Frank W. Bicknell Photograph Collection, PHC.8
Abstract
This collection consists of one photograph album containing 302 gelatin silver photographs taken and compiled by Frank W. and Jessie Bicknell. The photographs depict the Blue Ridge Mountain region of North Carolina, specifically the area surrounding and including Linville Gorge. Numerous photographs showing streams, waterfalls, rock formations, gorges, mountain top views, fishing scenes and area residents.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Frank W. Bicknell Photograph Collection
- Call Number
- PHC.8
- Creator
- Frank W. Bicknell
- Date
- 1905 - 1920
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], PhC.8, Frank W. Bicknell Photograph Collection, State Archives of North Carolina; Raleigh, NC.
Collection Overview
This collection consists of one photograph album containing 302 gelatin silver photographs
taken and compiled by Frank W. and Jessie Bicknell. The photographs depict Linville
Gorge, Linville Falls and the surrounding area's rock formations and mountain views
including Hawksbill, Table Rock, Linville Bluffs, Wiseman's View, and others. These
photos appear to have been taken during several expeditions to explore various parts
of Linville Gorge and include photos of women and men camping, hiking, and fishing.
Besides photos of natural splendor, many pictures of the mountain people, their homes,
crops, fields, mills, farms, and activities are found in the album including several
scenes of corn shucking, apple butter making, planting, and bear hunting.
Other highlights of the collection include photographs depicting Yonahlassee Road,
1912; a view of Linville City, 1909; the dedication of Linville Falls School, 1911;
Pisgah Church, 1906; Linville Falls Sunday School, 1911; and a Holiness baptizing,
1909. There are also construction shots of the "crest of the Blue Ridge Highway,"
1913; pictures of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railway's cuts, tunnels and bridges;
1908; and pictures of damage in the Linville area caused by the flood of 1916.
Individuals depicted include F. W. Bicknell, Jessie Bicknell, Edgar Burleson, Adee
Wiseman, George W. Vaupel, Henry Franklin, Mabel Hyams, Molly Franklin, James G. Franklin,
C. B. Ryan, J. J. Campion, A. M. Huger, Gus Child, Lydia Wise, Eliza Franklin, Sue
Child, Fred A. Olds, Turner Vance, John Deane, S. M. Digger, Mitch Burleson, Adam
Wiseman, Tommy Dellinger, Ben Watrous, Henry Holtzclaw, and C. B. Carpenter.
Arrangement Note
Photographs in album are roughly arranged by subject matter.
Biographical/Historical
Biographical Note by Tense Franklin Banks, 1 September 2009
Frank Wade Bicknell who moved to Linville Falls in 1908 was a ninth-generation American. The Bicknells were one of the oldest families in the United States, being descended from Zachary Bicknell, an English naval officer who with his wife emigrated from Somerset, England to America in 1635. They came seeking religious freedom. The Bicknell family ended up in Oneida, New York where Anson Dodge Bicknell was born generations later in 1835. He later married Sara Ann Mills. The couple homesteaded in Iowa, founding several villages including what is today known as Humboldt, Iowa. Here were born to them three sons and a daughter, including oldest son Frank born March 20, 1866. Anson Dodge Bicknell was a prominent attorney and very involved in local politics, church affairs, and education. He also with his family traveled extensively and used his wide-ranging interests to write for the local press. He became among other things a mayor, a school superintendent, a college teacher, and a newspaper writer. His children were exposed to a wide variety of people, places, and ideas. Son Frank used this exposure and inherited abilities to become himself a newspaper man of excellent reputation. In the 1890's, he wrote for several Iowan papers including Des Moines, Jefferson Souvenir, and Humboldt County Independent. The fairness and good judgment that would serve Frank Bicknell throughout his life was pointed out in editorials written about him in the early 1900's. "The Souvenir will always have a high regard for F.W. Bicknell the brilliant Des Moines newspaper correspondent....he has daily furnished impartial digests of the senatorial fight and in looking over these reports....we can see that the statements he made and the careful predictions when given were so accurate and so deeply truthful and fair that it occurs to us some of the members of the Des Moines Newspaper Syndicate must now feel a blush of shame in looking over the past claims to fairness and to truthfulness. Mr. Bicknell may now spell Reliability with a capital R and there's no one to call him down." -Jefferson Souvenir
"Mr. Bicknell's many Humboldt friends are glad to note the high standards he has attained with the press of the state. His ability as a genial newspaper correspondent is conceded in all the principal cities of the country and his services are being sought by the strongest and best papers in the country. He is also called upon to do special writing where none but a well-read, steady-minded writer could do the work." The Humboldt County Independent-Thursday, January 18, 1900.
