Benjamin Minturn Hartshorne

Periodca. 1850

MediumDaguerreotype

DimensionsImage: 2.75 × 2.25 in. (7 × 5.7 cm)
Case: 3.75 × 3.25 × 0.5 in. (9.5 × 8.3 × 1.3 cm)

ClassificationsDaguerreotypes and Ambrotypes

Credit LineGift of Mary Minturn Adams in memory of her Hartshorne Ancestors, 2018

Object number2018.10.18

DescriptionBenjamin Hartshorne poses in three quarter view, turned slightly to the right. The sitter wears a dark coat, dark waistcoat, and a white shirt with a black silk stock wrapped around his neck. Benjamin's left arm is draped over what appears to be a small tabletop or the low back or arm of a chair. The interior of the daguerreotype is lined in soft cerise plush with a stamped floral and foliate pattern. The exterior wood case is covered with a thin layer of leather, embossed with a central floral bouquet motif, hinged at the left and including a pair of small brass hook and eye closures on the right edge.
Curatorial RemarksTaken when he was about twenty five to thirty years of age, square-jawed Benjamin Hartshorne poses casually in an image that captures the adventurous and determined personality of the sitter. His coat, most likely of black wool broadcloth, is distinctly ill-fitting, pulling across Ben's broad shoulders and sturdy build. Benjamin's daguerreotype was taken by an unidentified San Francisco area photographer. The image was mentioned in a letter written to his mother, Mary Ann Minturn Hartshorne, to whom he most likely sent this copy. The Historical Association has photographic images of Benjamin's wife, Julia Norton Hartshorne (please see accession number 2018.10.1), father Robert Hartshorne (2018.10.10), uncles Charles Minturn (accession number 2018.10.13) and Edward (2018.10.14), older brother Richard (2018.10.17), and son Robert (2018.10.9) as well as numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.NotesBenjamin Minturn Hartshorne was born on 7 May 1826, the second son of Robert Hartshorne (1798 - 1872) and his wife Mary Ann Minturn (1802 - 1861). Named for Benjamin G. Minturn, his maternal grandfather, young Benjamin was sent off to boarding school at the age of ten with his older brother Richard. From 1836 to 1840, they studied under the tutelage of Episcopal clergyman Rev. G. V. C. Eastman, first at Saybrook, Connecticut, and then in Litchfield, Connecticut, where Eastman served as a parish priest and ran a school. By 1846 Ben decided to go to sea. This choice of career was no doubt influenced by his uncles Charles and Edward Minturn, both of whom were engaged in transatlantic shipping. Ben embarked from New York in March of 1847 on board the clipper ship Houqua bound for China. At one point during the journey, the Houqua was caught in a horrific typhoon and was nearly lost. Ben sailed twice more, the final time on the ship Samuel Russell, arriving in San Francisco on 2 May 1850. Once in California, Ben joined his uncle Charles Minturn, who had arrived in San Francisco in October 1849, to seek his fortune during the heady days of the California Gold Rush. The ensuing years saw Ben energetically embrace the life of an entrepreneur, businessman, and speculator. Steamboat navigation became his main interest, and eventually Benjamin became active in the California Steamboat Navigation Company. This major steamboat operation was organized in San Francisco on 1 March 1854 by a group of sixteen steamboat owners, among them Ben's uncle Charles Minturn. In the spring of 1861, 35 year old Benjamin became engaged to Julia Norton, who was born in Buffalo, New York in 1838. The Hartshornes had three children, including Julia Norton (b. 1863), Robert (1866 - 1927), and Mary Minturn (b. 1867). After an extended visit east from May to November 1868, Julia fell ill upon the family's return to San Francisco. After an illness of several months, Julia died in February 1869 at the age of thirty, leaving Ben a widower with three small children. He never remarried. After the deaths of several close family members, including his mother in 1861, Benjamin divested himself of much of his West Coast interests and relocated to the Hartshorne family home Portland in Monmouth County. An 1890 New York Times article called him "Master of Navesink," describing him as a "plainly-dressed, every-day-looking sort of man." Due to his success in business, the "every-day-looking" man had an estimated income of approximately $4,000 a day. By the late 1890s, Ben's health began to fail. He spent a good deal of time at his oldest daughter Julia's home, where he died at the age of 74 on 21 March 1900.

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Ambrotypes & Daguerreotypes