A century ago, photographer from Shelby had knack for images of people and their pets
Now there’s a dog with an attitude! “Sloat’s Dog” presents a regal and commanding pose. (Scott B. Dunlap Collection)
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 40
SHELBY – It is the holiday season! We have been dealing with serious photographs all year long, stern looking men and somber women, buildings and street scenes galore. Time for some lighter fare!
Our submissions today are from the Scott B. Dunlap collection which we have previously used for postmortem and Powerline project photographs.
Born in 1898, Scott B. Dunlap of Dunlap Road in Shelby was a fourth-generation member of the family for whom the road is named. Armed with his new Kodak camera, Scott, who graduated from Medina High School in 1905, took unposed, relaxed photographs of family, friends and animals.
Most likely without intending to, he compiled a precious chronicle of life in rural America in the early 1900s, in those years just before automobiles replaced the horse and buggy. In 2008, Scott B. Dunlap, Jr. donated this collection of over two hundred of his father’s glass plate negatives to the Medina Historical Society.
“Sloat’s Dog” with his snout in the air, cannot but make one smile. It appears that Sloat had another dog, an equally well-fed and imperious canine.
“Sloat’s Dog” #2 (Scott B. Dunlap collection)
According to the 1900 Census, Francis Sloat, a farmer, and his wife, Mary (Dutton), lived in Shelby. Sloat later moved to Corfu, died in 1921 and is buried in Millville Cemetery.
“Dunk’s children” (Scott B. Dunlap collection)
What a visual treasure! The horse is old and calm, the girls are dressed up for the occasion, in matching dresses and hats. The younger girl, on the left, is clutching part of the horse’s mane in her hand.
“Dunk” was Frank Dunkelberger, a farmer in Shelby. The 1900 Census lists his age as 30, his daughters Ruth and Rhea were 6 and 4 at the time of the Census.
“Remson’s children” (Scott B. Dunlap collection)
Upon investigation, these children with the white cat and a sheep may be Seth Ransom’s grandchildren, rather than Remson’s children, as labeled: Theron, Anita and J. Lawrence Caleb who lived on Southwoods Road in Shelby.
“Boy with two dogs” (Scott B. Dunlap collection)
Our last selection (it was difficult to choose) is of this young man, armed with a hunting rifle and two dogs. We were taken by the unsettling expression of the seated dog.
In addition to providing some levity, these photographs contain a treasure trove of attendant details which we can now zoom over and enlarge. Naturally, we relish the challenge of finding additional information on the subjects. Armed with the most basic descriptors “Sloat’s Dog” or “Remson’s Children” we were able to locate information in the Orleans County Genweb site and the New Century Atlas of Niagara and Orleans Counties, 1913.
https://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/7112/Orleans+County+1913/
