From the 19C Newspapers - A Curious Case of Kidnapping in June 1857

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Unknown American Artist Baby in a Red Chair 1825

A German girl named Bertha Bushkill, “was arrested on Sunday last, in New York, for kidnapping a child. Her purpose was that she might induce a young man who had been courting her to marry her.

She had told him that he was the father of a child which she pretended was being taken care of by some of her friends.

Her lover consented to marry her, provided she would produce the child. She accordingly, stole a child; took it home, and her lover being pleased with the appearance of the child agreed to fulfill his part of the contract.

Preparations were going forward for the marriage at the time of the arrest.”

From the Semi-Weekly Western Sun, June 30, 1857

From the 19C Newspapers - Old Fogies

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Mrs. W. H. Clausen gave birth to a healthy son weighing fifteen pounds. And yet old fogies croak about the degeneration of the human race.
-from the Burlington Hawkeye, Des Moines, Iowa, March 19, 1874

From Tweets of Old

Life in North Carolina during Reconstruction

WOMAN WITH COLLARD LEAF ON HER HEAD TO CURE A HEADACHE by Mary Lyde Hicks William (1866-1959) Mary reflected daily life she saw on her uncle's plantation during Reconstruction in North Carolina.

19C American Women - Allen Smith Jr (1810–1890)

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Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) The Artist's Mother

New York-trained artist, Allen Smith, Jr. settled in Cleveland, Ohio in 1841, having been in New York City from 1930, and swiftly rose to prominence there as a portrait & genre painter.

Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) The Young Mechanic

Like all artists, Smith suffered greatly during the Panic of 1857, forcing him to take a job in James F. Ryder’s studio where, according to his employer’s advertisements, he produced the “best oil painted photographs in Ohio.”

Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) A Lady

With 8 children to support, Smith collaborated with other photographers in times of need, both in Cleveland & Cincinnati, but ended his days happily in Ohio's Lake County, painting landscapes in the Big Creek Valley.
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American Folk Art - Unconventional Portrait of an Early 19C American Woman

Unknown Vermont Artist. Woman in a Rose Dress c 1805-1815

Several New England artists shared a unique painting style during the 1820s-30s. Women depicted by these artists exhibit several similar characteristics - pale, sculptural faces; prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate classical Greek hairstyles of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments.  The paintings are usually watercolors.  The artists paint strong features, sharply defined, with arched, curved eyebrows.  The watercolors are similar to fashion plates appearing in magazines such as Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions & Politics, published in London in 1809 through 1829.

American Folk Art - Bonnets & Books: America's Very Straightlaced Female Readers

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Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Mrs Dodge

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Mr and Mrs William Vaughan of Aurora, Illinois

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Katherine Salisbury Newkirk Hickok, c. 1825

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Anna Gould Crand and Granddaughter Jenette 1837

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844) Ann Gennett Pixley Lacey (1809 - 1841)

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Unidentified Couple

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1824 Woman With a Shawl & Bonnet Holding Book

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844) Unknown Lady with Book & Shawl

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Portrait of a Woman

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Woman Holding a Book

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Lady in Black Dress Holding Book

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844). Fanny Aiken, 1835

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Jeanette Payne

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Young Woman from New York

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Old Woman with a Bible

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Marie Pells Phillips

William Sidney Mount (American artist, 1807–1868) Mrs Gideon Tucker 1830

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-14 1865) Wife of the Journalist

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1817 Mrs. Tobias Steller

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1824 Pauline Daring Denton

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Sarah Mynderse Campbell

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1836 Mrs. Isaac Cox

Samuel Shaver (American artist, 1816–1878) Mrs Samuel Chastain (Elizabeth White)
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From the 19C Newspapers - The Hair on the Back of Their Heads...

The Atlanta Constitution says: “In Russia the girls carry dynamite in their back hair. In Georgia they carry it in their dear little eyes.”
-from the Richmond Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, August 8, 1884, quoting the Atlanta Constitution.

note: Back then, “back hair” referred to the hair worn on the back side of the head.

From Tweets of Old

American Folk Art - Asahel L. Powers (1813-1843)

Asahel L. Powers (1813-1843)

From the 19C Newspapers - Female Farmer

A young woman in Dakota who works 160-acres, says she could work twice that if marriage-minded men would stop bothering her.

-from the Vernon Courier, Vernon, Alabama, 1887

From Tweets of Old

19C American Women - Folk Art - David Waite Bowdoin (c 1819-c 1872)

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In 1840, David Waite Bowdoin (ca. 1819-ca. 1872), an obscure portraitist (only 2 paintings are known & the other is of his father) from New Braintree, Massachusetts, painted an intense portrait of his mother wearing an unusual brown dress and bonnet with yellow ribbons.

David Waite Bowdoin (ca. 1819-ca. 1872), The Artist's Mother Tirzah Waite Bowdoin, New Braintree, Mass., 1840

19C American Women - Folk Art - Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire (1804-1841)

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Woman in Veil c 1825

Several New England artists shared a unique painting style during the 1820s-30s. Women depicted by these artists exhibit several similar characteristics - pale, sculptural faces; prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate classical Greek hairstyles of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments.  The paintings are usually watercolors.  The artists paint strong features, sharply defined, with arched, curved eyebrows.  The watercolors are similar to fashion plates appearing in magazines such as Ackerman’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions & Politics, published in London in 1809 through 1829.

