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Calvin Willard
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CALVIN WILLARD (1784-1867)
1857
Edwin T. Billings (1824-93)
oil on canvas
30 x 25 (76.20 x 63.50)
Bequest of Olive F. Willard, 1885
Weis #145
Hewes #151
More information
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Calvin Willard was born in
Harvard,
Massachusetts, and studied law with the Boston attorney Richard
Henry Dana
(1815-82). Willard was admitted to the bar in 1809 and practiced law
in
Barnstable and Petersham, Massachusetts, before settling in
Fitchburg, an
urban center north of Worcester. There, Willard served as the town's
postmaster
and was elected as a state representative in 1824. His experience
with state
law led to his 1824 appointment as high sheriff for Worcester County
and
he moved to Worcester three years later. Willard retained the
position of
sheriff until his retirement in 1844, and a colleague remembered,
'He made
an excellent sheriff, was very strict in the observance of all forms
of
etiquette of the Court, and added dignity to its deliberations by
his gentlemanly
bearing and the care and neatness of his dress.'(1) Willard, who
officiated
at the last public execution in the county in 1824, was known for
many years
as 'the model sheriff of Worcester County.'(2)
Willard was a prominent resident of Worcester. He was a member of
the board
of directors of the Citizens Bank and a trustee of the Worcester
County
Institute for Savings. Although he was not a member of the American
Antiquarian
Society, Willard donated several books to the Society, including The
Second
Spira: or the Blasphemers Justly Reproved (1772) and A Copy of a
Letter
Written by our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ that was
printed by
the Society's founder Isaiah Thomas, Sr. in 1772. In addition,
Willard's
own copy of Thomas's The History of Printing in America (1810) was
given
to the Society in 1995.
This portrait of Willard was painted about thirteen years after
Willard
retired as sheriff. It was executed by the Boston artist Edwin
T. Billings,
who first visited Worcester in 1854. Billings painted several
important
Worcester residents, including John Davis and Stephen
Salisbury.(3) His
work hung in many public buildings including the Worcester County
Courthouse
and Mechanics Hall, and it is possible that Willard saw the
artist's work
in one of these venues before commissioning this portrait in
1857.(4)
The completed painting hung in Willard's home on Portland Street
in Worcester
until it was bequeathed to the American Antiquarian Society in
1885.
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1) Nathaniel Paine, 'Calvin Willard,' Reminiscences and
Biographical
Notices of the Eighteen Members of the Worcester Fire Society
(Worcester:
Worcester Fire Society, 1887), 37.
2) Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 3 (April
1885):
396. The last public execution in the county was that of Horace
Carter
(1799-1825), who was hanged after being found guilty of rape. See
A Brief
Sketch of the Life of Horace Carter (Worcester: Newell Press,
1825).
3) 'Public Buildings Where Mr. Billings' Paintings are
Hanging,'
1890, AAS Newsclipping File.
4) Edwin T. Billings to Edmund Mills Barton, July 13, 1885,
AAS
Archives. The letter from Billings confirms the date of the
portrait,
as he writes, 'In referring back to old records of portraits
painted in
Worcester, I find a Mr. Willard under the date of 1857.'
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Society
Last updated December 10, 2004
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