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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Photography, which began with the dageurrotype in 1839, was a booming enterprise by the time of the Civil War. Having one's photograph "taken" was quicker and much less expensive than having a portrait painted by an artist. Photographers were setting up shops in market towns and traveling to the smaller towns on assignment. George Sheldon (1818-1916) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was in Boston in the 1860s as a representative to the General Court from Deerfield and probably sat for this picture by the Boston photographers, Fisher Brothers.

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