1852-1853       142 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

1852 October 1.  Columbian Register.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  October 1, 1852, Vol. XLI, No. 2132, P. 3.

Horticultural.—The opening of the Fair, at the State House, last Thursday…

The mechanical department is not as well represented as usual…Gerrish & Rogers a collection of their well-executed Daguerreotypes…

1853 January 16.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  January 16, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 141, P. 2

Daguerreotypes.  There is no branch of the fine arts that has been more wonderfully  improved than the Daguerrean process. And no where has it been bro’t to more perfection than in N. Haven.  The picture galleries of our artists are really worth looking at.  Besides the various specimens of work which they display to the eye of the beholder, their internal arrangements are fitted up in the most attractive manner and at an expense which would seem hardly warrantable.  We stepped into the rooms of our neighbors Gerrish & Rogers, (sic.) a few days since, and were surprised as well as pleased with their process of Daguerreotyping.  The short time which is now required to transfer one’s likeness to the plate, and the very life-like manner in which it is performed, are truly astonishing.  Without any disparagement to other artists, whose specimens of work speak so approvingly of their skill and workmanship, we must say in justice to these gentlemen, that they are deserving both commendation and patronage, for the very high state of perfection to which by study and experience they have been able to bring this branch of the fine arts.

1853 April 28.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  April 28, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 98, P. 3.

We Advise those who desire to obtain a Superior Daguerreotype To Call On Gerrish & Rogers.  They execute likenesses n\by an entire New Process.  Rooms, No. 142 Chapel street, Opposite Lyon Building.

Advertisement ran from April 28 to 30, 1853.

1853 May 4.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  May 4, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 103, P. 2.

We Advise those who desire to obtain a Superior Daguerreotype To Call On Gerrish & Rogers.  They execute likenesses n\by an entire New Process.  Rooms, No. 142 Chapel street, Opposite Lyon Building.

Advertisement ran from May 4 to 7, 1853.

1853 June 3.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  June 3, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 130, P. 2.

Adieu! Sweet Spring.

Farewell! Sweet Spring, with all thy flowers,

And ever welcome, pleasant hours;

Thy balmy zephyr floating still,

O’er lovely dale and rugged hill.

But summer’s here, and brings the rose

In all its glorious beauty ripe;

What’s sweeter, fairer, far than those!

Gerrish & Rogers’ Daguerreotype.

1853 June 14.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  June 14, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 139, P. 2.

The Maiden’s Soliloquy.

Oh! beautious (sic.) eve, in this sweet grove,

I turn to thee ‘mid thoughts of love

That cling to me by night and day,

To tell of one far, far away.

Here in my heart his image lies,

Link’s with my \dearest memories.

And this Daguerreotype [I] view,

This faultless, and to nature true.

Gerrish & Rogers wrought for me.

Brings back my love from far o’er sea;

Whate’er though life meets on our way,

My blessing shall be theirs for aye.

1853 June 16.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  June 16, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 139, P. 2.

Daguerreotypes.  There is no branch of the fine arts that has been more wonderfully improved than the Daguerrean process, and no where has it been bro’t more perfection than N. Haven.  The picture galleries of our artists are really worth looking at.  Besides the various specimens of work which they display to the eye of the beholder, their internal arrangements are fitted up in a most attractive manner and at an expense which would seem hardly warrantable.  We stepped into the rooms of our neighbors Gerrish & Rodgers, a few days since, and were surprised as well as pleased with their process of Daguerreotyping.  The short time which is now required to transfer one’s likeness to the plate, and the very life-like manner in which it is performed, are truly astonishing.  Without any disparagement to other artists, whose specimens of work speak so approvingly of their skill and workmanship, we must say in justice to these gentlemen, that they are deserving both commendation and patronage, for the very high state of perfection to which by study and experience they have been able to bring this branch of the fine arts.

1853 June 27.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  June 27, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 150, P. 2.

A Reverie, whilst looking at one of Messrs. Gerrish & Rodgers’ beautiful Daguerrean Views, lately executed in a true, happy, artistic style:

The world has passed through changes, since the flood

Deluged the earth, or Eve with Adam stood

In that primeval garden, Eden named.

Where he, the Lord of all, dominion claimed;

Oh, such a spot, could painter’s magic hand

Transfer to canvas, all its beauties grand,

Or sketch with vivid thought, each fancy free,

Each living form, each plant, each rock, each tree.

