression that befell the economy, leaving often only one or two practitioners in each good-sized town.

As the clouds of the depression lift later in that decade, new photographers again look to the county seat of West Chester as a good market. That is when W. Howard Ingram and his brother Eugene appear on West Chester’s Tax list in 1878, regrettably, the assessor does not record their occupations. For them to be listed for tax collection in the spring of 1878 they must have been established in business by fall of 1877.

Also, about this time, a series of photographs of the students of the Toughkenamon Boarding School were taken bearing the hand stamped mark: “W. H. & E. E. Ingram, West Chester, PA.” ^[9]From this evidence we conclude that the two brothers were now in business in the borough. Few examples of their work are in the collection of the Chester County History Center, indicating that they were in business for a short time. They are listed in the 1879 West Chester Tax List, but not thereafter.

According to the 1880 Census, Howard was living on the farm in East Bradford with his parents, brother Torbert Lincoln Ingram, sister Ione and Grandmother Sarah Entriken.^[10] Also for that year Howard is listed on the East Bradford Tax List in partnership with his father, James, working the family’s farm. According to the census, his brother Eugene is living in West Goshen as a boarder and working as a miller. Most likely their dreams of a photographic studio had been set aside.

A gossip column in the June 5, 1883, edition of the Daily Local News reported that William H. Ingram is planning to move to Woodstock Virginia in spring of next year.^[11] There is no follow up to this story, but James’s partnership with his son W. Howard Ingram appears unbroken on the East Bradford Tax Lists year after year.

But new dreams came along for each brother. The 1900 Census found Eugene with his wife Kate and their five children living in San Benito, California.^[12] He was now working as a carpenter. Howard in 1900 was still living and working with his widowed father and brother Thomas Lincoln on the East Bradford Farm.^[13] The family had expanded when Howard married Anna Bartholomew in 1898.^[14]

In June of 1902, Howard Ingram purchased twelve acres of land in East Bradford, adjacent to his father’s farm for $2200.^[15] The farm included a house, barn and mill. The tract also contained a right of way for the West Chester Street Railway trolley line to Downingtown.

On March 23, 1904, James Ingram’s farm was sold to William P. Reed for $3,200.^[16] It contained two tracts of land and two houses. There were fifty-three acres of farm land including a four-acre woodlot. The property is shown on the 1873 Witmer’s Atlas of Chester County, Pa. map of East Bradford as being located close to Copesville.^[17]

Substantial changes came for the family in 1910. The 1910 census records James Ingram age 87 now in the household of his son Eugene in California.^[18] Also that year, Howard sold his property to the Borough of West Chester for $3,400.^[19] He and his wife left Chester County for California. They lived in San Diego according to a 1915 city directory; W. Howard worked as a house painter.^[20] Father James Ingram died August 13, 1912 in San Diego, California.^[21]

Eugene died July 29, 1928, at the age of seventy-seven.^[22] William Howard Ingram’s date of death is not known. Siblings Torbert Lincoln Ingram and Ione Ingram Cope also moved to California.^[23] All are buried in that state.

©Pamela C. Powell, 2023.