Sarah Louise Judd (1802 – 1886)
American Photographer and Schoolteacher
Sarah Louise Judd, born on the 26th of June 1802 in Farmington Connecticut, is the earliest known commercial photographer in Minnesota, creating daguerreotypes in the spring of 1848.
Before her photographic endeavours, she was a schoolteacher, being the first in Washington County. Teaching at Point Douglas in 1845 and Stillwater in 1846, she occupied a vacant log cabin, teaching out of the building. Later she taught in Marine in 1849.
Her penchant for learning coincided greatly with the newly invented daguerreotype and the journey of this technology across the Atlantic. According to the Warner & Foote’s History of Washington County (1881), ‘Mrs. A. Eldridge made daguerreotypes first in the spring of 1848, and continued in Stillwater two years.’
Nothing remains of Sarah’s work or is known of the daguerreotypes she created. We only know of her venture into photography due to Warner & Foote’s History. However, her experimentation brought the daguerreotype into the conscious of Minnesotans, with other photographers succeeding her in the area.
Sarah died on the 11th of October 1881, due to ‘general debility’.
