Reading B. Mulford

Reading Bertron Mulford was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1837, the son of merchant John Mulford (1800-1876) and his wife Maria Conover Bertron (1804-1852)^[1]. Mulford had the opportunity to engage in higher education; he was recorded as a student at the University at Lewisburg in 1854^[2]. He returned to Philadelphia where according to the 1860 Census he worked as a clerk and was living with his brother who was a coal merchant^[3].

Answering his country’s call on January 22, 1862, Mulford enlisted in Co. G. 90^th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers as a Corporal^[4]. This regiment fought in many of the bloodiest conflicts of the Civil War including, Battles of South Mountain, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg; as well as Burnside’s Mud March and others^[5]. He transferred to Co. F. 11^th Regiment on November 26, 1864, where he saw action at Second Battle of Bull Run, Battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville^[6]. He mustered out of service January 22, 1865, at the conclusion of his three years of service.

After he came home from the war, Mulford took up photography. West Chester is the first place where he is documented as being a photographer. Examples of cartes-de-visite by Mulford are in the photograph collection at Chester County History Center^[7]. His carte-de-visite imprint reads: “Photographed by R. B. Mulford, of Philadelphia, No. 9 W. Gay Street, West Chester, Pa., $1.75 a dozen.” Several of the examples show copy work he has done from daguerreotypes of an earlier time.

The first record of Mulford’s residence in West Chester, Pennsylvania is a Social Security application filed by his son, William^[8]. William Bertron Mulford was born in the borough on November 25, 1867; his mother was Sophie U. Day. It is reasonable to theorize that Mulford arrived in West Chester in the fall of 1867.

Mulford is recorded in the 1868 West Chester Tax list as a “photographist”, but the entry is crossed out, indicating that he was in the borough in the fall of 1867 but was gone by tax collection time in spring of 1868^[9]. Listed as a tenant/single freeman at the occupational tax rate of 200 indicating that the photographer was doing a brisk trade.

Mulford moved to Philadelphia sometime in the early spring of 1868 since he was listed in a directory as a photographer at N. 43^rd Haverford, West Philadelphia^[10]. He can be found in Philadelphia city directories for 1870, 1872 and 1873 listed as a photographer living at 1331 Mary Street^[11]. According to Gopsill’s Philadelphia City Directory for 1877 he is listed as a photographer residing at 1522 N. 15^th Street^[12]. It may be that Mulford was working for another photographer during the 1870s.

Recorded in the 1880 Census as a 42-year-old artist, Mulford was living on Edgeley Street with his wife and three children, William (17), Emily (10), and Lidie (7)^[13]. However, by 1885 Mulford’s career and family life had changed forever. In that day divorce was so shameful that couples resorted to simply separating and starting lives in new cities, sometimes claiming that they were widowed. In the 1885 Colorado State Census we find R. B. Mulford as a farmer in Arapahoe County, Colorado^[14]. His photography career had ended for good. His three children were living with relatives in New Jersey^[15].

According to the 1900 Census, Sophia Mulford is now living in Manhattan, New York with her three adult children and is recorded as a widow^[16].

Reading Mulford is recorded in the 1900 Census as a farmer in Cherrelyn, Arapahoe County Colorado^[17]. He gives his status as married. In a Denver Colorado directory Mulford is recorded as a rancher in 1894 but in 1904 he is working as a clerk ^[18].

Mulford’s health issues led him to turn to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers for assistance. Between 1905 and 1909 he was cared for at the Danville Branch in Illinois, the Mountain Branch in Johnson City, Tennessee and the Rosenberg Branch in Hampton, Virginia^[19].

According to the 1920 Census, Mulford, now age 83, lived in the warmer climate of Gulfport, Florida^[20].

He died on December 21, 1921, at the National Soldier’s Home in Elizabeth City, Virginia^[21] and was buried in the Hampton National Cemetery in that state^[22].

© Pamela C. Powell, 2020.

1. Ancestry.com, Reading Bertron Mulford-W6+ W.3.14.5.1.3.5. – Facts (ancestry.com) ↑

2. Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University at Lewisburg, Lewisburg, PA, 1854, 20. ↑

3. Year: 1860; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page: 763; Family History Library film: 805163. ↑

4. Samuel P. Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, (Harrisburg, PA: B. Singerly, 1869-1871), 174. ↑

5. 90^th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment – Wikipedia ↑

6. 11th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Wikipedia,11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment – Wikipedia ↑

7. Chester County History Center, West Chester, PA. Historical Photograph Collection: Cartes-de-visite. ↑

8. Ancestry.com, U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. ↑

9. West Chester Borough, Chester County Tax List, 1868, Chester County Archives and Records Services, West Chester, PA. ↑

10. Gary Saretzky, Philadelphia Photographers List, gary.saretzky.com/photohistory/philadelphiaphotographers.html ↑

11. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. ↑

12. Isaac Costa, comp, Gopsill’s Philadelphia City Directory for 1877, (Philadelphia: James Gopsill, 1877), 1066. ↑

13. Note: This census records his name as Robert B. Mulford, but all the family names and ages match leading the researcher to believe that the census taker made an error in recording the name. Year: 1880; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1187; Page 371A; Enumeration District: 595. ↑

14. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Records Group Title: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Records Group Number: 29; Series Number: M158; NARA Roll Number: 1. ↑

15. New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey, United States; State Census of New Jersey, 1885; Film Number 12. ↑

16. Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page 18; Enumeration District: 0523; FHL microfilm: 1241105. ↑

17. Year: 1900; Census Place: Cherrelyn, Arapahoe, Colorado; Page 4; Enumeration District: 0136; FHL microfilm: 1240122. ↑

18. Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line], Provo, Ut, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. ↑

19. Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1749, 282 rolls); Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Records Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C. ↑

20. Year: 1920; Census Place: Gulfport, Pinellas, Florida; Roll: T625_229; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 142. ↑

21. Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014, Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia. ↑

22. Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962, Interment Control Forms, A1 2110-B, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92, The National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland. ↑