Click on image to see it larger.
I look at this woman and think about the life the character Alma lived. She was married to a wealthy man from New England who imagined himself capable of striking it rich in the lawless town of Deadwood. Alma did as she was told, but dealt with her life by taking laudanum.
In the book Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills by David Milch, Molly Parker wrote the following about Alma:“Alma comes to Deadwood and is reborn. She is very smart. She doesn’t think she’s very smart. She comes thinking that this is the end of her life, thinking that she’s married to this man that she hates, and she’s just going live out her days high. She comes to this place thinking her life is over and she is given this opportunity to reinvent herself, and she is born again.”
What became of this woman? Did she marry wealth, someone prominent in Elgin? Did she travel great distances in hopes of finding herself, or did she live her entire life within the small world of a small town? It would be very easy to write a variety of stories about her. That’s now her lot in life. She’s nothing more than an image from the past which stimulates my imagination.
To see a few other photos by the photographer, S. M. Adams, click here, here, and here. And here and here are shots he took of a home called the Bowen House. I could easily imagine this woman living in this house, a mystery behind the curtains.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your pencils. There's a gold mine just waiting to be found in her stories.
UPDATE: From reader WYJ comes the following about S. M. Adams. Thank you!
UPDATE: From reader WYJ comes the following about S. M. Adams. Thank you!
Your photographer is most likely Spencer M. Adams. He was born in Elgin, Illinois in 1852. His father, John M. Adams was also a photographer. There was a J.M. Adams and Son studio in Elgin from 1884 to 1885. There was either an S.M. Adams or Spencer M Adams studio, in Elgin, from 1885 to 1922. Don't know when he died.
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