Background
Frank Hamilton Nowell was born on February 19, 1864, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. His parents were Thomas Nowell, the first Alaskan delegate to the Republican National Convention, and Lydia Ham Nowell.
1909
Self-portrait at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle
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Frank Nowell's studio at 1212 4th Avenue in Seattle
Nowell's studio
Frank Hamilton Nowell was born on February 19, 1864, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. His parents were Thomas Nowell, the first Alaskan delegate to the Republican National Convention, and Lydia Ham Nowell.
Beginning as a hobbyist, Frank Nowell taught himself the craft. He traveled to North Platte, Nebraska, in 1878 to work with his brother on his father's small cattle ranch. In 1886, with six cows and one bull, Frank Nowell shipped out on the S.S. Ancon to Juneau, Alaska, to start the first dairy ranch there. He then went into the mining business there with his father on Douglas Island. In 1894 Frank Nowell moved to the West Coast, living in several towns and operating as purchasing agent for his father's company.
Frank Nowell returned to Alaska in 1900, starting a grocery store, the Miner's Supply Co., and then opened a photographic studio in Nome. By 1908 he was fairly settled in Seattle, where he was appointed the Official Photographer of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition (1909); there he opened a commercial studio, where he remained until his death.