Portraits were the headshots of the 19th century. Before the invention of photography and its more widespread availability in the 1850s and 60s, the only way to preserve an image of a loved one or important person was to create or commission a portrait.
Visitors to the Bangs Hallet House can’t help but notice the large and imposing portrait of Isaiah Crowell (1779-1864) in the entrance hall and often ask who he was. Mr. Crowell was a prominent Quaker and leading citizen in South Yarmouth who had a long and interesting life. A sea captain early on, he commanded a number of vessels and part owned several. In 1808 he purchased the “Red House” at 34 Pleasant Street which some may remember. It was torn down in the 1990s. After retiring from the sea he was a part owner of saltworks and became a bank director. Crowell was a doting grandfather and allowed his grandchildren to remove the portrait from the frame so they could use it for puppet shows.
The next portrait you might see is of Captain Otis White, painted about 1860. Otis was born in Yarmouth in 1826 and lived at 202 Route 6A in the house his father built. Sadly his life was short. Already ill with consumptiom, he encountered Chinese pirates in Formosa and after returning to Yarmouth he died in 1864. This portrait was painted circa 1860 by Giddings Ballou, a portrait painter who traveled to Cape Cod in search of commissions and placed ads in the local papers offering to paint portraits from daguerreotypes.
The main parlor contains three individal portraits of the Hallet family who lived in the house from 1863-1893. Over the fireplace hangs a portrait of Anna Hallet, wife of Bangs; a small portrait of their second daughter Anner, and a portrait of the captain himself. The portraits of Bangs and Anner are copies from photographs painted by the very talented Yarmouth artist Heather Braginton-Smith, as we no longer have the originals. More about that in this news article.
In the dining room hang three portraits of Yarmouth residents of long ago. Over the fireplace you’ll find an image of Sabra Matthews. Sabra married Captain Sylvester Baker of Yarmouth had had five children.
Oliver Matthews was Sabra’s son, born in Yarmouth, and like many other Cape Cod boys, went to sea at a young age. He became a shipmaster, but illness forced him to retire early and he died in Yarmouth at age 72.
Also in the dining room is a portrait of Capt. George Matthews who lived next door to the museum at #1 Strawberry Lane. At 19 he was second mate on a ship traveling from New Orleans to Boston when the captain, his wife and the 1st mate all died of yellow fever. George brought the ship successfully into Boston and because of this accomplishment he was later made captain of the famous clipper National Eagle. We were able to acquire his portrait from his granddaughter’s estate in 1955.
The three portraits of the Benjamin F. Berry family, dating to the 1860s, are on the staircase wall as you head up to the second floor. The women appear somewhat flat and stilted because they were painted from daguerreotypes Capt. Berry brought with him when sailing to China, and hired a Chinese artist to reproduce them in oil. Sea captains often used Chinese portrait painters to paint portraits from photos or even descriptions of their wives before photography was available. Poor Mrs. Berry’s portrait is not very flattering!
In the front bedroom hang two sweet paintings of Bangs and Anna Hallet done shortly after they were married in 1829, also by Chinese portrait artists. Bangs sat for his portrait, while Anna’s was done from a description Bangs gave the artist. They were very much in love and her portrait reflects the way Bangs saw and felt about her. They wrote loving letters back and forth and Bangs often proclaimed his love in long poems he composed.
In the small alcove off the upstairs hall are the portraits of Enoch and Desire (Cobb) Shove, whose son George was a physician in Yarmouth in the mid 1800s, and later married Capt. John Eldridge’s daughter Lucy. Enoch & Desire lived in Sandwich
Speaking of Capt. John Eldridge, his portrait hangs in our upstairs hallway. He was one of a few sea captains from Cape Cod who captained all three types of vessels; clipper ships, ocean packets, and ocean steam vessels. John was sometimes called “Bully” Eldridge, in part because of his incredible strength and size. He had a size 20 neck, and a voice like a bull. When his son went fishing on Dennis Pond, some quarter mile or so from their home (92 Route 6A in Yarmouth Port), John would yell from the front piazza to come home for dinner. John spent a happy retirement in his home where he enjoyed gardening and entertaining.
John’s brother Asa can be seen in our maritime room. Asa also went to sea at a young age. Famously he sailed the clipper ship Red Jacket from New York to Liverpool in only 13 days, setting a speed record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing by a commercial sailing vessel that has remained unbroken ever since. Sadly, only two years later he was lost at sea when the SS Pacific disappeared without a trace in the Atlantic. It is believed to have struck an iceberg and sunk. This portrait was also recreated by the late Heather Braginton-Smith, a copy of the original which we no longer have.
Charles and Sadie Swift, born in the 1860s, were two of Charles Francis Swift’s children with his wife Sarah. The senior Charles was perhaps best know as editor of the Yarmouth Register for over 50 years and wrote much of its content. The younger Charles took over his father’s position with the Register, while Sadie supported herself as a court stenographer, then in retirement made and sold candy.
Our final portrait is of a dog named Milo, a Newfoundland who lived with George B. Taylor, the keeper of the Egg Rock Lighthouse in Nahant. Milo barked at ships during foggy weather supposedly to warn them of the rocks, and saved one of the Taylors’ young children from drowning, making him famous. A painting done by Edwin Landseer in 1856 of the dog boosted his popularity and Newfoundland and St. Bernard portraits became “all the rage.”
Please join us next Sunday, March 2, at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod when Mary Woodward will present “Faces of the American Revolution : Portraits of John Singleton Copley. Tickets are available on our events page.
