Grant Castner: 1863-1941

A spray of roses arranged on a table with a single bloom placed in a vase is the subject of this mounted platinum print by Grant Castner.

Grant Castner was active in the Trenton (New Jersey) Photographic Society. He was the society’s first secretary when it was founded in 1898 and continued in the position into the early 20th century. Newspaper accounts have him affiliated through at least 1912, when he is listed as a photographic judge for a contest. He was active in photography until at least 1916, when The Photo-Era published his landscape “Reflections and Shadows“,  a winter scene of a near-frozen river in the December issue.

1863: Born December 6.

1880: Castner is living in Belvidere, New Jersey according to an online genealogical message board from 2003 consulted in 2018 which also states he later married Sarah Carr of New Jersey. They had two children: Theodore Grant Castner (1904) and Eleanor Castner (1907).

 1890: Early efforts: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper list him as being an entrant in their photographic contest for the week ending December 1. At the time, he was living at 404 Hudson Street in Trenton.

1900: U.S. Census lists Castner as being an agent for the Union News and living in Trenton.

1910: U.S. Census now lists his profession as a photographer while continuing to live in Trenton.

1941: Died on January 30. Buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Trenton, New Jersey.

print notes recto: photograph mounted within impressed window on primary support; signed in graphite at lower left corner of impression:
“ROSES”
G. CASTNER
1896