Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cabinet Photo of elderly Mrs. Ezekiel Webster; Concord, New Hampshire, Studio


Cabinet photograph of an elderly woman identified on reverse as Mrs. Ezekiel Webster.  The photograph was taken by W. G. C. Kimball of Concord, New Hampshire.  The reverse of the photograph, in addition to the handwritten identification, has two stamps: one, indicating that it was once the property of the Archives of Dartmouth College Library, and another that shows it was discarded.  Also in handwriting at the top is "Sanborn Family".


From online research, hopefully correct:

If this is the wife of the (Henry) Ezekiel Webster who was a brother to New Hampshire's noted Daniel Webster, then it's possible the lady in the photograph is Ezekiel's second wife Achsah Pollard, who was noted as still living at nearly age 94 in an April 28, 1895 New York Times article about Ezekiel.  In fact, she lived until 31 January 1896.

Here's a link to the 1895 article about Ezekiel and his family in the New York Times: Ezekiel Webster of New Hampshire. [August 2019: just heard that the link is no longer valid]

The Sanborn connection comes in because Ezekiel's daughter Mary Ann Webster, from his first wife, Alice Bridge, married Edwin D. Sanborn, a professor at Dartmouth College.

(Henry) Ezekiel Webster was born 11 March 1780 in Salisbury, Merrimack, New Hampshire, the son of Ebenezer and Abigail "Nabby" (Eastman) Webster.  He was born about two years before his brother Daniel. He died young, in 1829, perhaps as a result of a violent altercation he'd had while serving legal papers, even though he had prevailed at the time against his two attackers.

His first wife, Alice Bridge, was born 19 June 1784, at Billerica, Massachusetts, the daughter of Samuel and Alice (Pollard) Bridge.  His second wife, Achsah Pollard, was born 9 July 1801 in either Dunstable, Massachusetts, or Dunstable, New Hampshire, which is now Nashua.   I haven't yet found out the names of her parents, though I know she was related to the mother of Ezekiel's first wife Alice.  I believe she was living in Concord, New Hampshire, at the time of her marriage to Ezekiel in 1825.

If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the above information, please leave a comment in the comments box or contact me directly.

Thanks for stopping by!

2 comments:

  1. I just found your page, and the NYT article is no longer available. So sad!

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    1. Maybe you can find it on Chronicling America - thanks for the heads up.

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