Description:
Framed oil on bronze portrait of Marianne Geyer Belcher (1773-1839) with two young children (she had 11 children from 1794-1814?), and the label on a later-period gilt frame inscribed, "Marianne, wife of Andrew Belcher-1839." Her dress dates circa 1810, and she died in 1839. Marianne Geyer Belcher was the daughter of Frederick (d, 1821) and Susannah Geyer of Boston; Frederick William Geyer was a prominent merchant and loyalist who fled Boston to England during the revolution, but returned to Boston after the war, and his citizenship was restored in 1789. Andrew Belcher (1761-1841) was the grandson of Jonathan Belcher (1682-1757), Governor of Massachusetts from 1729/30 to 1741 and New Jersey from 1747-1757, and son of Jonathan Belcher, Jr. (1710-1776), the first Chief Justice and a Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1760-1764). Born in London, Andrew was attending school in Halifax when his father died in 1776. He went into business in Halifax under the name of Belcher and Wright, and married Marianne in 1792. Belcher became a prominent member of the Legislature, was promoted to His Majesty's Council in 1801, made director of the Fire Assurance Association of Halifax in 1809, and was a member of the Marine Humane Society. According to tradition, Andrew Belcher made and lost three fortunes, and spent in England what he had made in Halifax, returning twice to Halifax to rebuild his fortune. Their son, Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877) of the British Royal Navy, was a war hero, explorer, scientist, and writer whose Arctic expedition played a significant role in demonstrating the existence of the Northwest Passage; several places are named for him, such as Belcher Point (Alaska), Belcher Islands (Hudson Bay), and Belcher Channel (in the Arctic). See also HD 70.181, 70.182, HD 58.039, and HD 58.040 for another portrait of Marianna Geyer Belcher and portraits of Andrew Belcher and Frederick William Geyer.
Tags:
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