About

Marshall S. Buker was born in Richmond (ME) on April 3, 1845. In 1870, he is listed as a "Dagueri[?]an Artist" living in Lewiston, possibly with his grandparents (1870 census). From 1873 to 1874, he ran a photography store (M.S. Buker & Company) on Essex Street in Lawrence, MA (see Lawrence Municipal directories). A few years later, in 1876, he and his brother Parks appear to have lived in Boston (Boston tax records, in which they are both listed as working in "provisions"). In 1880, he was a widowed "artist" living in Bucksport (1880 census), while his two children seem to have been living with his younger sister Ella Billings in Blue Hill (1880 census). At the time of his second marriage in 1885, he is listed as a photographer living in Old Town. In in 1888, he is operating "over Samson's tonsorial rooms" (the 21 Center Street location Frees took over and Gilmore later occupied) and in 1889 he works "in the rear of V. Carleton's jewelry store" (which is the location Gilmore initially took over). He moved away in 1890, probably back to Massachusetts, where he later lived in Malden working as a salesman in extracts (1900 census) and most likely no longer was engaged in photography. He died at the Boston City Hospital on September 24, 1910 and a funeral was held from his daughter Edith Gunnison's home in Hyde Park. The Old Town Enterprise mentions various specific photos he took while in Old Town, including an 1888/9 view of Artemas Rigby's patented potato digger in Rigby's backyard and a group portrait of the Penobscot Club, later known as the Commercial Club.