Meet Capt. Daniel Merritt (died 1849) and Sarah Lyon Merritt (died 1846)

Meet Captain Daniel Merritt (died April 30, 1849) and Sarah Lyon Merritt (died July 8, 1846) 

As seems to be the case with me these days, it all started with an email I received in Hawaii. 

A museum collections professional contacted me with news of an unexpected discovery. No, not wayward, lost or misplaced gravestones -but two 19th century portraits of a Greenwich couple found in of all places Orrington, Maine. 

Originally thought to be Mead family ancestral portraits, we discovered that the above-pictured portraits were of Captain Daniel Merritt of Greenwich, who died April 30, 1849, aged 64 years, and his wife Sarah Lyon Merritt also of Greenwich, who died July 8, 1846, aged 62 years. 

The portraits were slightly damaged. The Collections Committee met and decided it was unable to accept the repatriation of Mr. and Mrs. Merritt's likenesses to Greenwich -a decision that I concurred with and still do.

Yet what was to be done? It was clear to me that the portraits of Captain Daniel Merritt and Sarah Lyon Merritt needed to come home to Greenwich. Generally, museums do not give away items like these to individuals, but to other organizations. Even after locating descendants it was by some evasive consensus that I, the host of the Greenwich, A Town For All Seasons Show on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, Connecticut and WGCH.com anywhere, would be the one to make the calls and facilitate their return. 

Among those I contacted was Jo Conboy, the head of the Greenwich Preservation Trust (GPT). A GPT board meeting was held with the decision made to bring them back. But then what? Who would ascertain the restoration of the portraits -some damage was identified. 

Enter Andrew Melillo, head of the Acacia Lodge No. 85, otherwise known as the Greenwich Free Masons. 

It turns out that Captain Daniel Merritt was a Greenwich Free Mason. Furthermore, if you think you've heard his name before you're probably right. He is the uncle of Captain Daniel Merritt Mead of Greenwich, author of the town's first compiled and published history. 

It turns out that Captain Daniel Merritt and his wife Sarah Lyon Merritt are the maternal grandparents of Capt. Daniel Merritt Mead, who wrote the first published history of Greenwich. All of them are interred in the cemetery next to Second Congregational Church. Both men were members of the Acacia Lodge Free Masons. 

Around the 2018 Thanksgiving holiday the Merritt portraits were returned and sent to a restoration expert in the Town of Darien, just up the coast from Greenwich. 

More mysteries were resolved. From Andrew Melillo I and others on the email-chain received the following news dated November 19, 2018: 

I met with Blaikie Hines (art restorer) this past Friday and we sat down and viewed and discussed the portraits.

It was a really interesting conversation. We spent about an hour and a half  in front of the portraits figuring them out.

The frames are clearly plaster molds from the 1870's-1880's.

Upon first inspection/glance it was determined that they were probably pastels, and not oil paintings. However, upon a closer inspection they were actually manipulated or blown up photos of original Daugerrotype glass slides. This is likely the type of photo that was used as Captain Daniel Merritt died in 1849, which was ten years after the first daugerrotypes were being taken all over the world. Sarah Lyon Merritt died in 1846, so these glass dauggerotype slides were taken before 1849, and sat with the family for some time until by the 1880's the technology existed to enlarge them (as Dauggerotype glass slides are small). It is presumed this was done by their children or grandchildren...difficult to know for sure. I will have to dig up some files at the Greenwich Historical Society to see if we can get a clearer historical picture. 

Therefore, the belief is that the daugerrotypes were taken at an earlier date and then in the 1870's or 1880's (based on the framing) the family took them and blew them up to make them larger and then hired an artist or some person to go over them with pastel's to add color and accents, etc. You can see how the artist/person used the pastels to add accents to Sarah's bonnet and her clothes, etc and pastels were used to add in accents and features to Daniel Merritt's hair and clothes as well.

There are areas in the background of the portraits that need to be cleaned up which are "patchy" and there is a small tear in the bottom left corner of Daniel's portrait which is going to be fixed. Other than that there are a few dings and nicks here and there on the portraits that are easy to clean up.

With frame repair and portrait cleaning and restoration, the cost is quite manageable and they should be finished before Christmas. 

Stay tuned.