Samuel Denman (business partner of Samuel Meeker) & wife Anna Maria; and their terrible tragedy

Anna Maria [Hampton] Denman in detail

In the last entry, an advertisement for Meeker's firm “Meeker, Denman, & Co.” in the Philadelphia Gazette, October 23, 1797 was shown. Samuel Denman was Samuel Meeker’s brother-in-law. Samuel Meeker married Jane Hampton on March 3, 1792 in St. John’s Church Elizabethtown, N.J.

Recorded: 1792 Mar. 3 - Samuel Meeker, of Philadelphia, Merch't., to Jane daughter of Jonathan Hampton, Esq. of Elizabeth Town. Jane had a younger sister Anna Maria Hampton. Anna Maria married Samuel Denman (1774-1816) on December 10, 1801 by Rev. Henry Kollock, pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Elizabethtown.

Perhaps due to the divorce of Samuel’s twin sister Phebe from Alexander Cochran, Samuel’s first business partner, now Meeker dropped Cochran and joined forces with his brother-in-law Samuel Denman. So far as I know Anna Maria and Samuel Denman had two sons: tragically both died at a young age. Young Jonathan Hampton Denman died July 23 1804, age 4 months and three days, “at the Seat of Samuel Meeker Esq.” (Fountain Green.) Young William Denman passed away at age 4 years and 9 months, also at Fountain Green. This couple knew terrible tragedy, and father Samuel Denman also passed away at the young age of 42.

An eulogy to William Denman, age 4 1/2.

The vernal hope of lengthened life is crop'd

The opening blossom in the grave is dropt

Yet weep not, Parents, for his mouldering clay,

But rest your comfort on the judgment day.

For happy innocence, that knows no crime

Shall bloom eternal in the heavenly clime.

In an amazing bit of sleuthing, I found that images existed of the Denmans, preserved in miniature. You can imagine how thrilled I was, to discover images of Meeker's relatives, and to learn some of their story.

American Portrait miniatures

courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Watercolors on ivory in gilded copper case;

hair reserve 2 3/4" x 2 3/8"

artist: Edward Greene Malbone

Samuel and Anna Maria [Hampton] Denman, ca. 1801

The book "American Portrait Miniatures" is now available; by Carrie Rebora Barratt and Lori Zabar. The volume is the first complete catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of American portrait miniatures, "tiny, vivid miracles of the painter's art."

The Museum's holdings are the world's most comprehensive.

In a twist of family ancestry, my gt gt grandfather Ben Cory's grandmother was Susanna [Denman] Cory (1773-1851). Thus I have Denman blood, but not by Samuel, for remember, he gifted the portrait to his twin sister.

a few miniatures of interest from Europe

August von Goethe by Karl Josef Raabe

August did not come close to the exhalted heights of cultural fame achieved by his father Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is sadly more known as the untalented child of a genius. Although having a relatively good marriage and three children, August turned to alcohol, which may have played a role in his early death on a trip to Rome, age 40, in 1830. Karl Josef Raabe (1780-1849) was a German painter, engineer, and architect. In 1811 he went to the court of Weimar where he painted miniatures, including Goethe and his son August.

Napoleon's son the Duke de Reichstadt, From the Miniaturenkabinett in the Hofburg, Austria

Napoleon's wife Empress Josephine miniature by Daniel Saint

The style of female dress “empire waist” was popularized by Josephine, spreading across the Atlantic to become the preferred fashion in the new Republic as well (as seen on Ann Penington by Gibby, who is holding a miniature silhouette, and on the "lady holding her most favorite jewel" in the entry before this one). The widow Rose de Beauharnais snared Napoleon Bonaparte’s immediate interest the moment she stood before him to plead that her young son might keep his father’s sword. She was unable to have children, and after much emotional turmoil, Napoleon felt obliged to divorce his beloved Empress Josephine. He quickly married a Habsburg princess who had their son, the Duc de Reichstadt. The young man was sent to live in Austria after Napoleon was forced abdicate and was exiled. Suffering from TB, the only child of N died in 1832 at the age of 21.

