Description
Considered one of the early settlers and “founding fathers” of Stratford, community leader Hosea Williams was born in Berkshire Co., MA, in 1792. He married Charlotte Elizabeth Avery in 1817 and moved to Ohio in a covered wagon. They rented a house in Delaware and purchased a 300-acre farm, 2 miles west of town. The newlyweds built a double log house in the fall of that year. Hosea worked hard to open up the farm, and erected a large frame house in 1823. In 1825, the family moved to Delaware and lived in town thereafter. Instead of farming, he embarked in mercantile business and became a community leader.
The oil on canvas portrait of Judge Williams was painted by William Walcutt in 1856. Walcutt was born in Columbus, Ohio and died in New York City. He studied surveying and engineering. He began his career as a painter of portraits at the age of sixteen (16). He studied in London in 1852, followed by two years in Paris. On September 10, 1860, his most famous work, a statue he designed of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was dedicated at Cleveland, Ohio. The portrait of Hosea was painted from a daguerreotype, that was possibly sent to Walcutt in New York. (For additional information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walcutt)
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