In 1902, Frank Bicknell was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as a Special Agent for Agricultural Research and was sent to Argentina. He was very interested in improving farming methods and developing hardy farm products. He would later carry this interest with him to the mountain farmers of the Blue Ridge.
In 1895, Frank Bicknell had married Jessie Vaupel who was at the time teaching school in Chicago. Jessie was born in Elkader, Iowa April 4, 1869. Her parents were John Christian Vaupel and Clara Sanganger both born in Germany. Their families had immigrated to Iowa in the 1840's and were among the earliest permanent settlers of the state. John and Clara Vaupel raised nine children, five daughters and four sons who became productive and often prominent citizens. Jessie was the youngest child. Her older sister Katie was born in Iowa ca. 1857. In 1880 Katie married Frederick W. Hossfeld who was born in Germany ca 1854 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1875. Hossfeld was in later years a US ambassador to Austria but perhaps because of health problems moved to Western North Carolina, specifically Morganton in 1906. His wife Katie Vaupel Hossfeld and the five surviving of their six children moved with their father into the house that had been the town home of the Avery family. Hossfeld became an active and vital part of the local economy which at the time was centered on real estate development, banking, tourism, and resource development. This allowed the Hossfelds to be involved in the purchase of the Linville Falls property and its future.
In 1908, Frank and Jessie came south to visit Jessie's sister Katie and her family, the Hossfelds. Both apparently fell in love with the area and moved to a speculation house that had been built overlooking the Falls by the Morganton Land and Improvement Company in 1890. Though sometimes going back to Iowa for winters, Linville Falls became the permanent home of the Bicknells until Frank's death in 1934.
Over the years, the Bicknells became an integral part of the village of Linville Falls. They were accepted, trusted and valued as friends by the local citizens which was not often the case for "outsiders" coming into the area. Mr. Bicknell was a notary public and was often called on for legal advice and help in researching deeds, titles, etc. He wrote for the local newspapers including the Morganton News Herald and the Avery Advocate. His obituaries have become a source of invaluable research for genealogists and historians. Frank and Jessie Bicknell also were among the original founders of the Linville Falls Community Church. They helped raise funds and donated materials for the original church built in the early 1930's to be an interdenominational church to serve the whole community. That building burned down in 1963 and was replaced with the building that sits today on the same spot beside Hwy 183 and still serves any and all denominations. Bicknell over the years bought other properties which he rented and also bought and operated a sawmill on Camp Creek, tributary to Linville River.
Mr. Bicknell worked with local farmers to improve crop production and introduce better farming methods. He and Jessie had a large garden where in later years the two trails to the Upper and Lower Falls separated and the Park Service installed a water fountain and rest rooms (now torn down). The descendants of Guerney Franklin still grow lima beans and sunflowers from seeds introduced by Frank Bicknell.
Frank and Jessie Bicknell both loved to hike and camp in their backyard, the Linville Falls and Gorge. Fortunately, they were both excellent photographers and recorded their exploits in the Gorge and in the surrounding village of Linville Falls. Trips made by them and their local guides as well as later trips with family and friends who visited them provide the earliest record of the area as a place of recreation. They also photographed local families in daily activities of work, play, worship, and ceremonies of life and death. Many local families had family portraits taken by Mr. Bicknell who portrayed them as they were and not in a light to garner outside interest as was the style of the Doris Ulman's of the day. Most Linville Falls families have at least one photograph taken by and given to them by Mr. Bicknell. The Bicknells were also friends with residents of other locales, including Sheppard Monroe Dugger and Finley Mast. His body of work includes photos of Banner Elk, Linville, Valle Crucis, and Newland.
The Bicknells had no children as did none of Mr. Bicknell's siblings. At their deaths, many of their possessions passed to Jessie's family, the Vaupels, which included the children of F.W. Hossfeld and his wife Katie. The Hossfeld heirs, William, Fritz, Eleanor, Marion, and Giula had spent much time in the Linville Falls area. Over the years, they married, moved away, started their own families as children do. Son Fritz never married and lived his life in Morganton, keeping some involvement in the Linville Falls property. At his death, Giula Hossfeld who had married Christian Luginbuhl became the last heir and sole owner of the property. The Luginbuhls later sold the property to the US government who purchased it with funds donated by John Rockefeller. The Vaupel and Hossfeld families later donated many of Frank and Jessie's photographs to the North Carolina Archives.
