Description:
Silhouettes were the most expedient and inexpensive form of portraiture available to New Englanders in the early 19th century. Profiles were so cheap, costing about ten cents apiece, that an artist's profit was dependent on making them as quickly as possible. Framed double, reverse cut silhouettes of a man and capped woman facing each other with two identifications: Priscilla Colton Carroll (1908-1987) in a typed label identified them as "Brother of Capt. Richard / Uncle Daniel" (1801-1886), the 5th son of Isaac Colton (1760-1803) and Elizabeth Calkins Colton (d.1811), who was born in Vernon, Connecticut, married Almira Miller (1804-1877) of Northfield in 1826, and was a wheelwrite and plow maker and died in Springfield, Massachusetts; and Ada Starr Colton (1876-1979) identifed them as E. Williams (1831-1862) and Mary Colton on the wooden back of the frame. The silhouettes descended in the Colton family of Northfield. The 2cd son of Isaac Colton and Elizabeth Calkins Colton, Richard Colton (1787-1872) was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts; married Betsy Hale (1791-1865) of Enfield, Connecticut, in 1808; and moved to Northfield. Mass., in 1811. Richard was a plow and wagon maker, skilled surveyor, and active in civil affairs as a Northfield selectman, Representative in the Legislature in 1827, Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. Richard and Betsy had six children: 1. Eli Hale (1809-1882) who married Cynthia Terry (1813-1889) of Enfield in 1838; 2. Eliza (1811-1891) who married George Alexander (1805-1887) of Northfield in 1834; 3. Amanda M. (1814-1899) who married Charles Alexander (1810-1892) of Northfield in 1845, who had two children, Charles Morrell (1848-1848) and Edda (1851-1862); 4. Alonzo (1816-1890) who married Sophronia Brewster (1821-1901) of South Hanson, Mass., in 1852, and moved to Hanson; 5. Edwin Williams (1831-1862) who married Mary S. Newton in 1860; and Edwin's twin brother, 6. Edward Wells (1831-1887) who married Susan Maxwell Heard (1837-1874) in 1861, and Fanny Matilda Warriner (1838-1917) of Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1877. Edward Wells and Susan Colton had three children: Everett Wells (1862-1929); Maria Heard (1864-1934) who married Newton Keet; and Joseph Richard Colton (1869-1952) who married Ada Newell Starr (1876-1979) in 1899 and continued to live in East Northfield. Joseph Richard Colton worked as a clothing agent of Wanamaker & Brown of Philadelphia, insurance agent, surveyor, entrepreneur, etc. Joseph and Ada Colton had three children: Florence Amanda (1899-1979); Evangeline Darrow (1904-1979) who married David Craven Cook in 1934; and Priscilla Maxwell (1908-1987) who married Harold James Carroll of NYC in 1908. The silhouettes descended through the family to Maria Cook Rogers, the daughter of David and Evangeline Colton Cook.
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