The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-04-03
UNF FAMILIAR FACES
Historical Characters of Whose
Looks We Know Nothing.
THEY LEFT NO PORTRAITS.

as nelr FerSonai appearance is
Concerned.
In the search for portrait of Thorn
as Willett. the first mayor of New
York, the committee from the City
club visited nearly every print dealer
In the city in addition to scores of pri-
vate collectors of Americana But
there was no portrait to be found.
Any one who has ever attempted to
make collection of the pictures of
the big men of early New York soon
realizes that there are many blanks.
For instance. OF the four Dutch gov
ernors Peter Stuyvesant is the only
, one of whom we have correct por-
trait. OF Peter Minuet. William Kieft
and Wouter van Twiler there is abso-
lutely nothing accurate, although vari-
Gus caricatures have appeared from
time to time.
The same is true of still more emf
nent New Yorker. William Bradford.
the first printer. who founded in 1925
the New York Gazette. which was the
first newspaper printed in the prov
nce. Bradford WAS so prominent a
man and SO active for years, both In
Philadelphia as well as in New York,
that it is rather surprising not to have
something worthy Of being called a
true portrait. If there was, perhaps
his features might be on the tablet
erected on the site Of his printing Of
fee. now of the Cotton Exchange, at
Hanover square.
The lack Of an authentic portrait OF
Nathan Hale. the martyr spy of the
Revolution. is somewhat better known.
although the sculptors MacMonnies,
Partridge and others have not al
| lowed this to restrain them from de-
| picting the features of the young sol
dier in stone or bronze. OF Colonel
| Ethan Allen there is no known por-
| trait. and the same is true of the
| doughty warrior, General Nicholas
| Herkimer.
| One of the heroes Of Bunker bill.
| Colonel Richard Gridley. has left no
portrait He was the artillerist and
engineer who built the Notifications
| the night before the battle. Other
prominent Revolutionary fighters Of
whom no pictures exist are Colonel
| William Ledyard. the defender of New
| London. who was killed by a British
| officer when Ledyard surrendered the
! fort; General Thomas Conway. leader
of the notorious cabal to depose Wash
| ington from the command of the army
in l777: Colonel Seth Warner. who was
prominent in the attacks on Ticonde-
roga and Crown point and in the bat
tie of Bennington: General Seth Pom
| eroy of Massachusetts. and General
! S. muel Holden Parsons. one Of the
board which tried Major Andre and
was appointed by Washington as the
! first judge OF the northwest territory.
| No accurate portraits exist Of two of
| the ffty-six signers of the Declaration
| of independence. John Morton of Penn
| sylvania and John Hart of New Jer-
| sey, although portrait which is said
to be that of Hart hangs in Independ-
| ence hall in Philadelphia and is said to
have been painted from a miniature.
There is nothing extant of the IA
| ther of George Washington. Augustine
Washington. nor have any portraits
| been discovered of Colonel Ball, fa-
ther of Mary Washington, mother of
the general. or of John cambridge. fa-
ther of Washington's wife. Martha
Washington.
A portrait which a great many col.
lectors of old New York material
would give a good deal to obtain is
that OF Samuel Fraunces. the West In
dian tavern keeper. whose best known
house was the old Fraunces' tavern.
now owned by the Sons of the Revolu
ton, restored since they purchased il
few years ago to its original condi
ton. 1t is on lower Broad street. Oh
the corner of Pearl street. and the
famous long room In which Washing
ton took farewell of his officers has
been restored as closely as possible tC
its original form.
There is no portrait of William Gun
ningham, the heartless keeper of the
provost Jail in a corner OF City Hal
, park during the Revolution. Betsy
Ross, the celebrated maker of the first
|, stars and stripes. has no portrait Cap
: tain Miles Standish is among those
who have left nothing Of their per
j sonal appearance. nor is anything
known of the intrepid French explor
, er Joliet who traced the sources of the
Mississippi.
Others of more or less note of whom
there are no portraits are the old Eng
lish dramatist. Christopher Marlowe
Richard Savage, another we'll known
English dramatist. who died in 1743
Marquis Duquesne from whom For
Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. got its frs
name from the French; George Clin
ton. royal governor of New York from
i743 to 1853 and father of the British
general In the Revolution, Henry Clin
ton; Colonel John Henry Cruger. Gen
eral Oliver de Lancey. Governor WI
liam Tryon, General John Forbes
Baron Dieskau. General Robert Howe
and Bourrienne, Napoleons famous
seer etary. who wrote an excellent lif'
of the great French emperor. New
York Times.