Samuel's long lost cousin William Parson Meeker, has come to light, a portrait by Stuart

Yesterday was momentous for me, I found the portrait of William P Meeker, who is the first cousin of my Samuel Meeker.

Their grandfather was Samuel Meeker (1716-1757) married to Rachel, they had 3 sons Capt. Samuel, Matthias, and Benjamin.

My Samuel is the son of Capt. Samuel, and William Parson was the son of Matthias. The family was well-established in the Westfields New Jersey, but my Samuel, his twin sister Phebe, and William P all migrated over to the big city, Philadelphia.

I found the portrait because it will be offered at auction the end of this month, by "James D. Julia Auctioneers."

Two years ago, when it was pointed out to me that the William Meeker portrait was listed in Lawrence Park, I was told that this was also confirming evidence that my portrait of Samuel (not listed in Lawrence Park) was by Gilbert Stuart, as he most often found sitters within particular connected circles, ie within a family. By the time Park found the William P Meeker portrait (his volumes were published in 1926), it was last listed as owned by David Z. Norton of Cleveland, Ohio; it was "Exhibited at "Cleveland Art Loan Exhibition, Cleveland, 1913 No. 160a". Then it seems to have dropped from sight, until, for whatever reason, the family who owns it, has decided NOW to put it on the market. Over a year ago I wrote "Antiques Magazine", and asked if any of their readers might know the whereabouts of the portrait of my Samuel's cousin ....the letter was published online but there was no response. I thought it would be very cool, to be able to compare the two portraits, which, most likely, would have been done in the same time frame...

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This portrait has not stood the test of time as well as mine, it seems.
There is much more to tell, about the businesses that Samuel was involved in, the time-lines, pointing out a more precise year for the painting of William P, which is listed by the auctioneers as "probably painted in London between June 1775 and October 1787." This would certainly be too early.

Stay tuned!