Thomas E. Marr

See Ron Polito "T.E. Marr (& Son): Isabella Stewart Gardner's Photographers--And More," New England Journal of Photographic History (Waltham, 2020).

Records of his early years are spotty, but his Massachusetts marriage record indicates he was born in Nova Scotia on December 6, 1949, the son of William and Mary Marr. His 1894 petition for citizenship cites his birthplace as Digby, Nova Scotia, and his arrival in the United States "on or about" June 20, 1866. In contradiction, the 1877 birth record for his son Arthur, indicates Thomas was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and the 1900 federal census reports he immigrated to the United States in 1864...

The record becomes more consistent beginning in 1871, when a Thomas E. Marr appears in the resident listing of the Boston city director as a "photographist," boarding at 30 Harrison Avenue... In 1874-81 worked for photographic studio Holton & Robinson and E. A. Holton. Went out on his own in 1883 first as an artist and then as a photographer in 1899.