Oh, had old time but left one remnant, then

We could have dwelt upon its glories, when

The first of human kind, the God-created pair,

Sought the sweet sylvan shade, or the wild lion’s ;air;

But hoary age has left not e’en a single part,

Where Gerrish, excelsior of daguerrean art,

Or Rodgers could, midst grand artistic fire,

With the sun’s rays, a poet’s soul inspire,

To sing in glowing verse his them, that garden, where

The first formed couple roamed, a cheerful pair.

1853 July 4.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  July 4, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 157, P. 2.

We hail the Glorious Fourth.

Hail, glorious Fourth, Mid stains so free,

That proudly swell o’er land and sea,

To tell of Freedom’s dawn of power!

Gladly we welcome thee, this hour.

Filled with the glowing thoughts that rise,

I turn where yon fair city lies.

Oh, ere the sun mounts up the sky,

To its enchanting shades will hie,

This beauteous morn, my maid and I,

There through the gladsome hours we’ll rove

In shaded streets and pleasant grove;

The artists then must claim our thoughts,

Who have with years of effort wrought,

Their process to perfection brought;

And while we pause to view their rare

Array of portraits, gathered there,

They will prepare with art so free

My maid’s Daguerreotype for me;

Then Grateful thoughts I will count o’er

To Gerrish & Rodgers evermore.

Rooms 142 Chapel street, opposite Lyon Building.

1853 July 8.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  July 8, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 160, P. 2.

The Lover’s Reverie,

While gazing on a miniature of his intended, prepared by Messrs. Gerrish & Rodgers.

Oh ‘tis thy very self!  thy form—thy face!

Thy love lit eyes upon me, sweetly smiling;

I feel thy presence here, life’s crowning grace,

Of weary care thy passing hours beguiling.

Yes. ‘tis thy living self, its place is near my heart,

With deep devotion, will I always cherish

This glorious triumph of Daguerrean art,

Achieved by Rodgers, and his partner Gerrish.

Those wishing pictures of the finest order, have but to present themselves, plainly dressed in dark clothing, in clear or cloudy weather, and trust, without dictation, to the management of the artists.  Rooms No. 142 Chapel st. opposite Lyon Building.

1853 July 12.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  July 12, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 163, P. 2.

My Country. 

I love my country’s green clad hills—

Her bright unnumbered murmuring rills,

Her sunshine and her storm;

Her rough and rugged rocks, that rear

Their hoary heads high in the air,

In wild fantastic form.

I love her rivers, deep and wide,

Those bright streams that seaward glide,

To seek the ocean’s breast;

The links of iron that bind each State,

Which firm united makes them great,

And in God’s blessing blest.

I love to hear of Rodgers’ skill,

And Gerrish’s power to use at will

The glorious orb of day—

To draw each make and varied line

Of the human form divine,

From his light passing ray.

Shakespoke.

1853 July 13.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  July 13, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 164, P. 2.

Come, tell me what shall be in Twenty years.

“In twenty years!” thy smooth young brow

Shall cease to be so fair;

Time shall have intermixed with white,

Thy dark and lustrous hair.

“In twenty years!” care shall have ploughed

Deep furrows on thy face;

Thy form shall then be bent and bowed—

Thy limbs forget their grace.

“In twenty years!” nay, do not start,

Ere twenty years have fled,

The light shall from thine eye depart—

Thou’lt slumber with the dead.

Oh, then, ere yet thy beauty fades,

[unreadable line,]

A picture by Gerrish & Rodgers made,

Shall e’er secure it from decay,

As fresh, as fair, as bright as in its proudest day.

Senex.

1853 September 29.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  September 29, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 231, P. 2

The Horticultural Fair.  To-day is the last of the exhibitors at the State House, and all who take pleasure in seeing fruits and flowers and vegetables in their perfection, ought not to lose the present opportunity.  Only the mechanical department is poorly filled,…Messrs. Gerrish & Rogers’ (sic.) daguerreotypes,…

1853 December 12.  Morning Journal and Courier.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  December 12, 1853, Vol. VIII, No. 293, P. 3.

Dissolution.  The subscribers, under the name of the firm of Gerrish and Rodgers, have this day dissolved copartnership, by mutual consent.  A. Gerrish, H. J. Rodgers.

