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Born in Drummond Township, Canada West (now Ontario) around 1845, one of ten children of Henry Watson (1806-1893) and Rosetta Goodall (1808-1888), she resided near Perth in her childhood. She trained as a photographer in New York City, New Haven (Connecticut), and the William Notman studio at Ottawa (Ontario) and may have married a fellow photographer, Fred Carr (c1840-1882). She came to Winnipeg in 1883 and a year later purchased a local photographic business, which she named the American Art Gallery. The work of this studio was technologically advanced and of high quality. Carr was especially admired for her portraiture, and she won many prizes. In 1893 her competitors boycotted the Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition because she had been given exclusive rights to photograph it. She entered all the photography classes and won all the prizes. She died at Ottawa, Ontario on 6 July 1907.
See also:
Rosetta Ernestine Watson Carr, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
Year(s)
Address
1883
40 James Street East, Winnipeg
1884 to 1890
574½ Main Street [Cheapside Block], Winnipeg
1890
See American Art Gallery, 1890
Death registration [Fred Carr], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1891 Canada census, Ancestry.
Ontario death registration, Ancestry.
“Death of Mrs. R. E. Carr,” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 July 1907, page 4.
Photographic Artist: Rosetta Ernestine Watson-Carr (1845-1907), Perth & District Historical Society.
We thank Aubrey Bell for providing additional information used here.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 August 2020
Manitoba Photographers: 1858 to Present
A list of professional photographers who have worked in Manitoba, from 1858 to the present, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society.
© 2006-2023
Gordon Goldsborough & Manitoba Historical Society. All rights reserved.
