The following is a letter regarding the location and owner
of the original portrait of Esther Fairfield Wheatly Campbell. It is a copy of a letter in the possession of the public
library in Oxford, MA.
WILLIAM A. STIMSON
3256 WASHINGTON STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. 94115
Dec. 13, 2000
Ms Janice Moore
Oxford Historical Commission
3 West St.
Oxford, Mass 01540
Dear Ms Moore,
It has been a long time, since 1983, when we corresponded. If you are not
involved in the Historical Commission any longer, I hope you will turn this
letter over to the appropriate parties.
I am a descendant of Rev. John Campbell of Oxford,
and we corresponded then about the painting of Esther F. W. Campbell, the
copy of which hangs in the Oxford Library. You then forwarded a nice photo
of the painting to me which I still have. My family and I visited Oxford in 1983 and we saw the painting in person.
The original painting has been handed down by successive generations of the
Campbell family to the Shaws, then to the Putnams. It went from Frances
Putnam in Saratoga Springs to Jessie Putnam Sullivan in
St. Louis. Her daughter Louise S.
Mulcahy had the painting in her living room until her death at age 103 earlier
this year. She left the painting to me and it now hangs over my fireplace
in my home her in San Francisco.
I enclose a photo of it for your records. Louise Mulcahy was my mother’s first
cousin. My mother was Mildred Putnam Stimson, the grandniece of Frances Putnam,
and the niece of Jessie Putnam Sullivan.
I am writing this letter to let you of the Oxford Historical Commission know
the whereabouts of the original oil portrait for your records.
I am proud to own this painting, done in 1714, as it has not only historical
significance, but Esther is my 6-great grandmother! It is nice that the painting
is still in the family and still appreciated. I hope my daughters will continue
the tradition.
Sincerely,
(The original is signed by W. A. Stimson)
The following is excerpted from “The Records of Oxford”
written by Mary deWitt Freedland (1894) regarding the portrait of Esther F.
W. Campbell. Page 470, “Biographical Sketches.” A ‘copy’ of her portrait is
at the public library in Oxford,
MA.
“The original portrait of Madame Esther Campbell, painted
when 17 years of age, was in the possession of her son, Capt. William Campbell
whose home was ever with his mother. Mrs. Campbell died of the smallpox, March
11, 1777. At his decease it was presented by him to his daughter Sarah, who
married Dr. Shaw of Putney, Vt., and at her decease, to her son, Hon.
Henry Shaw of Lanesboro, Mass.
Through the kindness of Mrs. Shaw a copy was permitted, the only one ever
taken. In Madame Campbell’s portrait she is represented in the character of
Proserpina, a goddess of harvesting, as was the fashion for ladies in her
time to assume a character. It was painted by Cooper, a famed artist in Edinburgh,
1717.”