Post by Cliff Krainik on Jun 17, 2003 15:15:29 GMT -5
[The following article first appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of the Mineral Point Historical Society Newsletter - Mineral Point, Wisconsin - Jim Stroschein, Editor ]
DISCOVERY ! PARKINSON not DODGE
Cliff Krainik
Readers of the Mineral Point Historical Society Newsletter may recall in the Winter 2002 issue a portrait identified as Wisconsin's first Territorial Governor and United States Senator, Henry Dodge. The ambrotype portrait (a photograph on glass, circa late 1850s) owned by the MPHS appeared in the Feature section, "From the Collection" - with the request for additional historical information. Little did the editor suspect that his wish for "more information" was about to be fulfilled in a most amazing way!
When Platteville resident Barbara Parkinson Lewis recently visited the First Capitol Historic site a few miles northwest of Belmont she discovered a long-lost photograph of her illustrious ancestor - to be exact her great, great grandfather Daniel Morgan Parkinson. It was D.M. Parkinson who came to southwest Wisconsin in 1827 to mine lead and to operate the first inn at the infant town of Mineral Point. During the Black Hawk War Daniel Parkinson served as Captain in the Fifth Volunteer Michigan Territorial Militia and with his son, Peter, fought at the "Battle of Bloody Pond," on June 16, 1832. And it was D.M. Parkinson who built the Prairie Springs Hotel in 1834, a haven of hospitality and the site of early territorial meetings. Incidentally, Parkinson's ancient wooden frame building still stands, thanks to the heroic efforts of Dean Connors and the Lead Region Historic Trust. As a lead miner, farmer, inn keeper, military leader and legislator Daniel Morgan Parkinson played a major contributing role in the development of southwest Wisconsin. Mrs. Lewis was rightly proud to see the portrait of her noble kin prominently displayed in the Courthouse at the First Capitol Historic site - the only problem was that the image bore the name of HENRY DODGE.
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The misidentification of portraits of noted personalities in public archives is an uncommon but not unlikely occurrence, allowing for the vast number of images represented and the varying systems of cataloguing and storage. In 1978 the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution launched a landmark exhibition of historic American Portrait daguerreotypes (photographs on silvered copper plates) entitled FACING THE LIGHT. Over one hundred likenesses of the great men and women of the Republic during the 19th century were displayed including President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Thoreau, Poe, Webster, Clay, Emily Dickinson and Stonewall Jackson. However, two images included in the show and published in their magnificent exhibition reference - those of photographer Mathew Brady and transcendentalist, Theodore Parker were incorrectly identified. The gentleman called Mathew Brady proved later not to be Brady at all, and the image of Theodore Parker was actually that of the great violin virtuoso, Ole Bull.
For well over thirty years the museum at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. has displayed the relics of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Included in the exhibit was a photograph of Miss Clara Harris the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris, the woman who accompanied her fiancé and the presidential party on the fateful evening of April 14, 1865. It is a beautiful portrait of a lovely young woman and has been reproduced time and again. The photograph appears on the dust jacket of the 1994 novel HENRY AND CLARA, the tragic story of the couple who were Lincoln's guests at Ford's Theatre. But, it was not until photographic historian Halam Webber of Gaithersburg, Maryland discovered the misidentification of the Clara Harris portrait in the files of the National Archives and offered conclusive evidence, did Ford's Theatre remove the errant portrait.
It appears that the ambrotype photograph of Daniel Morgan Parkinson has been misidentified as that of Henry Dodge for a number of years. Held in the archives of the Mineral Point History Room, Public Library Mineral Point is an acquisition statement prepared by Robert M. Neal in January of 1961 by which he acknowledges the receipt of a daguerreotype of Governor Henry Dodge. The note reads in part - "at present the only known actual likeness ever made of him. This was given (to) me by Mrs. Charles Calvert, formerly Mrs. Roy Parkinson, whose maiden name was Delia Johnston, in the Fall of 1957. Scratched with a stylus on the metal back of the daguerreotype is the following -
"C.R. Moffett
Mineral Point
Iowa Co, Wis
Feb, 18 1858"
Several important clues regarding the misidentification of the portrait of Daniel Morgan Parkinson stand out in Mr. Neal's memorandum. First, notice that the donated photographic likeness is referred to as a daguerreotype and that the inscription was "scratched with a stylus on the metal back." The likeness presently identified as "Henry Dodge" is, in fact, an ambrotype - a photograph on glass, not metal. When I restored the "Henry Dodge" ambrotype in the spring of 2002, I carefully examined the glass plate for any signs of identification - there were none. There was, however, a typed paper label affixed to the back of the wooden frame that holds the ambrotype portrait. This label does not identify the subject but repeats the exact information in Mr. Neal's acquisition paper, namely the photographer, C.R. Moffett, the place and the date.
According to the Directory of the City of Mineral Point compiled by T.S. Allen in 1859, Professor C. R. Moffett operated as a daguerreian artist on High Street and produced "pictures on silver, copper, iron and glass - also, on cards, leather and paper." But in the instance of the donated portrait of Henry Dodge, the evidence furnished by Mr. Neal indicates the photograph was a daguerreotype - on metal.
If the "scribed" portrait of Henry Dodge is a daguerreotype and identified as the work of C.R. Moffett on February 18, 1858, who then is represented on the glass ambrotype photograph owned by the MPHS? Fortunately, D.M. Parkinson's descendant has come forward to present a very strong case for identification.
Even a casual comparison of the "Henry Dodge" ambrotype likeness owned by the MPHS (Figure 1) to an authentic portrait of Henry Dodge (Figure 5) disqualifies its claim. We can establish an approximate date for the glass ambrotype portrait because this process was in vogue in America for a relatively limited time - say between the mid-1850s to the early 1860s. During that time Henry Dodge (1782-1867) would have been between 73 and 78 years old and D. M. Parkinson (1790-1868) between 65 and 70.
There are vast dissimilarities in the general configuration of the head and features of the subjects. In the ambrotype portrait the subject exhibits deep-set eyes, a broad, flat, crooked and hooked nose, very thin lips, a down-turned mouth and a massive jaw. These particular features are absent in the authentic likeness of Henry Dodge.
An authentic photographic likeness of Daniel Morgan Parkinson owned by the Wisconsin State Historical Society (Figure 3 - [EW902/.P23]), as well as another painting (Figure 4), provide the identification for the ambrotype formerly called "Henry Dodge."
I suggest that there is, in fact, a daguerreotype of Henry Dodge with an inscribed identification and that the ambrotype portrait in the collection of the MPHS is in reality an early photographic likeness of the great pioneer spirit, Daniel Morgan Parkinson.
Welcome home, Mr. Parkinson.
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Cliff Krainik of Warrenton, Virginia is a photographic historian, appraiser, author and lecturer. He and his wife, Michele, were co-cuators of the exhibition, The Legacy of the Black Hawk War at Orchard Lawn, Mineral Point Historical Society, Spring and Summer, 2002
