Perry & Hansing, "Photoists"

Area photographers George H. Perry and William S. Hansing formed a brief partnership in the 1890s, with studios in Platteville, Cuba City, and Potosi. As the advertisement below indicates, the Cuba City studio was open the first week of each month, and the headquarters was in Platteville.

W. S. Hansing, a roaming photographer from Galena, was no stranger to Cuba City. He briefly operated a studio in town from December 1890 until June 1891, before returning to Galena. Hansing joined forces with George Perry by the following year. The duo are responsible for this photograph of Cuba City grammar school students, taken on September 23, 1892.

Students and principal identified as, Back row, left to right, Les Jackson, Emory Bray, Charles Doyle, Will Mitchell, John Hazelton, Hannah Harker, Katie Banfield, Addie Stephens, Minnie Byrne, Sophia Byrne, Minnie Stephens, Addie Willey, Jennie Harker, Prin. George Byrne. Middle row, Rosa Willey, Bessie Smalley, Mamie Brock, Jennie Hazelton, Sadie McNaughton, Annie Brewer, Jennie Kellner. Front row, Frank Bray, John Blades, Frank Stephens, Rollie Willey, Oscar Banfield, Garfield Bowden, Claude Harker, Hayes Harker, Albert Brewer. Image from the Cuba City Centennial history.

The following cabinet cards were also produced at one of the Perry & Hansing "photo rooms". Sadly, the young subjects of the photographs are unidentified.

 

 

Whether a result of William Hansing's apparent wanderlust, or George Perry's health, the partnership did not last long. Perry was a paraplegic due to an accident, and he died in November 1893, at the age of 35. (His wife continued working in the photography field for several years after his death.) By this time, William Hansing was working at his own studio in Potosi, he opened a new studio in Benton in 1894, and he was back in his hometown of Galena by October 1895. 

 

Sources:

Galena Daily Gazette (issues from 1876-1908 available online at the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection).

Hibbard, James B. Platteville (Images of America). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.