Specializing in postcards and antique photographs

Monday, February 8, 2010

Philip Eden, University of Wisconsin, Class of 1872


There is a bit of information about this person written in flowing penmanship on the back of this CDV; his name, Philip Eden, and the fact that he was a graduate of the "Class of '72 (that would be 1872).  The photographer's information is also there, one N.P. Jones of Madison, Wisconsin.

So I googled Philip Eden, Class of 1872, and I found some interesting information.

There is a Philip Eden listed on Page 110 of the University of Wisconsin Madison 1872 class album, with a short handwritten biography.  Some of the information they recorded are things no one today would think to put in a college year book, and some of it I found odd.  And it was all written in that wordy, cumbersome & formal 19th century style.

Here are some interesting facts about Mr. Philip Eden, represented in the picture above.  He was 27 years old when he graduated from college:


  • Born March 5, 1845, Mineral Point, WI

  • He was 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 136 lbs

  • He was well porportioned

  • He had a Grecian nose

  • He had a gentlemanly manner, with eloquent speech

  • He possessed some fortitude

  • He had no particular field of study

  • His favorite Poets: Milton, Whittier & Burns

  • His favorite Novelist: Dickens

  • His favorite Historian: Macaulay (Yikes!! I actually read Macaulay when I was in college to try to get a feel for 19th century views of European History)

  • He was a Republican

  • He favored tarrifs for collecting revenue

  • He was a Methodist, and did not use tobacco or spirits

  • He had a "medium" mind

  • His personal expenses were about $250 a year

  • At 17 (that would have been 1862) he learned the capentry/cabinet making trade

  • He also taught school

  • He entered the University of Wisconsin in the Fall semester of 1869

  • He was also a member of a fraternity, but I could not read the writing
In 1862, when Mr. Eden was 17 and learning capentry, there was a widespread and bloody civil war being fought in the USA, and he would have been of prime military age - but there is no mention of any military service.   I'm fairly certain that had he served in the Union Army it would have been noted, he would have considered it a high honor (after he was out, of course, probably anything but, while he was in, I speak from some experience) - I'm wondering how he managed to avoid it.


Its not every day you find this much information about someone in a random 19th century photograph.  I find it facinating.



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