| Notes |
- STATUS: Commercial (assistant).
- BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked for Hannah Maynard (Mrs. R. Maynard). His obituary (Victoria Times) states he worked for her for 34 years. What appears to be Rappertie's personal photo album is dated Victoria, BC, 3 Jun 1877 (BC Archives Visual Records accession 198904-019), and Mattock-[George] Flynt Farm, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1912-1913.
The 1881 census shows him to be age 24 (an incorrect age), Episcopal, from the United States and a "photographer". He lived with his mother, age 61 (an incorrect age), who was a teacher. Rebecca S. (nee Flynt) Rappertie was born on 27 Jun 1815 and died on 26 Sep 1899; she was buried in the Myrtle Cemetery in Ennis, TX (FindAGrave.com). The Pennsylvania Scranton Republican wrote that his mother, Mrs. R.S. Rappertie of Victoria, BC, was in the city visiting friends (24 Oct 1895, p. 7). In Nov 1895 another Pennsylvania newspaper reported she would be spending the winter in Carbondale (Carbondale Evening Herald, 18 Nov 1895, p. 4). Her age was reported to be 80 in Nov 1895 (Scranton Republican, 29 Nov 1895, p. 7). She may have returned to Victoria via a Puget Sound steamer in Sep 1896 (Victoria Daily Times, 21 Sep 1896, p. 8). Her death is not recorded in the Vital Events index on the BC Archives Web site which means she did not die in BC or her death was not registered.
By the 1891 Canada census he was younger, age 32, but still a "photographer". In the 1901 Canada census he is lodging with Richard and Hannah Maynard, along with grandson Maynard F. Macdonald, and another lodger. The 1901 census gave a birth date of May 23, 1858 and he is again listed as a "photographer."
The San Francisco Daily Examiner noted his arrival in that city from Victoria on the steamer Dakota (25 Nov 1882, p. 3). The Victoria Times recorded his return from Vancouver, BC, on the Islander (9 Jun 1890, p. 5).
Rappertie temporarily moved to Williamsport, PA, late in 1882 (the possible reason for his arrival in San Francisco) or early in 1883 and by February 1883 had opened a photo studio with Henry Colt Yarrington (1835-1910). The studio appears not to have been successful, so Rappertie likely returned to Victoria in 1883.
A carte-de-visite portrait taken by S.A. Spencer (BVIPA call number G-03300) is believed to show A.S. Rappertie at work timing an exposure.
Given the coincidental timing of his appearance at Mrs. R. Maynard's studio, possibly even as early as the mid to late 1870s, Rappertie must be considered a candidate as the author of, or at least a collaborator in, the various experimental and trick photographs credited to his employer. The annual Gems of British Columbia series, for example, was produced between 1880 and at least 1895. The various living statute portraits and the multiple exposure tableaux featuring Mrs. Maynard and living and deceased family members may also have originated with Rappertie. Certainly the complexity of the poses in the multiple exposure place him or someone else behind the camera or in the darkroom.
Rappertie appears in several Maynard family photos, some of which are found in Wilks' book.
The existence of two mysterious photographs showing the inside of a room with photo equipment and sample photo portraits, along with Rappertie's trunk marked "Hearne, Texas" (BVIPA call numbers F-06919 and F-06920), with other photographs by the Maynards is explained by a notice in the Victoria Daily Colonist (19 Jul 1898) stating his departure for that location with his mother and a P. Dearinder. David Haynes' directory of 19th century Texas photographers does not list any male photographers for the 1890s in Hearne, Texas.
In Mrs. R. Maynard's studio register his name and address appear in pencil on a front flyleaf as "A S Rappertie Calvert Texas".
He was a member of and officer in the Island Wanderers' Cycling Club in 1890 (Colonist, 18 Apr 1890, p. 1). A few years before he left Mrs. R. Maynard's studio the Victoria Daily Times noted prizes he was awarded at a Victoria dog show (5 Apr 1907, p. 4-5).
He is listed in the 1912 real property tax assessment roll for Oak Bay with property on Thistle Street.
Around the time of Hannah Maynard's retirement in 1912, Rappertie moved to Grants Pass, OR, to farm. Between 17 and 20 Nov 1917 he advertised that he wished to trade for a smaller plot of farmland (Salem Daily Capital Journal).
The Oregon enumerator for the 1920 US census spelled his name "Arthur S Rafferita"; he was living with a married older sister, Mary S. Stuart. He subsequently retired to Florida where he lived with his sister Mrs. Mollie Hamilton or Mrs. Hunter. In 1921 he and his sister were committed to the mental hospital at Chattahoochee, FL.
Rappertie is buried in the Florida State Hospital Cemetery (Cemetery 3, Division 5), Chattahoochee, Gadsden County, Florida.
- REFERENCES: WIL82; WIL85; MAL87; WIL89; HEN90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; HEN00; BC Archives Visual Records accession 198904-019 (photo album owned by A.S. Rappertie); Dominion Census, 1881 (OOA microfilm reel no. C-13,285, Johnson St. Ward); Victoria Times, 1923 11 23/13 (obit. incorrectly cites death date as 16 Nov); VL1908, 1911, Victoria; Florida State Hospital Cemetery List (online at FindAGrave.com; URL (accessed 6 Jan 2017): http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Rappertie&GSiman=1&GScid=2225761&GRid=116796873&; cites death date 13 Nov 1923).
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1854? - 1923
