MANCHESTER, NH – An artistic reunion some 130 years in the making is now being featured at the Millyard Museum.
Portraits of Amoskeag Manufacturing giant Ezekiel Straw and his wife, Charlotte (Webster) Straw, have been reunited and are now on exhibit at the Manchester Historic Association’s Millyard Museum.
A portrait of Ezekiel A. Straw, agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company who controlled the company’s operations, had been on display at the museum for more than a decade. Straw, a civil engineer, was first hired by the Amoskeag company in 1838 when – at the age of 18 – he designed and created the layout for the streets of Manchester. He later served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1872 to 1874.
Earlier this year, the MHA was contacted by the New Hampshire Historical Society regarding a portrait of Ezekiel’s wife, Charlotte Webster Straw.
“Given the important role the Straw family played in Manchester’s history, it was felt that Manchester would be a more appropriate home for the painting,” said MHA Executive Director John Clayton, “so the NH Historical Society graciously brokered an arrangement with the donor for the painting to be given to us at the MHA.”
It was not until the painting was delivered to Manchester that the museum staff made a surprising discovery – the two portraits were companion pieces.
“After looking at both portraits, it became evident that they were a perfectly matched pair,” said Jeff Barraclough, the MHA’s Director of Operations. “They are the same size, the frames match exactly, and the styles of the paintings are very similar.”
Charlotte Webster Straw, the daughter of an Amesbury, Mass. sea captain, married Ezekiel in 1842 and they had four children. She died at the age of 29 in 1852, and Ezekiel never remarried.
A newspaper account at the time of her death described Charlotte as having “not only filled with fidelity the sacred office of wife, mother, and friend but was a generous benefactor to the poor and needy, to whose wants she administered with no grudging hand.”
The portraits were likely painted after her death in the early 1860s. It is unclear how the two paintings were separated, but they were given to the MHA by two different branches of the family.
“It’s our best guess that, after Ezekiel’s death in 1882, Charlotte’s portrait was passed down to their daughter – also named Charlotte – and Ezekiel’s portrait was passed down to their son, Herman,” Barraclough said.
After that initial bequest, it is believed that the paintings were handed down within the family for decades, before being rejoined at the Millyard Museum.
“Maybe I’m just a hopeless romantic,” Clayton said, “but we think this is a really exciting discovery. It’s a love story, if you will, of two people, and their portraits finally being reunited after all these years.”
Founded in 1896, the Manchester Historic Association is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization with the mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Manchester, New Hampshire. The Association operates the Millyard Museum and the Research Center, both of which are open to the general public. The Association presents a variety of public programs including lectures, walking tours and school programs for students from kindergarten through college. Call (603) 622-7531 for more information or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org.