Emily Eastman was one of these painters who was also from New Hampshire.  When Emily Eastman was born on February 16, 1804, her father, David Eastman (1763-1824) was 41, and her mother, Ruth Carter (1763-1822), was 40. They had three sons and four daughters. Emily Eastman married Albert Merrill in 1822 in Conway, New Hampshire. They had three children during their marriage. She died on April 2, 1841, in Conway, New Hampshire, at the age of 37.

Between about 1820 & 1830, Eastman completed several portraits of women, drawn in graphite and then completed in watercolors, in high fashion dress with tightly curled hair. An issue of the contemporary The Lady’s Magazine, described popular fashion of the period,  “Our fair females are covered with transparent shawls, which float and flutter over their shoulders and upon their bosoms, which are seen through them. With gauze veils, which conceal half of the face to pique our curiosity.” A likeness of a young girl is also included here.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Lady's Coiffure with Flowers and Jewels

Eastman reportedly was born in Loudon, New Hampshire, 75 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. She married Dr. Daniel Baker in 1824.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Feathers and Pearls

Eastman rarely signed her paintings, but those that are unsigned display similarities such as prominent thin, delicately arched eyebrows; small bowed mouths; & elaborate coiffures of tight curls intertwined with jewelry, flowers, & other adornments.

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Girl Bedecked with Flowers

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Attributed to Eastman - Woman Holding a Bible

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Lady's Coiffure with Spray of Wheat and Wild Flowers

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Young Woman with Flowers in Her Hair c 1820-30

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? )  Young Lady in a Gold Colored gown, her hair dressed with flowers and pearls c 1820

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804-? ) Girl in Blue Dress

attributed to Emily Eastman (Loudon, New Hampshire, 1804- )

From the 19C Newspapers - Men need chaperones...

A Chicago woman has been arrested for highway robbery. No proper young man now ventures to appear on Chicago streets without a chaperone.

-from The Newton Press, Jasper County, Illinois, February 15, 1888

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Fighting for Equality - Harriet Taylor 1853-1945

Harriet Taylor was born December 17, 1853, in Ravenna, Ohio, the daughter of Ezra Taylor, an Ohio judge. In 1861 the Taylor family moved to Warren, Ohio.

In 1880, Upton's father was elected to Congress as a Republican, succeeding President James Garfield in the position. She went to Washington DC with her father where she met leaders in the suffrage movement like Susan B. Anthony.

Back in Ohio, Upton became a key organizer and the first president of the Suffrage Association of Warren. In 1894, Upton was elected as the treasurer of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the leading national woman suffrage organization. She brought the headquarters of that organization home to Warren, Ohio, from 1903 to 1910.

After seeing the 19th amendment pass, Upton was elected Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republican National Committee. She attempted a run for congress in 1924, but was not successful. Her only electoral success was being the first woman elected to the Warren Board of Elections.

During the Great Depression, Upton and her husband lost all of their wealth. Upton spends her last days in California, in poverty. Harriet Taylor Upton died in Pasadena, California, on November 2, 1945. She was 91 years old at the time of her death.

The Harriet Taylor Upton House in Warren, Ohio, is a National Historic Landmark. It was almost lost when a group of local activists saved it & have her cremains re-interred at her home in Warren.

Carriage Ride

 Chevaux & Voitures. Le Cabriolet a Pompe. Published by M. Knoedler & Co. New York.

19C American Women - Folk Art - Bonnets, Books, & Color - A Few Liberated Female Readers

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Jonas Holman (American artist, 1805-1873) Woman with Pink Neck Ribbon c 1830-35

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Ann Batell Loomis 1822

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) c 1814-19 Mrs. Crane

John Usher Parsons (American artist, 1813-1851) Woman in Pink 1835-40

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Woman with Books

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Permilia Forbes Sweet of New York 1832

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1825 A Lady with a Book

Oliver Tarbell Eddy ( 1799-1868 ) Abbe Greiger Chavallier 1835

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) c 1815-19 Mrs. Stoddard Holding Bible

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) A Young Lady Holding a Book

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Catherine Stoutenburgh

Unknown American Artist, Woman Seated 1840s

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Jane Ann Campbell

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Sarah Ogden Gustin

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Rebecca Rouse (Mrs. Jonathan Eddy)

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Miss Thayer

James Brown (American artist, fl 1800-1835) Laura Hall 1808

Unknown American Artist, Martha 1810

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Mrs Sackett 1839

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Portrait of a Woman

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Mrs Edward Kellogg 1831

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Lady with Book

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Lady of the Buloid Family?

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Young Lady on a Red Sofa with a Book

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Woman in Blue

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Clarissa Gallond Cook

Thomas Eakins (American Realist Painter, 1844-1916) The Artist's Wife Susan MacDowel Eakins and their Setter Dog
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