Dr. J. Parker Pray
Title
Description
1868-?
Dr. J. Parker Pray’s story is inextricably tied to that of his first wife, Mary E. Cobb. Having been trained as a manicurist shortly after their 1874 marriage, Cobb opened her first salon in 1878. Pray was originally a chiropodist, but had expanded into manufacture of podiatry and toilet goods in 1868. The company split in two after the couple’s 1884 divorce, with Pray marketing himself as “the originator of Manicure Art and Goods in America.” Pray remained in business into the 1920s, selling mostly toilet creams and powders (as in the 1912 ad below), but it is unclear when the company folded.
RRH
Dr. J. Parker Pray’s story is inextricably tied to that of his first wife, Mary E. Cobb. Having been trained as a manicurist shortly after their 1874 marriage, Cobb opened her first salon in 1878. Pray was originally a chiropodist, but had expanded into manufacture of podiatry and toilet goods in 1868. The company split in two after the couple’s 1884 divorce, with Pray marketing himself as “the originator of Manicure Art and Goods in America.” Pray remained in business into the 1920s, selling mostly toilet creams and powders (as in the 1912 ad below), but it is unclear when the company folded.
RRH