Frank Wade Bicknell who moved to Linville Falls in 1908 was a ninth-generation American. The Bicknells were one of the oldest families in the United States, being descended from Zachary Bicknell, an English naval officer who with his wife emigrated from Somerset, England to America in 1635. They came seeking religious freedom. The Bicknell family ended up in Oneida, New York where Anson Dodge Bicknell was born generations later in 1835. He later married Sara Ann Mills. The couple homesteaded in Iowa, founding several villages including what is today known as Humboldt, Iowa. Here were born to them three sons and a daughter, including oldest son Frank born March 20, 1866. Anson Dodge Bicknell was a prominent attorney and very involved in local politics, church affairs, and education. He also with his family traveled extensively and used his wide-ranging interests to write for the local press. He became among other things a mayor, a school superintendent, a college teacher, and a newspaper writer. His children were exposed to a wide variety of people, places, and ideas. Son Frank used this exposure and inherited abilities to become himself a newspaper man of excellent reputation. In the 1890's, he wrote for several Iowan papers including Des Moines, Jefferson Souvenir, and Humboldt County Independent. The fairness and good judgment that would serve Frank Bicknell throughout his life was pointed out in editorials written about him in the early 1900's. "The Souvenir will always have a high regard for F.W. Bicknell the brilliant Des Moines newspaper correspondent....he has daily furnished impartial digests of the senatorial fight and in looking over these reports....we can see that the statements he made and the careful predictions when given were so accurate and so deeply truthful and fair that it occurs to us some of the members of the Des Moines Newspaper Syndicate must now feel a blush of shame in looking over the past claims to fairness and to truthfulness. Mr. Bicknell may now spell Reliability with a capital R and there's no one to call him down." -Jefferson Souvenir
"Mr. Bicknell's many Humboldt friends are glad to note the high standards he has attained with the press of the state. His ability as a genial newspaper correspondent is conceded in all the principal cities of the country and his services are being sought by the strongest and best papers in the country. He is also called upon to do special writing where none but a well-read, steady-minded writer could do the work." The Humboldt County Independent-Thursday, January 18, 1900.
In 1902, Frank Bicknell was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as a Special Agent for Agricultural Research and was sent to Argentina. He was very interested in improving farming methods and developing hardy farm products. He would later carry this interest with him to the mountain farmers of the Blue Ridge.
In 1895, Frank Bicknell had married Jessie Vaupel who was at the time teaching school in Chicago. Jessie was born in Elkader, Iowa April 4, 1869. Her parents were John Christian Vaupel and Clara Sanganger both born in Germany. Their families had immigrated to Iowa in the 1840's and were among the earliest permanent settlers of the state. John and Clara Vaupel raised nine children, five daughters and four sons who became productive and often prominent citizens. Jessie was the youngest child. Her older sister Katie was born in Iowa ca. 1857. In 1880 Katie married Frederick W. Hossfeld who was born in Germany ca 1854 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1875. Hossfeld was in later years a US ambassador to Austria but perhaps because of health problems moved to Western North Carolina, specifically Morganton in 1906. His wife Katie Vaupel Hossfeld and the five surviving of their six children moved with their father into the house that had been the town home of the Avery family. Hossfeld became an active and vital part of the local economy which at the time was centered on real estate development, banking, tourism, and resource development. This allowed the Hossfelds to be involved in the purchase of the Linville Falls property and its future.
In 1908, Frank and Jessie came south to visit Jessie's sister Katie and her family, the Hossfelds. Both apparently fell in love with the area and moved to a speculation house that had been built overlooking the Falls by the Morganton Land and Improvement Company in 1890. Though sometimes going back to Iowa for winters, Linville Falls became the permanent home of the Bicknells until Frank's death in 1934.
