Painting

Title:

Mary Stark Gillis

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

2018.030.02

Creator:

Spencer, Frederick R. (1806-1875)

Date:

circa 1825

Description:

Portrait of Mary Stark Gillis (1789-1825) of Merrimack, NH, and Wilmington, MA; attributed to Frederick R. Spencer (1806-1875), c. 1825. Oil on board. Half-length portrait of woman turned to right, wearing blue embroidered dress and white lace cap. Pencil inscription on back of canvas: "By F.R.S."

Material:

Wood

Dimensions:

H-27 W-22.1 inches

Provenance:

Josiah Gillis (1789-1825) was the son of Jotham and Abigail (Codman) Gillis of Merrimack and Manchester, NH. Mary Stark (1795-1878) was the daughter of John and Mary (Huse) Stark of Dunbarton and Goffstown, NH, and granddaughter of General John and Elizabeth (Paige) Stark of Derryfield, NH. They were married on September 14, 1813 in Goffstown. The Gillises lived on a family farm in Merrimack through 1818. Josiah was a land speculator and lumber dealer who owned 20,000 acres of land in the towns of Sandwich, Burton, and Thornton, NH. In 1818 the Gillises moved to Wilmington, MA, where they operated a hotel and shipping business on the Middlesex Canal. The donors purchased the portraits from the estate of Stark and Gillis descendant Nina Moore Frey of East Poultney, VT, in 1994.

Credit Line:

Gift of Joe and Betty Ellovich

People:

Gillis, Josiah (1789-1825), Gillis, Mary Stark (1795-1878), Spencer, Frederick R. (1806-1875)

Subjects:

Gillis, Mary Stark