Albert J. Neuman

Albert Neuman was born in Prussia in April 1834.  He immigrated to the United States in 1853 and entered the photography profession and then moved to Missouri circa 1860 settling in Rolla, Missouri. He was the earliest known photographer in the community of Rolla. He advertised in the local newspaper, Rolla Express, as an “Artist and Dentist” until 1861. Most of Neuman’s clientele were soldiers, railroad men, and camp followers since Rolla was considered an important Union railroad during the Civil War. Once the Civil War concluded, Neuman gave up photography to open a complex that housed a greenhouse, nursery, bowling alley, and wine garden. He was active in the Democratic Party and agricultural organizations and was elected probate judge of Phelps County, Missouri, in 1897. Neuman died in 1920 at the age of eighty-six.