William B. Edgar circa 1880. CDV. Private Collection.

The signature was digitally added onto the photograph from a part of the sleeve that came with the CDV.

This gentleman from Fall River was born October 14, 1856 in Maine, of William Edgar and Marion E. Hanlon Buffinton. His father passed on February 3rd, 1858, leaving his mother to care for him alone. William Jr wasn’t even 2.

Not just a pretty face, he enlisted and went on to have a long military career, serving during two conflicts; the Spanish War and WWI, first as an ensign aboard the U.S.S Catskill and later on in life as the high ranked Lieutenant Commander of the U.S. Naval Training Camp in Hingham, Massachusetts. From 1918 to 1921 he was the Captain of the United States Naval Reserve Force.

He settled in his hometown where he also ran a firm, ‘Edgar & Buffinton’, selling electrical supplies like gramophones with his partner and family member, Elisha Wilbur Buffinton from his mother’s side, maybe a cousin.

William married Eliza Lord and had two children: William L Edgar in 1889 who unfortunately didn’t survive his first year, and a daughter in 1895, Marion L Edgar, who went on to live until 1956. His own wife tragically passed in 1889 at the age of 35, leaving him to mirror his own mother and raise his 3 year old daughter as a single parent.

He passed on November 17, 1938 having lived a full life to the age of 82.

Photographer: Gay’s Gallery of Art. Cor. Main & Borden St. Fall River, Mass.

His memorial at Find A Grave.