Over the years, the Bicknells became an integral part of the village of Linville Falls. They were accepted, trusted and valued as friends by the local citizens which was not often the case for "outsiders" coming into the area. Mr. Bicknell was a notary public and was often called on for legal advice and help in researching deeds, titles, etc. He wrote for the local newspapers including the Morganton News Herald and the Avery Advocate. His obituaries have become a source of invaluable research for genealogists and historians. Frank and Jessie Bicknell also were among the original founders of the Linville Falls Community Church. They helped raise funds and donated materials for the original church built in the early 1930's to be an interdenominational church to serve the whole community. That building burned down in 1963 and was replaced with the building that sits today on the same spot beside Hwy 183 and still serves any and all denominations. Bicknell over the years bought other properties which he rented and also bought and operated a sawmill on Camp Creek, tributary to Linville River.
Mr. Bicknell worked with local farmers to improve crop production and introduce better farming methods. He and Jessie had a large garden where in later years the two trails to the Upper and Lower Falls separated and the Park Service installed a water fountain and rest rooms (now torn down). The descendants of Guerney Franklin still grow lima beans and sunflowers from seeds introduced by Frank Bicknell.
Frank and Jessie Bicknell both loved to hike and camp in their backyard, the Linville Falls and Gorge. Fortunately, they were both excellent photographers and recorded their exploits in the Gorge and in the surrounding village of Linville Falls. Trips made by them and their local guides as well as later trips with family and friends who visited them provide the earliest record of the area as a place of recreation. They also photographed local families in daily activities of work, play, worship, and ceremonies of life and death. Many local families had family portraits taken by Mr. Bicknell who portrayed them as they were and not in a light to garner outside interest as was the style of the Doris Ulman's of the day. Most Linville Falls families have at least one photograph taken by and given to them by Mr. Bicknell. The Bicknells were also friends with residents of other locales, including Sheppard Monroe Dugger and Finley Mast. His body of work includes photos of Banner Elk, Linville, Valle Crucis, and Newland.
The Bicknells had no children as did none of Mr. Bicknell's siblings. At their deaths, many of their possessions passed to Jessie's family, the Vaupels, which included the children of F.W. Hossfeld and his wife Katie. The Hossfeld heirs, William, Fritz, Eleanor, Marion, and Giula had spent much time in the Linville Falls area. Over the years, they married, moved away, started their own families as children do. Son Fritz never married and lived his life in Morganton, keeping some involvement in the Linville Falls property. At his death, Giula Hossfeld who had married Christian Luginbuhl became the last heir and sole owner of the property. The Luginbuhls later sold the property to the US government who purchased it with funds donated by John Rockefeller. The Vaupel and Hossfeld families later donated many of Frank and Jessie's photographs to the North Carolina Archives.
Contents of the Collection
Collection Contents
The cubs in a mix-up. Edgar Burleson, Adee Wiseman and the bear cubs they caught;
May 15, 1908.
PhC.8.26
The Blue Ridge just before a storm, Grandfather Mountain in the distance, From above
Burleson's, May 15, 1908.
PhC.8.45
Big cut on C.C. & O. Ry in Linville Falls loop- 1500 ft. long 130 ft. deep, 200,000
cubic yards rock removed June 8, 1908.
PhC.8.49
Honeycutt Railway Tunnel 1800 feet long, near camp 6 on Carolina, Clinchfield and
Ohio Railway, June 8, 1908.
PhC.8.54
Down into the big pool and piece of lower fall from east side of the river, August
15, 1908.
PhC.8.66
On beak of Hawksbill. Henry Franklin, Jessie, Mrs. Read, Mabel Hyams, Molly Franklin,
April 24, 1909.
PhC.8.148
From Gooseneck, or Loop View- Deciduous and coniferous trees mingle in a color scheme
of bewildering beauty, May 31, 1909.
PhC.8.178
Same point as 335, more to right, showing meadow back of our cottage and others. Mountains
in distance, May 19, 1910.
PhC.8.327
From Bull Face View toward Humpback (left), Big Yellow, Doe Hill, etc. Raven Cliffs
and Gooseneck across loop, May 19, 1910.
PhC.8.335
The late Turner Vance, faithful guide and fish warden, at Bynum's Bluff after first
trip, 9-14-10.
PhC.8.354
Laurel Leap Falls 1.5 miles from North Fork, on Linville Mt above McLemore's on branch
starting at Boiling spring August 20, 1910
PhC.8.358
First Cascade in Gooseneck below Bynum's bluff first trip, September 12, 1910, Turner,
Carpenter, Crockett.