As mentioned before, in the time of no phone or twitter, small messages were sent back and forth, sometimes several times a day. A message from Napoleon to Josephine:
“You will be leaving the city at noon. But I shall see you in three hours. Until then, mio dolce amor, I send you a thousand kisses—but send me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.”

~

A Lady, wearing her most precious jewel!

artist unknown. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art)

No stories today, just something I thought was..adorable....

stories of Stuart, Goodridge and Webster cont.

“…and love is heaven, and heaven is love”

As mentioned previously, Sarah Goodridge painted a miniature of Stuart; in fact not just one, but three. Clearly he admired her excellent ability. It has been described that she studied under his tutelage, however; “Stuart never claimed any artist as his student, although nearly every American artist of the next generation credited him or his works in the development of their own.” (Barratt and Miles p 291). Sarah opened her studio in Boston in 1820 and adapted Stuart’s oil-paintinging techniques to watercolor, the result of which was a range of stunningly saturated and controlled works. Ibid.

Sarah Goodridge. Self-Portrait, ca. 1845. Courtesy of the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, La.

As also mentioned in the previous post Sarah had a ‘close friendship’, I think it can correctly be called ‘an affair’, with statesman Daniel Webster. I found this interesting tidbit which I think pertains to the story here, in Life and Letters of Dolly Madison by A. C. Clark (W F Roberts Co, Washington DC 1914). In a letter to Dolly by Mrs. Robert Tyler, the wedding of ‘Elizabeth’, 19 yrs married in Feb 1842, is described. Mr Webster was in attendance.
From the letter:

“Lizzie looked surpassingly lovely in her wedding dress and long blonde-lace veil; her face literally covered with blushes and dimples. She behaved remarkably well, too; any quantity of compliments were paid to her. I heard one of her bridesmaids express to Mr. Webster her surprise at Lizzie consenting to give up her belleship, with all the delights of her position, and retire to a quiet Virginia home. ‘Ah,’ said he,

*Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,

And love is heaven, and heaven is love.' ”

Grace Fletcher, by Chester Harding (1792-1866)
***

First wife of Daniel Webster, who bore him five children.
(Portrait painter Chester Harding also spent time with Stuart in the mid 1820s…. becoming such a skilled imitator that he picked up clientel of Stuart’s after his death. Ibid.)

Grace Fletcher Webster died at age 47. Two years later Webster, absolutely determined to find a suitable marriageable candidate and after a whirlwind one month courtship, married Caroline Le Roy from a wealthy New York family. It seems to have been a marriage of convenience; she had money and connections, he could offer her respite from spinsterhood (Caroline was 32 and unmarried, Webster was 47) and he received a pile of money as a dowry. There was some talk of divorce, especially when Sarah came to visit him in DC and Caroline left town to visit friends and family in New York. But the marriage survived, and Caroline outlived Daniel by 30 years.

Sarah and Daniel ~ it seems their friendly connection survived the new marriage. Note that Sarah’s self portrait does not show a willful, vain, demanding personality.

~~Sarah (detail) Self portrait ca 1825, watercolor on ivory 3 1/8 x 2 5/8 in.

~portrait of Daniel Webster by Gilbert Stuart, unfinished 1817

Sarah Goodridge paints a miniature of Gilbert Stuart; her miniature given as a gift to Daniel Webster Stuns, Surprises, and fires up the Senses!

Miniature painting (most) commonly took the form of portraits done in watercolor on ivory in America during the early nineteenth century. This art form became very popular as the image of a loved one, encased in a metal and glass oval, was meant to be hung in a small space, or worn as jewelry or hidden in a pocket. The miniatures often held a lock of hair, were often mourning portraits, or as pictured below;

tokens of …..sensational intimacy…..

The minature of Gilbert Stuart below (1 7/8 x 1 5/8 in.) was done by Sarah Goodridge (1788-1853). He believed no one else could capture the essence of his personality. He valued this work and presented it to his mother in 1827, adorned with a bracelet woven from his own and his wife’s hair. Middle image; Sarah Appleton with her cat, Sanko by Goodridge. Third image, self portrait Sarah Goodridge.