Card.  Mr. Gerrish, in bidding adieu to his friends, the inhabitants of New Haven and its vicinity, tenders to them his heart felt thanks alike for their liberal patronage and never-failing kindness, and also wishes to say that, being now on the eve of his departure for a foreign land, he has the greatest pleasure in recommending his partner to the patronage of the generous public, feeling confidently assured that Mr. Rodgers, combining, as he does, the highest practical knowledge of his business with the artist’s love of his art, the poet’s perception of its beauties, and the courtesy of the perfect gentleman, which, during all his connection with him he has always found him possessed of, will not fail to please his patrons, while he sustains a high reputation as the perfecter of an entirely new chemical process, of which he is in part the inventor and now the sole proprietor in America.  A. Gerrish.

[Original.]

Then Fare Thee Well,—Gerrish!

Thou brother of my heart—farewell!—

Go forth where fortune leads thee:

She points to Eastern climes;—tis well,—

Th’ celestial Empire needs thee!

Go forth;—and when, in coming days,

The sons of China weeping

In grief sublime, shall seek the place

Where all they’ve loved are sleeping,

No more in their despair they’ll prove

How vain is each endeavor

To recall the look of those they loved,

Now lost to them forever;—

Thou’lt be to them a household God

Whom in their hearts they’ll cherish—

Heaven’s “last, best gift” on them bestowed

Shall bear the name of—Gerrish!

Soft be the winds which waft thee hence,

Fair be the skies above thee—

Swift-winged the messenger from thence

Which brings to those who love thee

Tidings of thine arrival there.

Go forth where fortune leads thee—

Ten thousand hearts—the brave and fair—

Are breathing now—“God speed thee!”  Rodgers.

1853 December 17.  Columbian Register.  (New Haven, Connecticut.)  February 17, 1853, Vol. XLI, No. 2143, P. 3.

Dissolution.  The subscribers, under the name of the firm of Gerrish and Rodgers, have this day dissolved copartnership, by mutual consent.  A. Gerrish, A. J. Rodgers.

Notice.  Rodgers & Hopper (formerly Gerrish & Rodgers,) Elm City, Emporium Of Art, 142 Chapel st., New Haven.  Mr. H. J. Rodgers has associated with him Mr. H. Hopper, a celebrated daguerrean operator, and perfector of many of the fine arts—thus daguerreotypes executed by him and Rodgers, the perfector of an entire new chemical process, will need no comment here to recommend them.  No expense has been spared in procuring the best German Cameras that are manufactured, and as superior materials only are used, they are prepared to take likenesses that are unsurpassed for boldness, truthfulness, beauty of finish and durability.  Pictures taken equally well in fair and cloudy weather, and all are warranted to give entire satisfaction.  Our motto—“We will please.”  H. J. Rodgers, H. Hopper.

Card.—Mr. A. Gerrish, in bidding adieu to his friends, the inhabitants of New Haven and its vicinity, tenders to them his heart-felt thanks, alike for their liberal patronage and ever unfailing kindness, and also wishes to say that, being now on the eve of his departure for a foreign land, he has the greatest pleasure in recommending his partner to the patronage of the generous public, feeling confidently assured that Mr. Rodgers, combining as he does the highest practical knowledge of the mechanical part of his business—with the artist’s love of his art, the poet’s perception of its beauties, and the courtesy of a perfect gentleman, which during all his connection with him, he has always found him possessed of—will not fail to please his patrons, while he sustains the highest reputation as a perfector of an entire new chemical process, of which he is in part the inventor and now the sole proprietor in the United States.  A. Gerrish.

Original.

Then fare thee well, “Gerrish,”

Thou brother of my heart, farewell!

Go forth where fortune leads thee;

She points to eastern climes—‘tis well—

The celestial empire needs thee!

Go forth, and when in coming days

The sons of China, weeping

In grief sublime, shall seek the place

Where all they’ve loved are sleeping.

No more in despair, they’ll prove

How vain is each endeavor

To recall the look of those they loved,

But lost them forever,

Thou’lt be to them a household god,

Whom in their hearts they’ll cherish;

“Heaven’s last best gift” on them bestowed,

Shall bear the name of “Gerrish.”

Soft be the winds which waft thee hence.

Fair be the skies above thee;

Swift winged the messenger from thence,

Which brings to those who love thee,

Tidings of your arrival there.

Go forth where fortune leads thee—

Ten thousand hearts, the brave and fair,

Are breathing now, “God speed thee.”

New Haven, Dec. 10, 1853.  Rodgers.