“A Large Circle of Friends”

Unidentified portrait of a woman taken by W. F. Sawtell. Author’s collection.

In late January 2021, I came into possession of seven small carte de visite portraits, all taken by Wellington photographer William Sawtell. None of the images was identified or dated. I had purchased the lot online, so I reached out to the seller to ask if he happened to know where the photos came from. He wrote back right away, saying that he lived in Pennsylvania and was very interested in the photographic studios of the Philadelphia region. As for this grouping, however, “I found the Wellington ones locally at a flea market literally in a corn field…I was told by an elderly gentleman that they all came out of a photo album owned/signed by E. M. Hamilton.”

Unidentified portrait of an infant taken by W. F. Sawtell. Author’s collection.

I got very excited when I read this last bit of information. Readers of the blog may remember that Wellington was home to a school for girls–the Seminary–from 1849 until 1864. The first proprietor of the school was Mary Ann Adams. The second, and much longer lasting, was Eliza M. Hamilton. Eliza lived in Wellington for nearly her entire fifty-three years, until moving shortly before her death to live near her brother William in New Richmond, Pennsylvania. This photo album, found in a cornfield flea market, almost certainly belonged to her.

Unidentified portrait of a woman taken by W. F. Sawtell. Author’s collection.

New Richmond is just over the Pennsylvania state line, only two-and-a-half-hours away by car. Presumably Eliza’s 1870s journey lasted a bit longer. According to her obituary in the Wellington Enterprise, “The last three years when she should have been nursed and resting, she was toiling and teaching, until compelled by her friends to take the respite with her family that was too late to avail anything, save the comfort of being with her kindred, and receiving the care that must have come gratefully at last, to one who knew so well how to care for others” (11-15-1877, pg. 3). The respite was short-lived. Her brother’s death notice appeared above her own in the November 8th edition (pg. 3). The siblings died just six days apart.

Unidentified portrait of a woman taken by W. F. Sawtell. Author’s collection.

How I wish I knew more about these seven individuals and about the photographic album that once held their likenesses. Are they members of the Hamilton family? Are they former students of the Wellington Seminary? Eliza never married, nor had any biological children of her own, though a November 29th notice announced, “‘Howard,’ the little boy adopted by the late Miss E. M. Hamilton, has found a home with a relative of his deceased guardian, in Pennsylvania” (pg. 3). Could this adopted child possibly be the infant depicted in one of the photographs?

Two more things are worth mentioning. First, one of the portraits of an unidentified woman is the same subject depicted in another Sawtell image I already owned. She is wearing the same hairstyle and clothing, though in a slightly different pose. Second, one of the photos may be the oldest I have yet acquired. It was taken at J. W. Southard’s studio when Sawtell ran it, probably a transitional moment of operating an established business in the community prior to opening a studio under his own name. If this is correct, it would date the image to sometime around 1865/66, when Sawtell completed his military service in the Union Army and relocated to Wellington.

Unidentified portrait of a man taken by W. F. Sawtell, probably taken ca. 1865/66. Author’s collection.

I have uploaded all of these images, as well as a half-dozen more, to the Sawtell page. I have also scanned and added a few Wellington trade cards to that page. If those items are of interest to you, I encourage you to click through and have a look. When I began this blog, in August 2013, one of my very first posts was about the photography of William Sawtell. I could never have guessed that eight-and-a-half years and 199 posts later, I would still be writing about him.

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