~
Sarah Goodridge painted two or three miniatures a week, enough to support her poor sick mother, her orphan niece, and other family members. Her career lasted for thirty years until her failing eyesight forced her to stop. She never married. She developed a friendship with the handsome young Boston lawyer, statesman and famous orator Daniel Webster. The first time she painted Webster's portrait, he was married with three children; she painted this intimate self portrait pictured just below, in 1828, the year of his first term as US senator. He sat for eleven more portraits over the next 25 years. The ‘friendship’ is documented in forty-four letters that Webster wrote to Goodridge between 1827 and 1851. While she carefully preserved letters from him, he seems to have carefully destroyed letters from her. When he moved to Washington to serve in government she visited him there twice. After Webster's wife nee Grace Fletcher died in 1827, Goodridge secretly painted this miniature for him entitled

"Beauty Revealed"

Sarah Goodridge (American, 1788–1835) Beauty Revealed, 1828 Watercolor on ivory; 2 5/8 x 3 1/8 in. (6.7 x 8 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Gloria Manney, 2006

While it is not certain what went on between these two friends, the stunning nuances of light and shadow and glowing tones of the watercolor on ivory

... speak more than words...

Webster was politically ambitious and needed money, and it seems Goodridge samt intimate portrait did not sway Webster’s emotions towards marriage, at least to her. He met and promptly married another woman, whose father was a wealthy and prominent merchant of New York.

~

Daniel Webster by Gilbert Stuart 1825

From Lawrence Park Vol II
Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
Born in Salisbury (now Franklin), New Hampshire. Son of Ebenezer Webster and his second wife Abigail Eastman. Graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801. Took up the study of law first in Salisbury and later in Boston, where he was admitted to the bar in 1805, and began practicing at Boscawen; in 1807 he removed to Portsmouth, where he soon acquired distinction. In 1816 he returned to Boston. He soon became one of the foremost advocates of the country. In 1820 he delivered the oration at Plymouth in commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims; this was followed in 1825 by an oration on the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument and by a eulogy on Adams and Jefferson in 1826—three addresses which established his fame as one of the great orators of the time. Upon the organization of the Whig Party, he became one of its leaders, and in 1836 received the electoral vote of Massachusetts for President. He was Secretary of State under Harrison and Tyler. Until his death he was active in diplomatic and governmental matters. Daniel Webster was married twice: first in 1808, to Grace Fletcher (1781-1828), by whom he had five children; and second, in 1829, to Caroline LeRoy (1797-1882), daughter of Jacob LeRoy of New Rochelle, New York. His only surviving son, Fletcher Webster, fell in the second battle of Bull Run, 1862.

Description of the portrait;
Boston, November, 1825. Canvas 36 x 28 inches. He is shown seated, nearly full-face, but turned slightly to his right, his right arm (hand not shown) resting on a table covered with a green cloth, upon which are two bound volumes lying flat one above the other. His left arm is resting upon the back of the chair. He wears a black coat, high white collar turned over at the edge, and a white frilled shirt. His dark brown eyes gaze with a steady, rather piercing, expression directly at the spectator, while about his mouth lurks the suggestion of a smile. The background is a very deep red or maroon. His hair, worn short, is dark brown, and his complexion ruddy. The books are bound in brown leather: one one is the word “Oceana,” and on the other “Con. U.S.” The portrait was painted for his and Stuart’s friend, Isaac P. Davis (1771-1855) of Boston, and hung for years in his parlor. “One day while visiting Mr. Davis, Webster stood for some time before the picture, and, making a low bow to it, said: ‘I am willing that shall go down to posterity.’” (A letter from Mrs. Isaac P. Davis to Jane Stuart, written from 18 Chauncy Street, Boston, but undated.) It was painted just after Webster had returned to Boston from Washington “looking pale and thin and far from well, yet the picture has the depth of expression for which he was so remarkable.”

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