In 1861, Lewis Davis, originally from Ripley, Maine, partnered with his brother Charles in a company that preserved local history for decades to come. Their “carte de visite” prints, small photos backed on heavy paper, were affordable, portable and durable, they could be exchanged like business cards. The Davis Bros. also were successful in producing stereoscope images, in which two similar images, when viewed in a hand-held device, produced a three-dimensional effect.
By the end of the Civil War, photography was embedded in American culture. The Davis Bros. advertised “Pictures for the Millions” and operated from studios, first on Daniel Street and later on Pleasant Street in Portsmouth. They flourished for 35 years until the influx of inexpensive personal cameras made picture-taking accessible to the masses. Charles Davis and his wife, Mattie, built a large home on Miller Avenue, while Lewis and Cyrena raised their family at the corner of Highland and Broad streets. As the seacoast tourist industry expanded in the 1870’s, thousands of Davis Bros. souvenir cards depicted memorable scenes from Hampton Beach and the Isles of Shoals to York, Maine.
Lewis G. Davis (b. 8 Dec. 1833) and his younger brother Charles Davis (b. May 1836) were born in Ripley, Somerset, Maine, sons of a shoemaker Charles Davis (1810-) and his wife Mary F. Folsom (1810-1872). Commencing in the early 1850s, they were among the first photographers to open a studio in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where they took first daguerreotypes, and then ambrotypes. Apart from taking portraits, including ambrotypes, they took thousands of photos, not only in Portsmouth but in other States as well, published in the form of both carte de visites and stereoscopic cards. A large collection of their photos is held at the Portsmouth Athenaeum, forming an excellent pictorial historical record of the area.
The Davis Brothers continued operating a studio in Portsmouth until at least 1903. The following is an incomplete list of known dates of operation and studio addresses.
1860: Davis Bros., Ambrotypists, Exeter, New Hampshire
1860-1861: Davis Bros., Daguerreotypists, 8 Daniel Street, Portsmouth (Lewis G. Davis home Sumner St.)
1886 & 1888: Davis Bros., Photographers, 15 Pleasant Street, Portsmouth (Lewis G. Davis home Highland St. corner. Broad)
1890 & 1892: Davis Bros., Photographers, 15 Pleasant Street & 5 Congress Street, Portsmouth (Lewis G. Davis home Highland St. corner. Broad)
1895: Davis Bros., Photographers, 5 Congress Street, Portsmouth (Lewis G. Davis home 44 Highland St., corner Broad; Charles Davis home 54 Richards Ave.)
Lewis G. Davis married Cyrena F. Pierce in about 1860 and they had four children: Charles “Charlie” A. (b. c1861), Catherine “Kitty” B. (b. Jan 1864), Bertha “Bertie” M. (b. c1869) and Pierce (3 Nov 1875 – Feb 1965).
Charles Davis junior was working as a clerk and photographer in 1880. Charles Davis married Martha S. Young in the late 1870s, and they had a daughter Marion T. (b. c1878).
VIII. Mary F.6, b. 18 Apr., 1810, m. Charles Davis, of Gilmanton, and d. 10 Jan., 1872. They had 6 ch.
1. Lewis G.1, b. in Ripley, Me., 8 Dec., 1833, m., Dec., 1860, Cyrena Peirce, and has 4 ch. He is a photographer in Portsmouth, N.H.
2. Charles’1′, b. May, 1836, m., about 1880, Martha (Mattie) S. Young, of Portsmouth. He is in company with his brother, Lewis G.