In this circa 1900 glass-plate image from The East Hampton Star’s photo archive, the Boughton family is gathered around a dining table for a feast. Edward Smith Boughton (1863-1916) sits at the head of the table, smiling for the camera, surrounded by his family.
Edward learned the newspaper trade in Connecticut before buying The Star in 1890. That same year, he and his wife, Bertha E. Welby Boughton (1865-1946), moved to East Hampton with their three children, Clara (1886-1946), Helen (1890-1951), and Ralph (1891-1918). They set up their home on Newtown Lane in a house with a large backyard and enough space for the family to grow.
The family added three more children, Welby (1893-1941), Lewis (1896-1918), and Marion (1898-1972), before 1900. The 1900 census shows that Mary Alice (1868-1944), Edward’s sister, also joined the household.
The Boughtons left a collection of glass-plate negatives from the early 20th century in the custody of The Star, where they remain. Surviving pictures range from children playing in a canoe in the backyard to one of the daughters posed in a nurse’s uniform.
The image here is likely one of the collection’s earliest. It centers on the family celebrating with a feast on the table and evergreen boughs in the chandelier. To the left of Edward is his sister, Mary Alice, next to her is Bertha holding Marion, and then Clara and Ralph.
To the right of Edward is Lewis, barely visible, and his sister Helen. Welby is probably cut off by the camera, with only an elbow captured.
Considering the number of children and their ages, this picture probably dates from between 1900 and 1903. Edward and Bertha went on to have two more children, Mildred (1903-1944) and Barbara (1909-1951).
The Boughtons passed the mantle of editor from Edward to Lewis to Welby, before selling the newspaper to Arnold E. Rattray in 1935.
Moriah Moore is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Library.
