Personal Data

Alfred S. Bither was born in October of 1824 in Searsport, Waldo, Maine.

He married first on March 1, 1847, to Louisa Dyer (b. 1823-1824 in Unity, Maine; d. 27Apr1878 in Boston), daughter of William Dyer and his wife, Eunice (LNU).

He married second, in 1881-1882, to Eveline M. Wiswell (b. Mar1842 in ME; d. after Jan1920).

Alfred Bither died in 1905 in Santa Ana, California.

Career

Alfred Bither was a carpenter in Boston from the mid-1860s.  By 1870, he had opened an office as an architect, and continued to practice until about 1880.  By 1882, he had moved to Los Angeles, and by 1892 he was living in Santa Ana, California.

[In his Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, Bainbridge Bunting attributes ten houses built in 1879 to R. S. Bither.  This is a misreading of the handwriting on the permit applications.  It is clearly written as “A. S.Bither” on several of the permit applications, and is less legible on several others. There was no R. S. Bither listed in the Boston City Directories at any time in the 1870s or 1880s, whereas Alfred S. Bither was a practicing architect there from 1870 to 1880.]

Back Bay Work