This is one of three cartes de visite from my collection relating to members of the Harrington family of San Francisco. This one is identified on the back as "Etty Harrington." I also have a second portrait cdv of "Etty" taken a couple of years later, in which she is identified as "Estelle Harrington," and a cdv of "Webber Harrington, 2 years old, Aug 25, 1874."
This image was taken at the studio of Wilbur Bayley and Robert Winter. Their business was located at 618, and 620 Washington Street in San Francisco, next to Maguire's Opera House. According to Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, by Peter Palmquist and Thomas Kailborn, the partnership of Bayley and Winter lasted for only three years at this location, between 1869 and 1871.
Estelle, born about 1858 in California, was the daughter of Benjamin Webber Harrington and Sarah C.Harrington. Estelle (or Etty) had two brothers, Frances B., born about 1842 in Massachusetts, and Frederick, born a year after Frances, also in Massachusetts. Estelle's sister, Sarah M. was born in 18481.
Estelle's father worked as a stone cutter/mason. In my hunt for information this family I happened upon the book Alcatraz Unchained by Jerry Lewis Champion, Jr. which is an in-depth history into Alcatraz Island. According to Champion's research, Benjamin Webber Harrington moved his family from Massachusetts to the west coast during the time of the California Gold Rush, working as a stone mason at Fort Point and later, on the fortifications located on Alcatraz Island. Later, his son Frederick worked as a lighthouse keeper on the California coast, but mostly at the Trinidad Lighthouse, near the California/Oregon border.
In 1880, Estella seems to be going by the name Anita E. Harrington, and is working as an embroidress2. Her father, Benjamin is described as "paralyzed," in the census records. He was 61 years old. I wonder if he was a victim of an industrial accident. Estelle (Anita) Harrington's maternal grandmother, Sophia Pratt, age 78, born Canada, is also living with the family in 1880 and is listed as paralyzed.
I don't know what became of Anita Estelle after this. She doesn't seem to appear in the censuses, which might mean she married and appears under a different surname. I suspect there may be a lot of available material out there on this family, if one has the time to look for it. If you know what happens to our subject after 1880, I'd love to hear from you.
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UPDATE May 27, 2020: Recently I devoted a little more time to Anita
Estelle Harrington to learn about her later years. I discovered a digitized
copy of History of the Dore family written by Anita Estelle’s son, Walter
Harrington Dore (https://archive.org/details/historyofdorefam1908dore.)
According to the author, Anita Estelle Harrington
married Harry E. Dore in San Francisco in 1881. Walter was born in 1882 and the
family lived in Portland, Oregon for 12 years where Harry Dore operated a
printing business prior to moving back to California around 1896. In 1920, Harry and Anita Estelle operated a
grocery store in Berkeley, CA. The San Francisco Examiner reported Anita
Estelle Harrington Dore died on the 23rd of October 1925 in Berkeley.
1 1860 U.S. census, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, population schedule, p. 410, dwelling 100, family 93, Estill Harrington, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 October 2012); citing National Archives microfilm publication M653, microfilm 803067.↩
2 "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6PX-R35 : accessed 7 Oct 2012), Anita E. Harrington in household of Benjamin W. Harrington, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States; citing sheet 342B, family 2, NARA microfilm publication T9-0079.↩
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