Why Visit the Daguerreian Saloon?

Mary Ellen Field,  Age 19

A photo can sometimes be worth a thousand words, and other times might keep its innermost thoughts secret, left for us to decode. A photo can show the promise of what is yet to come, or serve as a reminder of what could have been. Mary Ellen Field (sometimes Ellen, sometimes Nellie, but never Mary) was born in Strongsville, Ohio in 1836, shortly after her parents had migrated from western Massachusetts. At some point when Ellen was still very small, the Field family made the move back east. Ellen grew up in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and was joined in 1844 by her dear sister Emma, my great grandmother.

In 1855 Ellen began writing in a diary that ultimately would document the last three years of her life, although for most of those three years, she was oblivious to the fact that she would soon die. This photo has always spoken to me. Ellen was speaking to me, telling me she is still here. I would just have to find her, find her story, understand that she mattered. And did she ever matter—Ellen’s story was a common one for the 1850s: full of friends, family, religion, and illness.

In 1855, nineteen-year-old Ellen had finished her education. She had a tight-knit group of friends who, as friends do at that age, were starting to spread their wings and explore what the world had to offer them. With Ellen, her “dear sister” Lirrie and “brothers” Chauncey and Ratio made up “our band”—a group of dear school friends.

Another thing that was quite apparent—Ellen went to church. She went to church a lot. While today we think of church as being a once-a-week-on-Sunday-for-an-hour-or-two commitment, church in 1855 (well, the New England Baptist church at least) was an every Sunday all-day affair. 

But as Ellen was entering adulthood she struggled with her religious beliefs. When all the young people in town (most of them her friends) seemed to be “coming forward” in church and professing their commitment to HIM, Ellen heavily contemplated the action, unsure she could give herself fully and completely. She agonized over it for months, “Oh, sometimes it seems I can almost go to God and ask forgiveness—but something prompts me—and when I cannot—would that I might see my true state—and be one of the followers of the Lamb.” It was evident she was beginning to feel like an outsider among her peers. Friends and acquaintances would call on Ellen often specifically to talk to her about religion, “Fannie + Rosie called..came to talk with me about my soul's salvation—and they did talk long + earnestly, but I can not feel I can see.”

Late in March, 1855, Mary Ellen Field finally “stood up” in church. “I never knew what true happiness was before..words will not express it..wholly inadequate..this love of Christ in my heart, this abiding ever gushing happiness..such a calm, peaceful..sweet, soul feeling.” Never have I witnessed a switch turn so abruptly from one way of thinking to a different one and with full and complete conviction. This is not a religiously influenced observation, but comes from a perspective of not fully understanding the time period. What was happening in the doctrine of the New England Baptist Church at that time? Why was there a flood of nineteen and twenty year olds “standing up” and committing themselves fully to the church teachings? Why did Ellen struggle so intensely with her decision? In the end, when Ellen finally did stand up and come forward in church, she likely completely altered the path of her life and changed the course of many lives yet to come

Ellen’s dear friends, her “band”, were still present in her life early on in 1855, but the men, Ratio and Chauncey, started to drift, leaving town at times and then returning for brief visits. Likely they were trying to figure their way in life, how to make money and how to find their niche. As Ellen writes, it quickly becomes clear that she is very smitten with Chauncey, mentioning his name just once in plain writing, but thereafter hiding who she was speaking of by writing his name in shorthand. 

Chauncey went west for a while, living with his sister in Indiana and then finding a temporary job in Iowa. With the western land having opened up to settlers during the previous fifty years, a great many young people in New England dreamed of a Shangri-la of sorts in the Ohio River Valley and beyond. Chauncey wrote often to Ellen and she savored each and every word of his letters. When Chauncey finally returned later in 1855, it was clear by their many one-on-one visits that Chauncey was also very taken with Ellen. There was an obstacle to their affections, however….religion. Chauncey hadn’t professed his commitment to religion. Ellen begged him to embrace the church teachings, to trust belief in HIM. 

While we can hear Ellen’s story in her diary, and we can hear what she reports of Chauncey’s views, we don’t know what Chauncey was really thinking. On May 20, 1855, during one of Chauncey’s visits to town, Ellen visited the "Daguerreian Saloon" to have her miniature taken for Chauncey, possibly in vain, for the conversation that awaited her later that day was not at all what Ellen had hoped for.. That evening when Chauncey called on Ellen, they had the most in-depth talk yet on the topic of religion.

Oh! what an hour I spent and the rest of the evening I never, never, never can forget..He did not believe in a place of punishment neither in a change of heart..all that he brought up was quieted by reason alone not one passage of scripture or a Bible proof. Thought all would be saved, in fact he endorsed many of the Universalist sentiments..yet did not profess that doctrine..Oh those were hours I would not live again..I scarce know what he said...in fact I could not tell one word..how I lived that night a God in Heaven Knows.

Ellen was heartbroken, but the following week she still held out hope, “Oh how did I pray that day that Chauncey might visit the joys of Christian life.” Ellen was a dreamer who held to the hope until her death that Chauncey would resolve to follow a “Christian life.” All through 1856 and 1857, he was in and out of Ellen’s daily life, but the two consistently wrote letters to each other, proving a clear commitment to their friendship, if not more.

On December 15, 1857, Mary Ellen Field died from the effects of consumption, a disease that claimed many of her friends before her. Chauncey remained close with Ellen’s family, writing the month after her death, “all hope fled, and perished dreams were all that was left me of that one bright ideal future.” What if Chauncey had chosen religion? What if Ellen had lived? Would Chauncey have changed his thoughts on the church? Would Ellen have mellowed and considered a future with Chauncey more valuable and dear to her than her relationship with the church? Likely her early death didn’t change any of this, but it is unavoidable to think about the what-ifs.

Side note: Chauncey Forbush Lufkin lived to a very old age, remained in close touch with Ellen’s family, and ultimately became an oil tycoon as a top executive for Standard Oil Company. His story is a fascinating one that I hope one day will be told in detail.