PhC.8.371
Wiseman's View and Table Rock from Carpenter Trail September 14, 1910 Taken by Turner
Vance
PhC.8.372
A tiny stream comes down from the mountain just above 380, making the little separate
in-pour seen in the right thereof 9-23-10.
PhC.8.377
Near Carpenter trail, under and over rocks the river finds its way- First trip with
Turner Vance September 14, 1910.
PhC.8.379
The hurrying river takes a moment's rest and makes the famous Bill Mace fishing hole,
also for swimming on a hot day, such as September 23, 1910.
PhC.8.387
Choked into a narrow chasm, the river makes here the Big Holly, or Mill Race falls,
September 24, 1910.
PhC.8.390
Residence of Mr. And Mrs. Finley Mast, Valle Crucis, November 11, 1910 Mrs. Mast does
the artistic weaving.
PhC.8.416
Juniors at Linville Falls school house dedication Junior order of American mechanics
(JOUAM). No date, estimated 1911.
PhC.8.468
Toward Black Mountains, including Mt Mitchell, altitude 6711 ft., highest point east
of Rockies. From point on Linville Mt about 4 miles from the falls, July 25, 1911.
PhC.8.489
Table Rock and UG's cliff from Bicknell Bluff Over the top of mountains one feels
the canon's great depth, here about 2000 feet, July 25, 1911.
PhC.8.492
Glimpse of Chestoah Cascade, North Fork near its source, back of Hyam's UG and J.V.B.
July 23, 1911.
PhC.8.496
William Hossfeld, Commodore Browning in camp in Chestnut Cove Dobson's Knob, September
8, 1911 surveying expedition.
PhC.8.516
First view from Dogback Cliff nearest Connelly's Rock house showing Wiseman's View,
Gingercake, Hawksbill, etc., September 30, 1911.
PhC.8.527
Mitch Burleson (Right) Adam Wiseman and Commodore Burleson (left) and bear they killed
in Linville River Gorge, November 25, 1911.
PhC.8.540
Mr. and Mrs. F. T. Martin, Canton, Mitch Burleson and son Commodore and their trophies.
October 31, 1911.
PhC.8.546
From almost the same point as 386, after night camp on way to Table Rock with Carpenter
and on Deane. J. with rod. May 24, 1912.
PhC.8.548
Crossed the river here to climb to Table Rock. Chimney Mountain in distance, May 23,
1912.
PhC.8.551
From Table Rock trail, river side, showing Chimney, Shortoff, Dogback and Dobson's
Knob, May 23, 1912.
PhC.8.559
A Solid Rock bed the night before the Babel tower gorge trip, May 31, 1913. Fire all
night for warmth.
PhC.8.573
At the right, J. is getting around a dangerous place, aided by rope and pole, June
1, 1912.
PhC.8.580
The Jumping off place, 40 feet down an overhanging cliff, Babel Tower Gorge, J and
the Helpful carpenter June 1, 1912.
PhC.8.586
Looking down in Babel Tower gorge, deep water and precipitous cliffs call for climbing,
June 1, 1912.
PhC.8.588
Down Pine Branch from Franklin pasture, August 27, 1912. Gold mine prospect on left
ridge.
PhC.8.603
U G's view of Humpback from his cleared trail on North Fork near Jehu English's, July
25, 1912.
PhC.8.612
Upper shoal, Toe River, near probable dam site. On Wiseman property J.W.W. August
17, 1915.
PhC.8.691
Here was a corn field before the flood turned the North Fork main channel through
it, July 25, 1916.
PhC.8.728
This was a fertile field before the 1916 flood Looking up from near Linville Falls
Station, July 1916.
PhC.8.737
This rock, estimated to weigh 90 tons, was carried down the side of Humpback Mt, half
a mile in the path of a branch of the flood A.D.B. September 19, 1916.
PhC.8.751
Here the flood (15.6 inches of rain in one night) brought rock, timber and other debris
from the steep sides of Humpback Mt. And dumped it all into this narrow valley, scouring
off the soil and removing everything in its path. July 1916.
PhC.8.763
Slide from Humpback Mountain at Henofer's View from top of English's Field A.D.E.,
September 19, 1916.
PhC.8.765
The Bank Cut Away Here by the flood, tells in its layers of alternating soil and stones
the story of at least three other previous floods, thousands of years before. The
mail carrier from Linville Falls station Linville Falls Post office, seven miles on
his horse, September 23, 1916.
PhC.8.772