FRIDAYEXTRA !
The Daily Astorian
Friday, August 28, 2015
Weekend Edition
Submitted Photo
South side of the
house, taken before or
after some lawn tennis
and croquet. Mary Fla-
vel, the captain’s wife,
is on the right in black
and Katie Flavel is
seated on the bench.
A Flavel family album
Trove of photos shows interior
of historic Victorian mansion
By McANDREW BURNS
Special to The Daily Astorian
C
aptain Ahab had his white whale.
Don Quixote chased windmills. My
IatheU has spent decades tUyinJ to ¿ nd the
perfect milkshake. For years, the Clatsop
County Historical Society has wished for
interior photographs of the Flavel House
from when the family lived in the home.
We have a large quantity of written
material describing the rooms, their
uses, and contents. There are also many
photographs of the family, the exterior
of the Victorian on Eighth Street , and
the grounds. It always seemed strange
that such a well-documented home and
family would not have any interior pho-
tographs of the home in which they took
such pride.
Two years ago, it was with surprise
and skepticism I read an email from an
antique dealer located in South America
claiming to have a photo album from the
Flavel family. He explained he had pur-
chased it in San Francisco and it had the
name “P Flavel” written inside the front
cover.
Capt. George Flavel’s oldest
g reat-g randdaughter, Patricia Flavel,
spent the bulk of her life in the San
Francisco area, so it was possible this
album had been hers. I replied that we
would love to accept his donation of the
album. He patiently explained he want-
ed to sell it. I patiently explained that
we didn’t really have a budget for such
things.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Greg Newenhof holds up Nellie Flavel’s photograph album.
See FLAVELS, Page 3C
The Flavels
The i nterior
of the
m usic
r oom.
Nellie
Flavel
playing
the piano.
Submitted
Photo